a necklace for sydney

As I write this, the rest of Dave's family are together in Michigan.

They are together, along with lots of their friends for the Detroit Half Marathon tomorrow, with LLS (the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society).

At the beginning of the year, Stacy, Sydney's mom, told us they wanted to form a team - TEAM SYDNEY - to raise money for Leukemia research and run this race in honor of Sydney (our 7 year old niece who was diagnosed with Leukemia a little over a year ago). 

The time came to actually register and we had just found out I was pregnant.

Early enough that we hadn't even told family yet.

Until this point, I had "told" everyone I would plan on running. I really really wanted to.  I had been wanting to do a half marathon anyway, and it would have meant so much more to run for our sweet niece.  But we eventually had to tell everyone I wouldn't be participating because I'd be 8 months pregnant at the time of the race.

So tomorrow is the race.

Tonight is an inspiration dinner, where Stacy is a guest speaker.

And Sydney was suppossed to be an honorary guest.

Thursday night Sydney was admitted to the hospital because of a fever, which means (as far as we've been told), she would not be able to attend tonight's dinner.

Such a disappointment.

But the team is gathered, and I can't  imagine the emotions they are all facing tonight.

It saddens us so much that we aren't there with the rest of our family.

Instead, we are babysitting our nephews and niece and enjoying a house FULL of noise and cheers for K-State football!

5 kids sure can make a lot of noise.

 We struggled and struggled with trying to figure out a way we could do something special, without being able to be there for the dinner and race tomorrow.

13.1 T-shirts, stickers, race day care packages, etc.

Lots of ideas, but nothing that we were super excited about.

It was just so hard to try to think of something - when nothing really has the same affect as just being able to be there with everyone.

Then, thanks to Pinterest, I ran across a marathon necklace. So I began to look into getting a necklace designed.

And quickly fell in love with this idea.

I work at the last minute - pretty much always.

So I had to find a seller who could get them to me in a week, enough for the whole team of 13, and still be possible financially for us to be able to get that many.

I found Crafty Creations on Etsy and Melissa was SO easy and flexible to work with. 

And most importantly said she could definitely have them to me in time for me to get them on the plane with the rest of the family.

I love the necklace she designed and tonight each member of Team Sydney will open their necklace and little note from us, and hopefully it will be our way to be a part of the weekend while still being thousands of miles away.

 We picked an orange stone because orange is the color for Leukemia awareness, as a reminder of all the money that was raised by the team and what a difference it will make.

13 people and over $29,000 - wow!

We put the reference to one of our favorite verses on the back of the necklace, in hopes it will bring encouragement, hope, strength and perseverance to each one who wears it.

Not only for the race, but every day after that.

(before I found Crafty Creations, I had Beki at The Rusted Chain design this necklace for Sydney's mom.  It is fabulous also but I forgot to take pictures)

As we wrote up the note that we sent along with each necklace, we really struggled in how to share our heart and bring special meaning to this necklace.  We wanted it to be worn as a memory of the race, the work and training and money raised to get there, and we wanted it to be a reminder to continue to pray for Sydney, and her mom, dad and brother, but we also wanted it to stand for something more.

And for us...this is what kept coming to mind...

In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says...

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done..."

Because we serve a GOOD God, no matter what.

No matter what we have to go through, no matter what our emotions tell us.

He is good and he works out his good and perfect plan in each of us.

We are praying that Sydney gets to join her "team" tomorrow to watch the race, instead of being stuck in a hospital room the entire weekend when all these events are for her.  But no matter what, we know He is watching out for her and is working out every detail.