Walk by Faith

A few weekends ago we were honored to participate in the Walk by Faith.  All proceeds from this event go to the Addi Faith Foundation that funds childhood cancer research and also provides financial assistance to families who are caring for a child with cancer. 

The two largest teams at this event were Team Teague and L3 and we proudly wore our shirts for both of these teams.  Doug and Matt were on Team Teague.  Teague is Matt's friend that he met through baseball who recently had a brain tumor.  Praise God they were able to remove the tumor and after proton radiation his scans look good!!  It meant a lot to participate in the walk with Teague and his family and the rest of the Hooks baseball team!



Marlie and I walked for the L3 team, Live. Love. Landon.  Landon Ahrendt fought a tough battle with rhabdomyosarcoma, which is a rare soft tissue cancer. He went to heaven in May of this year and the L3 Foundation has been going strong to continue to help others kids fighting cancer.  What I love about this Foundation is that it's run by kids, Landon's friends and family. Landon's older sister Teagan dances at Marlie's dance studio.  Marlie fell in love with Teagan a couple of years ago when she was helping in one of her summer classes.  We are so blessed to know Teagan who is amazingly beautiful inside and out.  And you should see this girl dance!!  We were honored to be walking for Landon and his family!

The kids decided they wanted to enter the 1K kid's run and Matt as you might expect was super excited.  He made sure he was at the front of the starting line and was ready to race.  He went out in a definite sprint, not realizing that a 1K wasn't really a full out sprint race.  He got tired at the end and slowed down to give high five's to his teammates along the way, but still came in 3rd for the boys and 3rd overall!

After Matt crossed the finish line I turned my focus back down the track and guess who was leading the pack?  Marlie!!! She finished really strong, with great running form and I was SO proud of her.  She said she saw a shadow behind her at the end and kicked it into gear.  She placed 2nd for the girls and maybe 5th or 6th overall.  Please excuse the proud Mom comments in this video!

 The kids were really excited about placing and they were happy to represent Teague and Landon!

After the 1K race we all participated in the 5K. Of course Doug and I walked and Marlie had fun walking with Skylar.

But the boys wanted to run and so some of the Dads decided to run with them to make sure they were ok.  I think most of the boys petered out along the way but Matt didn't stop.  Coach Raymond, Jayden's Dad said he tried to keep up with Matt as best he could but he lost him when Matt decided to sprint coming down the home stretch.  Matt finished the 5K in about 30 minutes and I wish I would have seen him cross the finish line.  He was extremely proud of finishing it with a good time.  Matt is in the running club at school and was the 2nd kid in the entire school to reach the 26 mile mark. 

Maybe both my kids will take after their Daddy and be runners after all.  Matt with his intense desire to finish and Marlie with her amazing running form!  It sure doesn't come from Momma!!