Yesterday was Relay 4 Life,  and Mary, Joe, the kids and I spent an amazing but emotional night walking around Blake Field (high school track just behind the house practically). Raising money for the fight against cancer, participants and teams walked from 6pm to 6 am. We only stayed from 530pm until about 10pm and then brought the kids home but it was one of the most memorable nights I have spent. The event was so beautiful and I found myself with tears streaming down my face several times throughout the night. The first Relay for Life was held in Tacoma Washington with 300 members in 1985. Now it has grown into an annual event in which more then 3.5 million participate. The entire event celebrated the lives, courage and strength of those battling, and the many caregivers who support them. We got to hear and speak with many of cancer survivors, those battling and the many caregivers that support them. It also honored those many loved ones who have lost their lives to cancer. They had a survivors lap as the first lap around the track following the Opening Ceremony and it was so inspiring to see these beautiful men, women and children walk.

The kids had such a fun time too, the event had a lot of children’s activities but the kids probably enjoyed walking the most. :D They LOVE to go walk/run around the track and are so sad when they have to leave. So for the last week they could hardly wait until they were allowed to walk “as long as they wanted!” SO exciting. I walked with Hannah pretty much the whole time and it was such a  peaceful time with her. Their is such beauty in this tiny little person. She was asleep most of the time but whenever she was awake, she thought it was about just as much fun as a baby could have… to sit in her carrier and bounce around… so many giggles! The kids also loved the free face painting and were so sad that they had to take it off when they went to bed. Poor Jake would only concede when he was told that he might be scared if we woke up in the middle of the night and saw a tiger.  

Jake was hilarious about the tiger he got, it was so ticklish! The nice lady changed from a paint brush to a sponge, and still the faces he was making cracked me up, but he was so happy with the end result… so cute!

He got quite into his tiger role but poor kid couldn’t get his “claws”  pointing the right direction. :D After quite a bit of coaching he was able to get them pointing out.

Sweet Lily had made up her mind that she wanted a red butterfly and was pretty pleased with the fact that it turned out just right, even though she has a goofy look on her face. Hannah and I got matching pink ribbons.

At around 9pm they turned out the light and with darkness as our covering we walked in silence remembering those who had lost their fight with cancer. They had surrounded the track with about 1300 luminaries, each in honor of a loved one. As bagpipes played and with Hannah in my arms I walked and I wept.

I wept for all the names they played on a screen and their families. I wept for my family and the loss of my father’s brother Uncle Ed, his sister Aunt Virginia. and his parents (my grandparents) Aubry and Effie. And I wept and prayed for my Uncle John who is battling it now and my high school best friend Angela. There is so much pain in this world as a result of this disease, so many lives devastated and so much hopelessness in the hearts of many. Please pray… pray for a cure and most importantly pray that people will find their hope in Christ. That they may see He is the light of the world and to trust Him to be their Savior and their strength.