Just the Average Mama Bear

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the date. A week from today begins the auction to benefit the St. Baldrick's Foundation. A week later, I'll be preparing for an intense new haircut. It's almost here and yet just last week it felt like a lifetime away. While Traci and are I scurrying about to get photos for the auction items collected and emails sent and updates posted, I must also stop to reflect on the past week or 2...especially in light of our new graphic:

When I emailed Kay and quite brazenly asked her to donate a design to represent our fundraising efforts, she not only accepted, but she exceeded every expectation I could even imagine. Without any real vision of what I wanted, I realized that this is exactly what I wanted. The simplicity in this design is genius - just 2 women joined by a passion. Yeah, yeah...we are super skinny and my belly shirt days are barely memorable (I actually prefer my avatar to reflect how I see myself, not necessarily how others see me. I see myself as a trendy, svelte, self-confident broad. This chick is all that and more)...but the idea that 2 average moms can join hands and hearts to bring awareness (and money) to a most worthy cause is a defining moment for me. I am one voice and Traci is one voice, but together we've moved almost 200 people to join the fan page and rally behind children and young adults who are battling or have battled cancer. We are not Angelina Jolie or Mother Theresa. We don't make grand speeches to standing room only crowds or plan elaborate galas with champagne (although I am certainly open to that for next year). We have a fan page and we know some people and some of those people are crafty.

I've been asked several times why. Pediatric cancer has not struck any of my children nor any children that I know personally. I found myself fumbling for the words to explain why, without reason or logic, I felt drawn...called...to do this. But then our pastor preached to my heart this past Sunday. (And Blue, who I assume was controlled by divine intervention, managed to stay in the nursery without a meltdown for the entire sermon.)

Please allow me to drop some verse on you.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring light to it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved - even though only as one escaping through the flames.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Each one of us is building on the foundation that has been laid and we can decide everyday to use hay or precious stones. We are building upon the day before and laying the groundwork for the next day. We are constructing side-by-side friends and family but also the janitor at our children's school, the bus driver who picks up the next door neighbor every morning, the city council member we see on local TV, the crew laying and repairing our roads, and the homeless population that camps around the downtown park. We are all united because we are all on this earth. Regardless of our race, religion, choice of spouse, political beliefs, philosophical beliefs, total lack of beliefs, we are all in this together, building upon a rock foundation. And I am one person who chooses one building material but if I choose hay, that will not support the person next to me who has chosen gold. If I use gold, it will reinforce whatever material another chooses, be it sand or silver. Perhaps my decision will influence another and those around me will trade in their wood for brick and diamonds and we will, together, construct a most magnificent temple atop our foundation.

And this is why. We are united, even when we feel alone, even when we discriminate against others. We support one another and brace one another and reinforce one another so that we may build a sturdy world. Not a sturdy America, a sturdy world. I don't always choose wisely, but I try. Everyday I get up and I try. And so to the parents and families and friends of children and young adults who have been diagnosed with cancer, I say to you "let me build your part for awhile. I promise to choose well. I promise it will stand strong against the wind and will remain for years to come. You rest up for the battle. I've got this." That's why we fund research. That's why we shave our heads and donate all of our hair. That's why.

The Servant Song by Richard Gillard

We are pilgrims on the journey
We are brothers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load

I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

 Cheers and be kind to one another.