Thursday, April 3, 2008

Ukrop's 10k info and other stuff

Well, now that Saturday’s Ukrop’s 10K is fast approaching – yes, THIS Saturday – I thought I would talk about it a little.

First, I would like to say that I have always been uncomfortable talking about our money situation – much less asking for donations, etc. to The Harlie Fund. So, when Maria Candler with James River Grounds Management, Co. approached us with her fundraising idea to incorporate the Ukrop’s 10K into a fundraiser for Harlie, we were very overwhelmed, and perhaps a little quiet. (See 02/06/08 entry if you don't know what I'm talking about).

Well, we are getting excited now. Tom’s been training and reached his weight goal of 175 today (his goal was to be 175 by race day). YAY for him! Although, I don’t think he should lose one more pound, or he’ll be too skinny in my opinion. All my family and friends have gathered around to support us. And, even people we don’t know have been out raising funds and/or will be running and cheering on Saturday. I cannot begin to express what it feels like to know that so many people (friends, family and especially those we don’t even know) have been touched by Harlie’s story and have gone out of their way to help her – and us. Seriously, there simply are no words.

There are so many times when I could be angry at what has happened to my sweet Harlie and all the many pains and battles she has and will continue to endure in her lifetime. But, it seems that the good in the people around us takes over and makes me so thankful. I really don’t have the time, nor the desire to be angry. My faith in humanity is restored on a regular basis. 

I’ll give you just a few examples. 

Maria Candler for one (that’s easy) for organizing this whole event. Then, a girl I met just a few months ago, Kim. I’ve mentioned her a few times. Her daughter is Sadie, and has a CHD, too. Well, she e-mailed me the other day and said that a friend of hers in California was having a neighborhood fundraiser for Harlie. Huh? What? Are you kidding me? It is times like these that I know this world is full of good people. And that’s what makes me not so afraid of Harlie’s future. She will touch good people for the rest of her life and she will be fine.

Enough of the mushy stuff (for now). Now, for the race details. We are going to meet around Birch and West Franklin (Monument turns into W. Franklin at Stuart Circle) sometime around 8am. If you are running or walking, please look for us around this area (it is about 1/3 mile from the finish). If we get there early enough, hopefully our group can be pretty big and obvious. Parking is, of course, on your own, wherever you can find a spot. As the runners finish the race, we’ll head on down to the finish at Monroe Park. They will have letters posted so you can meet your family and friends according to the participant’s last name at the end. I was thinking we could all meet under the Z to make it easy for all of us. Then at 11:30, we will meet Maria and the James River Grounds group, at the fountain in Monroe Park.

I know it will probably rain, but we’ll be there regardless. I am really looking forward to it. Good luck to the runners/walkers and know that you will have a good cheering crowd to support you.

Now on to other stuff: Our big news of the day is that Harlie got her new walker today! Traci (her physical therapist) surprised me with it today when she came for PT. It was delivered just a few minutes after Traci got here. But they delivered the wrong thing. Then the guy was nice enough to run over and get the right one and bring it right back over. It swivels VERY easily. So, her biggest challenge won’t be making it turn, it will making it stay straight! As soon as she started walking with it, she was going in circles. Hopefully it won’t take her long at all to get the hang of it.

We also got her Go Talk communication device today. Our speech therapist (Beth) came for ST today and brought me the photo pages that I made. We don’t have a color printer, so I made the pages with our photos and then e-mailed them to her and she printed them out for me.

I will take some photos of the Go Talk so you can see what I mean. It just might take me a couple of days to do it. I did get some video of Beth teaching Harlie how to use it. That is not an easy task, let me tell you. Repetition is key, and that can be very draining – for all involved. But, it seems that she catches on pretty quickly. It was very nice to hear Beth say that she thinks Harlie is smart. They’ve told me all along that her intelligence shouldn’t be affected by her medical issues. But, sometimes it is hard to tell when they are behind developmentally.

Tomorrow we are off to Children’s in DC for an ENT appointment. Well, that’s it for tonight.

Thanks for checking in!

Take care,
Christy

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