Where Have I Been?

It's been three weeks since my last post and I have no idea why, so let me catch you up a bit.

Major League Baseball started here in Chicago on the 31st of March and I made it to the Cubs opening day for the 5th year in a row. Thankfully I was waterproof from head to toe because there were two rain delays. I'm glad it was rain and not snow, though, because that has happened before. I went to one other Cubs game since my last post, also.

Unpacking from my move seems to be moving at a turtle's pace. The fact that I moved back to my parents' house has made it slightly more difficult because not only do I have to find a place for everything that was at my apartment, but I also have to sort through everything else I left there when I moved out. Further complicating things is that my younger sister is graduating soon and some of her stuff is filtering in. Did I mention I only have on hand?

On April 8 I went to the doctor to have my staples removed from my surgical incision and to get another set of x-rays. The x-rays showed that the bone still hasn't fused back together so I still need to keep weight off of it. However, the staples are out so I can start to exercise again. Friday I ran for 20 minutes just to measure to what extent my lungs were effected by not exercising for a month, and it went better than expected, which is very encouraging. I'm hoping to ride the trainer sometime this week to judge if I will be able to ride to a presentation I'm giving this Sunday or if I will need to drive.

Since my last blog update I have also secured the final donation I needed to reach my $10,000 goal. WOO HOO! I have been very blessed by my friends, family, and community through their generosity and encouragement. I'd like to thank each of them for making it possible. But, I am not giving up raising awareness and money because while I have raised my amount to help break the cycle for some living in poverty there are still others who can be blessed through my efforts. The problem is bigger than any one person can accomplish alone so when one person completes his or her task, he/she becomes responsible for helping those who are struggling with theirs.

I received an email from a local church looking to support me and in the email they asked how my fundraising was going. After responding that I had recently fulfilled my portion their response almost sounded discouraged because it didn't seem to them that they would be making as much of a difference. But, upon their request, I contacted another Sea to Sea participant, Aaron Carpenter, whose fundraising is moving slower because of school, and he agreed to make the presentation with me. I like this because at the end of the day I will not know exactly how much money I personally had a hand in raising, so I won't make this into a competition (something I love to do) and cannot boast about it. Since there are so many people in my area and so few riders I feel responsible to help everyone out where the riders are many but the people are few. I would love it if I could work it out to do a presentation every Sunday until the tour starts.

Jill Feikema and I are trying to organize a fundraising ride in mid May. We've been going back and forth on the details for some time, but I think we are about ready to nail some things down. I'm designing a T-shirt that we hope to give to everyone who participates and then sell them to individuals who want to support us, but don't feel like riding.

I pray that all your keystrokes be just as effective at raising awareness and support for the tour as your peddlestrokes.