Hi Everyone-
We wanted to catch you all up to speed since our last post : ) Last
you knew, Jas' stent was removed the day after Memorial Day. Well, to our
surprise, they then ended up taking Jason's chest tube out that Friday, June
1st. Talk about an unexpected blessing the day before the big Miles4Wiles
walk! Jas is down to one tube left (feeding tube) and no stent for the
big day! And I have to say, it was probably the best he has felt in the
past 5 months! What a HUGE Praise to God!
So, moving on to the Miles4Wiles walk.... what an INCREDIBLE, INCREDIBLE
day! For those who aren't in MD, we had some nasty thunderstorms and tornadoes roll though dropping a ton of rain, so we were elated with what a gorgeous day Saturday turned out
to be! Clear, sunny and in the low 70’s. Perfect! And the
surroundings of where the walk had taken place were perfectly matched with
Jason's love for nature. It was held at a Nature Center in Frederick
County in the middle of nowhere! Hiking
trails, playground, a stream to skip rocks and animals to play with in the
center.
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| From Left to Right/Husband & Wife Organizers: Eric & Brandie Couch, Us and CJ & Dana Conrad |
Now let me explain some behind the scenes info behind the walk, so you
understand the connections a little better as you see pics. Last fall when Jas was diagnosed with
esophageal cancer, our amazing friends Brandie, Dana, Bev & Kristina approached us about wanting to do a fundraiser to help our family. With Christmas quickly approaching and with
Jas undergoing radiation and chemo at that time, we had decided it would be best to wait
until the new year to hold an event.
With his surgery happening in January and recovery truly taking a good 5
months, this walk was God’s perfect timing!
The date was set long ago and yet makes me smile every time I think
about the fact that on the day of the walk, Jas was truly at his best that I
had seen over the past 5 months. It
truly felt like a celebration that day which was so AWESOME!
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| Registration Table: Janie (sis), Mom & Mary (Brandie's mom) |
Our supporters began to arrive around 9am to register and the flurry
began. T-shirts were handed out that made us
smile! The front of the shirt said
Miles4Wiles and had a tennis shoe below with Romans 8:28 on the inside of an ichthus
fish. The back was for business
sponsors, which we ended up with 1 from our dear family friend – Joe Mama. Most people didn’t have a clue what that was
all about LOL, however we felt so grateful to know that our dear friend, whom I’ve
known for over 30 years, had helped sponsor the shirts and was there with us in
spirit!
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| Prayer Kick Off |
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| Prayer Kick Off |
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| Romans 8:28 scripture with the direction arrows |
Ok, back to the kickoff! Eric opened
us up with a beautiful prayer and then we started putting rubber to the
pavement. We had close to 100 walkers
there with us, which was so moving to have them supporting us in person. We sure did appreciate the sacrifice everyone
made to get there in honor of Jas! So
the walk was a ½ mile loop that could be repeated as many times as walkers were
willing to walk. One loop was enough for
Jas but he did the ½ mile well as he’s still working on building his endurance
up. The trail had all of the turns marked with
arrows and had scripture attached which we loved to be directed by God’s word
in this event.
After about 1.5 hours of walking, the group was rallied together and we were
presented with the grand total of what was raised. Can I tell you how completely SHOCKED, AMAZED
and in tears we were when the grand total was revealed? God is so incredibly good! While the initial goal was to raise $6k, the
grand total actually collected was over $20k. We were completely BLOWN AWAY with how God continues to provide
for our family! WOW, WOW, WOW! I don’t even know how else to describe that
day and how grateful we are for everyone’s hearts being softened toward our family
this past year. As you can see yet again, God continues to shower his love on our family : )
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| Miles4Wiles Group Photo |
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| From Left to Right: John & Jill (Meg's parents) and furthest to the Right Janie (Meg's Sister) |
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts to Brandie & Dana for all of your hard work that went into running the
Miles4Wileswalk for our family. And of course to their families and all the other families involved in
supporting them in making this event come to life and the various roles that you played! There was so much that went on behind the scenes and will continue to do so for awhile as a result of this event. THANK YOU for your servant hearts and We Love You! And to those who sacrificed their Saturday and even traveled from various states to
be with us in person – we felt so loved to have such an
awesome turn out of support and are overwhelmed with your donations and love for our family! And to those who weren’t able to be with us
but made contributions, thank you so very much and we felt you there with us in spirit : ) It's incredible to experience such generosity the way that we have from you all in so many various ways!
I wanted to end this post with a statement we heard at church the day after the walk, that was the icing on the cake for us that weekend.
We went to church and our Pastor continued his series that he had been
preaching on about love. One statement
he shared was that here on earth we are only experiencing
glimpses of God’s
love for us. I don’t know about you when
you hear this, but when we heard this we were in tears all over again. Reflecting back on this past year and most recently our Miles4Wiles walk, we have
felt showered in God’s love through our trials with cancer. And yet to think that what we have felt as
being showered, were just glimpses of God’s love for us. So overwhelming and mind boggling isn’t it? I can’t even fully comprehend God’s love for
us, it’s so AMAZING!
God Bless & With Much Love!
Forever grateful for your love, encouragement and support!
Jas, Meg & Taylor
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| A special THANKS to Tania Grab for the awesome pics she took at the Miles4Wiles walk! |
