Today is the DAY!

Today is St. Jude day at Chili's!  100% of the profits are donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital.  So go eat a big mouth burger today and help fight childhood cancer!

St. Jude Day at Chili's

As most of you know, my nephew Carson was diagnosed with nodular medulloblastoma (a brain tumor) when he was nine months old. His cancer was so rare, he was only the 30th case in the WORLD to be diagnosed. As a patient at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, he underwent multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. You can read more about his story here. Now, almost seven years later, he is a happy second grader with a smile that will melt your heart.

Tomorrow, September 26th is St. Jude Day at Chili's. Chili's will donate 100% of their profits to St. Jude!!!! This is part of Chili’s 10-year commitment to donate $50 million dollars to this wonderful hospital.

If you are local, my family will be at the Hamilton Mill Chili’s tomorrow night around 6:30. Please let me know if you would like to join us! If not, call a friend and see if they will meet you at your local Chili’s! What could be easier than eating a big mouth burger and helping to fight childhood cancer? And what a great excuse not to cook?

For more information go here.

St. Jude Day at Chili's

It was a dark and stormy night...

but the Hamilton Mill Chili's was ROCKIN'!  

Lots of friends braved the weather and came out in support of St. Jude!

Troye, Jonah and Daniel

 Coleman's teacher, Mr. Furr and his family

 Marie and Pilar (and Mike and Colin, not pictured)

 Bill and Heather and Jack

Carolyn and Jack 

  Rory, Ian and Christian

 Jim, Chris and Laura

 Coleman and Noah

Susan, Sean, Ansley, Tonya, Ben, Cristian and Vince 

 Heather, Camden and Jeff (and Griffin and Molly not pictured)

Kristie, Kerry, and boys 

 Liz and Thomas

Coleman and LOOK!  a picture of me!

Of course, we all colored peppers!

 

How about THIS one?  

Striker had takeout

 And Burleighs ate at the baseball field!

This doesn't even count all the friends I saw at lunch-thanks Troye (again!), Dawn, Diana, Paula... and those I didn't get photos of-Sandra

YOU ALL ROCK!

(If you ate at Chili's on Monday, send me a photo!)

St. Jude Day at Chili's is TODAY!!!!!!

Chili's will donate 100% of their profits to St. Jude!!!!

Now get on over to Chili's and help kick cancer's butt!
(and do me a favor and send me a picture of you doing it!)

St. Jude Day at Chili's

Don't forget!  Tomorrow, Chili's is donating 100% of their profits to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!

So go eat a big-mouth burger and help fight childhood cancer!!!!

St. Jude Day at Chili's

Mark your calendars!!!!!! 

 Monday, September 27th is St. Jude Day at Chili's.  On this day, Chili's will donate 100% of their profits to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!  More details to come...

St. Jude Christmas Card

Atlanta Give Thanks. Walk

Today we participated in the Atlanta Give Thanks Walk. Over 40 cities hosted walks today to benefit St. Jude! We left the house at 6:30 this morning.

Please notice it was still pitch black outside.

The walk took place inside the Atlanta Zoo. There was live music,

pre-walk activities for the kids,

and free rides on the carousel!

I'm sure it's no surprise that my kids rode multiple times.

Our friends Andrea and Adelynn came and walked with us.

We are thankful for so many things today! Most especially for Carson.

The walk was such fun! We made three laps around the zoo.

It's a good thing it wasn't timed-

because there was a lot to see

and a lot of distractions!
We were so surprised to find a sign for our team!

First time at a finish line with Jim!

We raised 35K today! (I mean, all of us, not just Team Carson!)

That will keep the hospital running for about 1 1/2 hours...

(Daily operating cost is 1.4 million dollars a day, almost all of which is from private and corporate donations.)

We will definitely participate again next year! Thanks so much to all who donated!

Give Thanks. Walk.

On Saturday November 21, our family will participate in the Give Thanks. Walk in Atlanta to raise money and awareness for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. We are doing it for Carson.We are also doing it for EVERY CHILD WHO HAS EVER BEEN AFFECTED BY CHILDHOOD CANCER.
St. Jude has been so good to our family. I truly believe that my nephew Carson would not be with us today without the doctors and staff at St. Jude. In 2004, Carson was diagnosed with nodular medulloblastoma (a brain tumor) before he was a year old. He was only the 30th case in the WORLD ever diagnosed with this particular type of cancer. He has undergone more surgeries than I can count, months of chemotherapy and afterward, months of radiation. Today he is a happy first grader with a smile that lights up a room and his story has touched THOUSANDS of people.

With your help, maybe our kids will be the last generation to know first-hand the horrors of this disease.St. Jude treats over 5,000 patients every year. The DAILY operating cost of the hospital is nearly $1.3 million, which is primarily covered by public contributions. St. Jude never turns away any patient, regardless of his family's ability to pay.

In 1962, when St. Jude's opened, the cure rate for medulloblastoma (Carson's cancer) was only 10%. Today the cure rate at 5 years out is 85%. Because of your support more research can be done and hopefully one day soon the cure rate will be 100%.

What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than giving thanks and giving time to such a deserving organization? If you would like to walk with us, send me an email. Bring the whole family!

If you would like to donate, click here.

Get Out of the Kitchen and Help Fight Childhood Cancer

As most of you know, my nephew Carson was diagnosed with nodular medulloblastoma (a brain tumor) when he was nine months old. His cancer was so rare, he was only the 30th case in the WORLD to be diagnosed. As a patient at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, he underwent multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Now, almost five years later, he is a happy 1st grader with a smile that will melt your heart.

Today, September 28th is St. Jude Day at Chili's. Chili's will donate 100% of their profits to St. Jude!!!! This is part of Chili’s 10-year commitment to donate $50 million dollars to this wonderful hospital.

If you are local, my family will be at the Hamilton Mill Chili’s tonight around 6:30. Please let me know if you would like to join us! If not, call a friend and see if they will meet you at your local Chili’s! What could be easier than eating a big mouth burger and helping to fight childhood cancer? And what a great excuse not to cook?

For more information go here.

Eat For A Good Cause

Head's Up! Chili's St. Jude Day is September 28th! More info to come, but mark your calendars!!!

We Lived To Tell The Tale

We did it. 

And we can still walk, which is slightly surprising.  Saturday morning in Memphis dawned bright and clear.  And freezing; the wind chill at the starting line was 21 degrees!  We were so excited it didn't seem that cold.  Although Christian was willing to wear a hat with very little persuasion, so that should tell you something. 

We went down early to watch Uncle Chris and Uncle Gary take off in the 5K.  Aunt Ginger and Ara were running the Half with us.  Although, really, we shouldn't even be in the same SENTENCE with them, let alone the same race!  (They are REAL runners!)

And then at 7:45 we lined up in our corral.  Not this one with the 8 minute mile... we were WAY in the back in #15! With the other turtles snails casual runner/walkers.

Aunt Amy took this picture between Mile Markers #2 and #3.  We were still smiling at this point (and running!) 

 I just let Christian go a little ahead of me so I can keep an eye on him.  ahem.

Although we were still having fun at this point, we weren't having NEARLY as much fun as my niece, Abigail!  Shown here with not one but TWO Elvis's!  For some reason Carolyn was too shy (HA.) to have her picture taken...

Our wee supporter, Baby Isabella.

Our route took us along the Mississippi River, through downtown Memphis and past the Pyramid and Beale Street.  We also went past Sun Studio (where Elvis recorded his first hit record) and past the pink buildings of St. Jude. 

Christian's ankle was really bothering him from an old war soccer injury.  We were doing okay through mile 8.  Mile 9 was REALLY long.  So long that we thought we had missed the #9 marker and were at the water station for Mile 10.  Big disappointment when we found out it was only mile 9!  But we persevered.  Just after Mile 11 we passed the Target House.  This is where Carson lived while he was receiving treatments at St. Jude.  There were lots of patients and their families out braving the cold to cheer on the runners.  There was even a family of LSU fans all decked out in their purple and gold.  As you can imagine, Christian got a lot of cheers when he went by in his LSU hat!  They looked so happy and normal; until you noticed that the teenage boy was wearing a medical mask.  And HE was cheering for US.

Mile 13 was hell.  All we could do was concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.  Christian was almost in tears his ankle was hurting so badly.  I asked him if he wanted to stop and he looked at me like I was crazy!  We discussed how Carson had never given up and that helped him push through it.  

At Mile 13 I let him take off and sprint for the finish line. (Brat.  His time was 2 minutes faster than mine!)  

As you can see, we look a little worse for wear from our earlier, pre-race photo!

We finished in 3:31 and 3:33.  We certainly didn't set any records for speed, but you know my motto is "COMPLETE, not compete!"  Actually, I was happy with our time.  We were doing 15 1/2 minute miles for the first half and really, any finish under 4 hours would have made me happy.  And most importantly we raised over $11oo for St. Jude.  Thank you so much to each of you for supporting us!  (It's not too late if you still want to donate!)

My second favorite shirt!  

The one I really wanted said on the front "This seemed like a good idea three months ago!" and on the back "Race Official, Do Not Pass".  But they didn't have my size.

A great weekend and a great cause.