My Big Thanksgiving and Black Friday Post

Thanksgiving Eve I was home with the little ones while everyone was at the Thanksgiving Eve service, so we made Thanksgiving treats! All was going well. Rachel was having fun, Elijah was getting lots of good OT, Jonathan was being cranky. Until they finished peeling the Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and I let them each have one. Then Elijah decided he did not like his, and gagged on it, and I was reminded again I don't do puke. ;P

Here are some pictures from before our little episode:

My adorable helpers!

Mr. Cranky and me

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My day Thanksgiving day started at 5:30, when my dad, my 8yo brother Isaac, and I got dressed in orange. But unlike usual when we dress in orange that early, we were'nt going out in the woods. We were also getting dressed to go running, and to go and take a picture with a giant turkey.

Our first Turkey Trot! A 2mi run/walk. I'm not athletic and I'm not a runner, but I started running about a month ago, and am happy to say I finished my first "race"! I'm homeschooled and have to get my 2 PhyEd credits in somehow, right? ;)
Here's my vlog (video blog) of the race. But if you don't want to watch it, here are a few pics.

Getting ready to start! 

That's a lot of peoples!

Isaac crossing the finish line!

Me crossing the finish line!

2 mi in 26 min! My first run was 1/2 mi in 30 min, so not bad to improve my pace that much!

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I posted this on our Handiwork for Lilly and Owen Facebook page Thanksgiving night -
Happy Thanksgiving!!! Today we are thankful for YOU! Thank you for helping us help Elijah (now Sarah's brother), Anastasia (now Carrington Burman), Sergey, Eddie (now Gideon Evensen), Noah (now Noah Silva), Jonathan (now Sarah's brother), and now Lilly and Owen home!!! Plus Carter Gibson, Caleb Prevost, Naika T, and Jimmy Ott home through benefits and craft sales! You guys are amazing, and we could not be doing this without you!

In addition to that, today I am thankful for all the usually things - family, friends, a roof over my head, always enough to eat, etc.... but I'm also thankful that God has broke my heart for what breaks His, and that I am able to advocate on this blog for the least of these. All the hours I've spent blogging, all the tears I've shed over children, it's all worth it, if it helps bring one child home.

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Ok, Black Friday. First of all, I love this picture, and I totally agree with it's message. Such a wonderful reminder.

At the same time, I am not against getting good deals on things that people would have bought anyways even if it wasn't on sale. But you do have to draw a line somewhere, and some people can get a little crazy and obsessive on the day after they say they are thankful for everything they have. Ironic, isn't it, that those two days, Thanksgiving and Black Friday are right next to each other. :P

We did do some Black Friday shopping at Kohl's (it opened at midnight... we can do midnight, but not 6am!), but it was mostly things like church clothes we would have bought anyway. I went mostly for the fun of it, and did another vlog, about it and the... people there when the store opened. I would call them crazy and stupid, but that's not very nice.


We weren't one of those in and out people.. we were actually looking around and shopping. And picking up knocked over cloths. And trying not to get run over. This one lady barged her way through where I was standing, and literally knocked me over. She didn't stop to help me up, say sorry or even acknowledge what she just did. And another lady got mad at me because I was in her way when I was trying to get up. People weren't even treating each other like human beings!

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Happy Thanksgiving Weekend Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day with your family, and that you didn't forget about those who have next to nothing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

"Hi, my name is Brady Murray"

***Please read this post if you haven't already!! They need families TODAY!!

Today is an exciting day for Brady Murray! Today he is racing in his Kona Ironman! And he is racing for orphans with Down syndrome!

"Hi, My name is Brady Murray and this is my son Nash...." All of us who were voting like crazy for Brady and his Kona Inspired video awhile back have heard that one or twice. ;)

We helped him get to Kona by voting for him! And today he is there! Good luck Brady!

You can watch footage of the race live here - http://kona.ironman.com/index.html

And to see how Brady's doing personally, go here (http://kona.ironman.com/tracker.html), and search '137'. :)

Brady would also love if if you donated to one of RODS Racing chosen orphans in honor of him today - http://reecesrainbow.org/konaironangels

If you didn't get a chance to see and vote for the video during voting, or want to watch it again just for fun, here it is-

While I was in DC in July for NDSC, I met Brady Murray. He was there, hanging out at the RR table, and he came to the RR reunion. Yes, I met the famed super hero IronMan! And he is awesome! He is so passionate for the cause of the orphan and what he does.

Brady and I - yes, he's tall too!

When I heard he was going to be there I decided I wanted to video tape him saying the phrase we have all heard so many times - "My name is Brady Murray and this is my son Nash." He was reluctant at first and told me I could watch it online, but I convinced him to do it and he even said it in Spanish as well! Here it is!


Obviously one slight issue... Nash wasn't at the conference. ;)

Good luck today Brady!! Thank you for racing for the least of these!

WE DID IT!!!

Brady's son Nash :)

WE DID IT!!!! BRADY WON!!!! 

THANK YOU ALL SOO MUCH FOR VOTING!!!!

I'll keep you all updated on when you can watch him on TV! :)

LAST DAY TO VOTE!

Today is the last day in this round to vote for Brady Murray and his video about orphans with Down syndrome!


BUT! The rules have changed a little, and now we are only supposed to vote once per day! Please go read this post by Julia about it.


SO PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND GET AS MANY OF YOUR FRIENDS AS YOU CAN TO VOTE SO WE CAN MAKE UP FOR THE VOTES WE ARE LOSING BY ONLY VOTING ONCE PER DAY!!!


Remember... you don't have to be logged into Facebook or have a Facebook account to vote, and it only takes a second.


SO GO VOTE!!! Thanks so much! :)

Grab This!

Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome!

I'm back!!! Or as my favorite Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks would say it "MESA BACK!" :) I've missed blogging, and I have a whole host of posts lined up! Lots has happened since I took my break, and I can't wait to tell you about it - the good, the bad, the exciting, and disappointing.

But today, I want to bring attention to a very important cause! A very awesome guy, by the name of Brady Murray, has a son with Down syndrome, and has a heart for helping orphans with Down syndrome. He is also a racer- a triathlete. But he doesn't race in just any triathlons, he does Iron-mans. So her put the two together, and we get this:

Grab This!
And now, we have a chance to help him!!!! I'll let Brady tell you how by reposting his blog post.
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Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome

My family and I have loved being able to work on behalf of the children on Reece's Rainbow since finding this great organization.  It's for this reason that I had a hard time sleeping because of the excitement after hearing about this announcement!

Two months ago, Ironman announced a contest called Kona Inspired.  How it works is they have given the general public 

an opportunity to submit a 90 second video based around the theme, "Anything is Possible".  Winners receive a spot 

to race in the Ironman World Championship in October, but most importantly, they will race as a media athlete and have 

the opportunity to share their story on NBC's nationally televised broadcast of the championship this year!  THIS COULD 

BE OUR OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE THESE PRECIOUS CHILDREN'S STORY WITH THE WORLD!!!

After reading Ironman's press release we immediately went to work.  This is an opportunity to help these children in a 

way that I never imagined possible!  The video came together with the help of many wonderful people and we submitted

 it.  105 videos were submitted.  After over a month long preliminary public voting, we just received word that we 

are one of the top 15 videos and will compete in the final round of voting June 4 - June 18!!!

Please take a moment to WATCH, VOTE, and SHARE our video as much as possible throughout the day from your home computer, work computer, laptop, phone, etc!  We need to be in the top 2 videos at the end of the day on June 18.

KONA INSPIRED VIDEO LINK

Thank you for your time and willingness to make the dream of these orphans of finding their forever family a reality!

Brady and Nash

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So there you have it! An amazing way to spread awareness for orphans with Down syndrome, and support Brady along the way! You don't have to have a Facebook account to vote, even though it is on Facebook. You can vote as many times as you want through the day, I just refresh and vote again and again! And it doesn't cost anything but a offering of a little of your time to vote. So go vote!
Thank you soo much for helping to spread awareness!!!! What an awesome opportunity this is for the orphan advocating community! Let's make the most of it!
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Oh, and as always, please go get a puzzle piece if you haven't yet! We didn't make our goal of having it filled in by Rachel's birthday (see last post), but we came close!