It's getting closer....

Hello!  Sorry it has been so long again!  I guess since the weather is getting nicer, I don't have a lot of time to sit down and blog:)  I'm definitely not complaining!  Well, last Saturday I successfully ran from my house in Grand Rapids, to my parents house in Hudsonville - a total of 18 miles!!  It was awesome, it was a sunny day and just a little chilly - the way I like it:)  I was very sore afterwards though!  This weekend will be 19 miles, I'm not sure about my route yet, but I might meet with the Riverbank group on Saturday at 8am at the Zoo.

Tomorrow is an exciting day!  At 10am I will be live on NPR with Shelley Irwin - you can check it out at wgvu.com.  I'm a little nervous, I'm not really a fan of being on the radio and/or television - but hopefully it will raise a little more awareness about what I am doing.

I received another donation of $75 in the mail this week!  Thank you!!!  I will add it to the total...I'm very pleased with how much money we are raising...it's a lot more than I thought I would be able to do.

A lot of people have been asking about how they can help with the Run/Walkathon, so here is the information:
Volunteers:
I still need 2 volunteers to run the aid station from 2-4pm; I need 3 volunteers to run the water station from 2-4pm; I need 2 volunteers to run the food station from 12-2, and another 2 volunteers for food station from 2-4.  I have split up the times for volunteering so that volunteers can also participate if they want to.  Let me know if you would like to volunteer by emailing me at ofoneheart@hotmail.com

Also - I am still in need of a few other things, they are:
double chafing dish - these are to help keep the hot dogs warm while they are being sold, I have 1 and it would be nice to have another.
Tents!!!  Not the kind you camp in:)  I am in need of some tents to add shade and protection from rain (if it rains) for the tables.
If you have either of these items and would not mind me borrowing them on Saturday, April 23, 2011, just email me at ofoneheart@hotmail.com

I have been going around to local businesses to find sponsors and donors for different items, this is what I have found so far:
Striders of Grandville - $25 Gift Card for prize winner
Branns of Grandville - 4 free 8 oz sizzler meals for prizes
Raap Signs of Coopersville - They are making all the signs we will need
Family Christian Bookstores - donated (5) 2011 Women's Daily Journal Devotionals for prizes
Papa's Dogs and More - selling hot dogs - $1 per hot dog going to Of One Heart
Dent - U - Center - Monetary donation

I am still looking for businesses and or companies that would like to be a part of this - if your business or company would like to help out, just email me at ofoneheart@hotmail.com

Thanks so much for reading!!! 

Spring is here!

Well, life is getting busier - I can tell Spring is here!  And only a month until the run/walkathon - I can't wait!  But I am also a little bit nervous!  I am starting to really buckle down and get everything organized and in place.  I am still working on getting some sponsors to donate bananas, apples, bagels, etc... and also some more sponsors to donate some prizes for the top participant:) 

This past Friday I had a Dr. appt and had a minor procedure done, but because of that I took Saturday off - BUMMER!! Saturday was beautiful and I SO wanted to get out there and run, but I knew that would probably not turn out well.  Sunday I attempted my 18 mile run to my parents house in Hudsonville, but only made it halfway, I think it was just a little too soon and a little too far after my procedure.  So that is fine, I still did 9 miles on Sunday and I will do the 18 this Saturday, so hopefully the weather is just as sunny as it was last Saturday:)

This week we received a few more donations, thank you to everyone who has donated!!  It is making a huge difference!  We received $175 in the mail, so I will add that to our total.  I also forgot to tell you that I visited Dr. Mann's office a week and a half ago to update him and also his RN that I have been keeping in touch with - Cathy.  They are both so excited about everything and they have both agreed to be at the Run/Walkathon!!!  That will be awesome:)  Cathy has already informed me that Dr. Mann is working hard at getting sponsors - he plans on running as long as he can:)

Also, they told me about what they have been working on lately - they are working on rolling Of One Heart into a bigger organization called Healing The Children.  This made me really excited, my family has supported this organization for a long time by being a host family.  Healing the Children helps international children who need surgeries by bringing them to America, finding a family for them to live with while they have surgeries, and then Doctors give their time and resources to help them.  Once they are done with their surgeries, they are sent back home to their families.  My parents were the host family for 2 different children.  The first one, Khadejah, was from St. Kitts - and island in the West Indies.  She was here for a few months while Dr. Mann closed her cleft palate.  The second child is now my little brother, he came here from Haiti for a short time when he was 4 for some surgeries.  His parents realized that he would have a better lifestyle if he were living in America - so they asked my parents to adopt him.  They said yes, AJ (my little brother) is also a twin, and in Haiti the law says that if you adopt one twin, you have to adopt them both.  So Amos is also my brother!  I think my parents would not have wanted to split the two of them up anyway - no matter what Haiti's laws say! 

So, Of One Heart will be the local division for this organization - so all of the money will stay here in West Michigan!  Also - Dr. Mann asked me if I would be interested in being on the board for Of One Heart when this happens!  Of course I said yes!  So keep this all in your prayers - this would be a very good thing!

Let me know if you have any questions about anything - my email is ofoneheart@hotmail.com
Thanks for reading!

Busted...

Hello all!  Sorry I have taken so long to write in here about the Euchre Tournament!  Well, you might have heard the news already, but The Venue apparently did not have the right type of license to hold a tournament like that, and we were "busted" by the State of Michigan Liquor Commission.  I say "busted" because we were not trying to go against any laws, so we were not actually "caught" or "busted".  About halfway through the tournament a man and woman came up and showed me their badges and told me that what I was doing was illegal - so we had to stop.  The really bad part that made me start crying, was they had to take all the money we had raised up to that point.  They ended up with somewhere between $350-$400!  I was pretty upset - this money was donated by good people to give to children with health needs, and it was taken away by the state.  I realize they are doing their jobs and rules are rules, but it still sucks.  The part that really confused me and also hurt my feelings, was that the detectives had seen our posters around town, with all my contact information on them, so they could have easily emailed me and told me that The Venue did not have the correct license.

The detectives were not allowed to take the checks that people had written to Of One Heart, so they were given back to me.  After they left, numerous people starting coming up to me and giving me donations.  One guy, who was just there for lunch and a beer, had bought a 50/50 raffle ticket earlier and won $62.  He came up and gave it all back!  What a nice guy!  Another 50/50 raffle winner gave his winnings back as well.  After all of the extra donations were given - we ended up with $614!!  I was floored!  That is more than I could have asked for, and even though we ran into some trouble, we are still able to help a lot of children out!  Thank you to everyone who participated!!! 

Before the detectives showed up we had lunch, we rounded up a total of 16 people to play - so there were 4 Euchre tables.  Everyone seemed to be having a blast!  I think there were some friendships made and we raised a lot of awareness for our organization!  (Maybe not the way we had planned but...)  I am definitely looking forward to the Run/Walkathon on April 23, if it goes as well as the first half of the Euchre Tournament, I will be very happy:)

I do want to add that The Venue was very sorry about what happened and unfortunately they did not know about the licenses they needed.  They said they were definitely going to look into getting the right type of licenses and their lesson was learned:)

Saturday morning I woke up at the awesome hour of 5:30am to get my long run in.  I ran 16 miles, it started out really bad, my legs felt like lead.  But after about 4 miles, I was in my groove and for once I felt like I could run farther when I was done.  That is a good thing, because this Saturday is 18 miles!  I also received another donation aside from the Euchre Tournament for $100, so all together, the total will go up by $714!  That is awesome!

If you would like to sign up for the Run/Walkathon, or if you have any questions - you can email me at ofoneheart@hotmail.com. Thanks for reading!

A trip down memory lane...

On Saturday I did my long run...17 miles:)  It went REALLY well!  My ankle did good, it was a little sore afterwards, but not painful like the week before.  The weather was great and until about the last 2 miles, I was feeling awesome!  The last 2 miles were rough, but they will get easier.  This weekend, it will be 16 miles again.

Also, this weekend is the Euchre Tournament!!!  I can't wait, i think we will have about 20-30 people.  Let me know if you want a ticket - there are plenty of seats left:)  There will be 50/50 raffles throughout the event and cheap beer and wings.  It's going to be a blast! 

I have mentioned a Road Rally that my church is organizing - that will be held on April 30th, it is the Saturday after the run/walkathon.  I will definitely keep everyone updated on those details.  I was asked by my church to tell "my story" about how Dr. Mann has helped me and my family.  So I asked my parents to give me some information about what they had to go through when I was a baby.  My mom actually kept a notebook/journal about my visits to the Dr.'s and hospitals until I was in middle school.  How awesome!  It is almost 25 pages of information.  It definitely brought tears to my eyes.  They also told me that after having my first surgery when they closed the gap in my lip - they wondered if they had done the right thing.  They had fallen in love with me the way I was and they didn't want to change that.  That was awesome to hear!  Thanks mom and dad!  They talked about how when I was 3 months old, I had an expander in my mouth to open up my upper jaw.  It was a plate that fit on the roof of my mouth and once a week they had to turn a dial on the plate and it would push my jaw apart.  In order to do this, they had to hold me down and I would NOT like it!  There are many things my parents had to do that I don't even know about and I am sooo thankful for them all!!  It must have been really difficult and emotionally draining.  I think I will type up that journal (with my parent's permission) and post it, it's pretty cool to read.

So this week has been a trip down memory lane for me and my parents and it has made me realize how lucky I am and how much I have to be thankful for!  Another reason I am happy to be raising money for this organization, I would love to help other children feel the same way:)  Thanks for reading!

Lessons learned...

Hello!  Well, this week I have been taking it easy on my ankle, I ran 3 miles on Monday on the treadmill, Tuesday was the ladder drill down in the dungeon with my boot camp friends, and Thursday was HIIT's, 12 x 30sec sprints.  I am feeling good, my ankle is a little sore, but I have been icing it along and it is actually starting to feel better. Whew!  Tomorrow will be 17 miles!!! Whoa!!!

Well, at boot camp on Tuesday, Jim Patch, the leader and also a personal trainer at the YMCA, told us why it is okay and good for your heart, to stop and walk every now and then when you are running.  He compared the heart to a bicep muscle.  In order to work out the bicep muscle, you need to overload it by lifting weights and doing repetitions.  Well, since the heart rate slows a lot faster than blood flow, when you are running, and then slow to a walk, you are overloading your heart.  This in turn makes your heart stronger.  I really enjoyed this lesson, I have heard from many people that a "real" runner does not stop to walk, well, I consider myself a "real" runner, and I stop and walk sometimes, and now I know that it is actually beneficial to my heart to do so!  Thanks Jim!

On another note, I had a different type of lesson this week.  I had a moment that made me realize why I am doing all of this fundraising.  In my room at work I have a large tri-fold poster hanging with information about Of One Heart and cleft lip and palate.  I also have a few before and after pictures of children with cleft lips and palates, about half of them are my own pictures.  Well, this week while I was taking xrays on a patient, he was looking at the pictures and made this comment.  "Those kids look freaky, they are freaking me out!"  This comment stung pretty bad, it is always hard to hear that a picture of you as a baby is "freaky".  I told him they are actually pictures of me as a baby and explained to him what a cleft lip and palate is and how it is fixed.  He continued to ask a lot of questions and it became clear to me that he did not know anything about this type of birth defect.  After educating him a little, he was clearly embarrassed by his earlier comment, and he ended up taking one of my fliers about the organization.

This situation made me realize that I am doing this not only to help the children who need it, but to educate others on these birth defects and to make them realize it can happen to anybody!  These children need our monetary help so they can look "normal" and not have to worry about people calling them "freaks".  Even though I was hurt by those words, I am happy that happened, it made me want to help even more:)

But, to make this patient look better, he is a very nice guy!  He made a pretty funny joke at the end of the appointment.  He said I was his favorite "hook-master" (I am a dental hygienist), but he said he was about to say that I was his favorite hooker, but he caught himself before saying that!  LOL

Well, we are doing good with the fundraising, we have raised another $250!!!  I will add that to the total, which will make it over $1000!!!  Yay!!  Don't forget, there is a Euchre Tournament next Saturday, March 12, at 12:30pm....let me know if you want tickets!  Thanks for reading!