Back in August, we were told that my cousin, Bethany, has Juvenile Diab
etes. As she was getting ready to go back to Texas A&M for her sophomore year, she had a doctor's appointment where they discovered that her insulin levels were drastically elevated. She was told to get to the hospital, and within a couple of hours her entire life had changed. She is only 19 years old and has Juvenile Diabetes (Type I).
In an effort to show our support for Bethany and others with Juvenile Diabetes, we all were invited to participate in the Houston Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Run/Walk early this morning! Of course, we were late and heard the gun go off to signal the start as we were walking up through the gate! We were a motley crew (Mom, me and the kids, Trey, Reagan and their kids) all eager to get started and almost every corner we would pass, Mom (with her two brand-new knees) would ask if we could see the finish line!! 
We brought a 2-seater wagon and a little trike that the kids fought over, as Reagan had a 2-seater jogging stroller with Isaac and all of our bags in it. Since the whole walk was contained, we kind of just let the kids run free as long as we could still see them up ahead and they loved it! Elijah's favorite part were the "break tables" stocked with water bottles and fruit! We really took our time just visiting as we walked and taking rest breaks, and at one point we actually stopped to watch the kids roll down a steep grassy hill on the way. 
We were pretty oblivious to the others passing us until we looked around and discovered that we were literally the LAST people in the walk and we still had a long way to go!!! We started laughing as we passed each "break" point because the volunteers would clap really hard trying to encourage us to "keep going"! Then they would dump all the leftover apples into our little wagon! Elijah decided to hang with the food and would bite a row all around an apple and then throw it off the side of the wagon, only to do it again to another apple. Trey and I had to keep picking up his barely eaten apples and throw them away. (Even with all the apples Elijah consumed, we still came home with over 50 apples!)
As we were approching the end of the walk, there were signs posted on both sides of the path with pictures of the kids who had Juvenile Diabetes and it was pretty sobering to say the least.
We crossed the finish line so late, that most everyone had dispersed! We were so glad that we went and were a part of something to encourage Bethany. We met up with them under their tent where we received our T-shirts they had made for everyone and got to visit with more of our family for a while. It truly was a great time and Bethany's team alone has raised over $10,000 for Juvenile Diabetes Research (with more rolling in!) 
Oh, and as we were walking to the parking lot to go home, we (just Mom, the kids and I since Trey and Reagan parked elsewhere) not only realized that we were the absolute LAST people left, but that we had no idea where we were parked! There were a bazillion lots all color coded, but do you think either one of us ever looked up at where we parked this morning? No. We were running late, so we jumped out of our car and blindly followed the other "sheep" through the parking lot and between the cones to the starting line! We didn't even know what COLOR lot we parked in, so as we meandered around the lots and going with our "gut" feel, we found our lot! It was the only lot with a car in it and we felt like we were in the desert and seeing a mirage of our car!
etes. As she was getting ready to go back to Texas A&M for her sophomore year, she had a doctor's appointment where they discovered that her insulin levels were drastically elevated. She was told to get to the hospital, and within a couple of hours her entire life had changed. She is only 19 years old and has Juvenile Diabetes (Type I).This has been a whirlwind these past several months, as she has had to accept this new medical condition, quickly educate herself about it, learn how to cope and balance a new diet, medicines, exercise, and documenting when and how much she exercises and eats all while trying to be a "regular" college student! I know it has been overwhelming to say the least, but she loves the Lord and knows He is in control. What a blessing to know the Lord and have hope in Him when we experience heartache and trials!
In an effort to show our support for Bethany and others with Juvenile Diabetes, we all were invited to participate in the Houston Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Run/Walk early this morning! Of course, we were late and heard the gun go off to signal the start as we were walking up through the gate! We were a motley crew (Mom, me and the kids, Trey, Reagan and their kids) all eager to get started and almost every corner we would pass, Mom (with her two brand-new knees) would ask if we could see the finish line!! We brought a 2-seater wagon and a little trike that the kids fought over, as Reagan had a 2-seater jogging stroller with Isaac and all of our bags in it. Since the whole walk was contained, we kind of just let the kids run free as long as we could still see them up ahead and they loved it! Elijah's favorite part were the "break tables" stocked with water bottles and fruit! We really took our time just visiting as we walked and taking rest breaks, and at one point we actually stopped to watch the kids roll down a steep grassy hill on the way. We were pretty oblivious to the others passing us until we looked around and discovered that we were literally the LAST people in the walk and we still had a long way to go!!! We started laughing as we passed each "break" point because the volunteers would clap really hard trying to encourage us to "keep going"! Then they would dump all the leftover apples into our little wagon! Elijah decided to hang with the food and would bite a row all around an apple and then throw it off the side of the wagon, only to do it again to another apple. Trey and I had to keep picking up his barely eaten apples and throw them away. (Even with all the apples Elijah consumed, we still came home with over 50 apples!)As we were approching the end of the walk, there were signs posted on both sides of the path with pictures of the kids who had Juvenile Diabetes and it was pretty sobering to say the least.We crossed the finish line so late, that most everyone had dispersed! We were so glad that we went and were a part of something to encourage Bethany. We met up with them under their tent where we received our T-shirts they had made for everyone and got to visit with more of our family for a while. It truly was a great time and Bethany's team alone has raised over $10,000 for Juvenile Diabetes Research (with more rolling in!) Oh, and as we were walking to the parking lot to go home, we (just Mom, the kids and I since Trey and Reagan parked elsewhere) not only realized that we were the absolute LAST people left, but that we had no idea where we were parked! There were a bazillion lots all color coded, but do you think either one of us ever looked up at where we parked this morning? No. We were running late, so we jumped out of our car and blindly followed the other "sheep" through the parking lot and between the cones to the starting line! We didn't even know what COLOR lot we parked in, so as we meandered around the lots and going with our "gut" feel, we found our lot! It was the only lot with a car in it and we felt like we were in the desert and seeing a mirage of our car! We felt a little like "TweedleDum and TweedleDee".
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