It's Never Too Late...

We are always so touched by the donations we get for Andy. Sometimes they are from a close friend, or someone who we knew a long time ago but have lost touch with, or sometimes a stranger. Each gift though is special because it has taken some kind of sacrifice, and has been a part of each person. A particularly special gift came from our friend Nance last week. She and her husband Greg have been dear friends to Jon and me in Charlottesville over the past several years. Nance lost her mom a few years ago, and if she was anything like Nance, she was a great woman. In order to give Andy a financial gift, Nance sold a piece of her mom's jewelry (gold brings a high dollar these days!) and donated the profit from it to our race fund. She said it was a charm that read, "It's Never too Late". She said her mom would have been so happy to have given to Andy. We love you Nance and are grateful for your generosity and for your mom!

Nance will probably laugh when she sees this picture- its from a local paper a couple of years ago who spotted her fashion sense. Isn't she cute??

P.S. Nance is also an amazing artist and author. Here is her website.

P.P.S. Only 3 more weeks until our race!!!

Living Philanthropic

Hello friends,
I'm writing from my cozy little office, watching the rain pour down the window. I have had a smile on my face today because of an amazing little $5 gift to Andy.

In December, Jon told me about a man who has decided to give to someone or an organization everyday for 365 days. I thought that was such a great goal and I immediately started following him on Facebook and subscribed to his blog. I also told him about Andy. I told him his story, and our small ambition to run for him and give him some money. I didn't really expect for him to email me back or even consider giving our fund money- it seemed that he was giving to organizations mostly.

Then at 7:00 this morning, I got an email from Andy (sent at 4:14 A.M. undoubtedly awake and uncomfortable) that said:
You received a payment of $5.00 USD from Carlo Garcia.

I rolled back over, wondering "Who is Carlo Garcia??" I thought, maybe some random person just stumbled across our blog and was feeling generous.... or maybe this is one of Andy's friends in Chicago.

Then, I just started to laugh like a crazy person and woke Jon up. I said, "Do you remember that guy who gives to someone everyday? WELL LOOK AT THIS!!!" (click on the link below :) )

Living Philanthropic-Running for Andy

He chose to give to our little mission! I was so grateful that someone who doesn't even know us gave $5 to our cause. Its not a lot, but it showed me how if everyone just gave a small amount, how much good could be done. I want to give generously of myself and my resources- even if its small. You never know how your small gift could change someone and bring goodness. In the words of Carlo, "This mission is built on a belief that you don't have to be rich in dollars to make a difference, you only need to be rich in spirit. I may not always be able to give a lot, but I will Give Everyday. "

Two and Half Months 'Till Race Day!

It's hard to believe that we are 3 months into this journey - Running for Andy. The experience and perception of time are quite mysterious...

As the weather turns warmer, we are finding our runs to be more pleasing - apart from the new and nagging pains that accompany each trip. Lauren still has a tight and very sore Achilles tendon, while Jon has been officially diagnosed with an IT band injury - ouch! We've taken it easy on long runs for several weeks, but are making up for lost cardio training in the gym with cross-training exercises. Hopefully neither of us will lose much of the stamina we had built up before January's aches and pains crept in on us, but more than that we're hopeful that these injuries will soon heal completely so we can get back to our normal training regimen. Our "temporary" injuries causing this frustration pale in comparison to what Andy experiences every day. We have been reminded of him a lot as we struggle with our bodies and the futility that seems to accompany everything we set out to accomplish.

Andy made a post to his CaringBridge site earlier this month - if you haven't read it go check it out for an update on him. We pray every day that his spasticity and neuropathic pain will subside - these are especially frustrating setbacks. We also continue to pray for a full recovery - this our hope for his body! In the meantime, Andy is hard at work with rehab and trying to establish a sustainable work schedule. Given the every-other-day neuropathic pain, both of these efforts have proven themselves to be especially challenging.

If you have not already, please do consider making a contribution (nothing is too small!) to Andy's fund to help offset his growing expenses. As he is sorting out what exactly work life will look like for him with the increasingly frustrating setbacks in his body, our financial and prayer support to him is immeasurable.

Thank you for being such a witness for hope.

With love,

Jon and Lauren

Perseverance

Hello from a Spring-like day in C'ville! It has been nice to run in a little bit warmer weather, and we can't wait for Spring to make its way here. We are both adjusting to bodies that are not used to running long distances. Lauren had an x-ray today to see if she had tendonitis in her achilles tendon. (not to be confused with Brad Pitt in his great role of Achilles). Thankfully, the results came back that there is nothing too serious going on. I think some ice and taking a little break might help. Jon is having some pain in his knee but still managed to run EIGHTmiles on Saturday!! (also, not to be confused with Eminem in the less than stellar 8Mile).

As we are learning to push through some of this pain, readjust our expectations about how much/how far we can go right now, and make some sacrifices (like running out in the cold in the morning instead of drinking coffee and reading in bed!!), we are inspired and continue to persevere thinking of Andy's determination and dilligence. We are daily grateful for him and he is constantly on our hearts and minds as we know the amazing challenges he faces each day.

There are only 107 days left until our big race! There is still time to help us reach our goal- we are so grateful for whatever people can give. Andy and Lauren's parents Tom and Beth are officially signed up for the big 5K on the day of our race! It is so neat to have so many family members involved and giving their support.

Here is a picture of our favorite road in Charlottesville- its 8 miles roundtrip. Unfortunately it was not this vibrant with color when we ran on Saturday! Soon it will be alive with the sights and sounds of new life in Spring.

Ridge Road

with love and hope,
Lauren and Jon

Our Words

As promised, we wanted to share our "words" for 2010 and 2011. Enjoy!

Lauren:
2010 = Awful / Awe-full
*This might sound really cynical, but I tried to think of a word that encompassed a lot of different things. (feel free to suggest a better one!) Awe-full as in full of awe at some of the things that have happened this past year. It was an awful experience in a lot of ways buying our first house, but I was in awe of God's timing for us and in awe of the possibilities before us. I have been in awe of the scope of life and how joy and sorrow can seem to go hand in hand. Jon's word for 2010 explains a lot of the awe and awfulness that we experienced last year.


2011 = Open (adj.)
* As I look ahead to 2011, a word that keeps coming to me is "open". I want to go into this year with open hands and an open heart. I want to be open to new possibilities. I want to open my hands widely and give generously. I want to be open when things don't go my way- to be willing to set aside my desires and expectations for another. I want to be open to giving myself grace to struggle, to grow, to accept who I am and where I am. And most of all, I want to be open to all that God has for me- whether through pain, through uncertainty, or the great blessings He gives me. To be open to all that he wants to do in me and through me.


Jon:
2010 = Family (n .)
*Lauren and I experienced "family" in so many new ways this year. In this our third year of marriage, we are growing increasingly together as our own unique family - for now just the two of us. We rang in the '09/'10 new year on the heels of having just lost Mammaw, Lauren's grandmother on her mom Beth's side. She was dear to all of us and we came into the holiday season last year with heavy hearts and began 2010 thinking a lot about Lauren's family during this time of loss.
We found out in March that my brother Ben and his wife Summer were expecting their second baby, due on December 25, 2010 (he came on 12/11/10). My family was growing!





Not only were new babies being born into the Thompson family, but a wonderful new addition was announced in the spring by way of an engagement. My sister Rebecca and her soon-to-be husband Michael will be married in 2011! Around this same time Lauren and I bought our first house - a big step for our young family.


In April, Nana and Pop-Pop, my grandparents on my mom's side suffered a vehicle-totalling car accident that put Pop-Pop in the hospital with a ruptured spleen that nearly killed him; later in August, after his recovery, we celebrated Pop-Pop's 86th birthday!

But as you all know now, August brought an accident that again broke our hearts and changed our lives with Andy's fall in Chicago. Lauren and I have spent the rest of this year struggling together alongside of Andy and our family; crying, praying, visiting, hoping. So again at the turn of the new year '10/'11 we found ourselves in much the same place as last year - holding in our hands both the considerable loss of the past year and taking hope and courage along into the next.

Andy at his Dermatology graduation dinner in the Spring.

2011 = Advocate (n.)

My desire for 2011 is that everything in my life be marked by knowing that I have an advocate in Christ. The truth of the gospel is that when we are in Christ, our Father sees Him when He looks at us. This is good news indeed! But not only in that it allows for forgiveness, but also that in Christ I am seen as a son, and loved completely. This brings so much freedom, and I want my life to be all about living in this freedom. I also want to be an advocate for those in need (of course not in the way Jesus is for us) through the life I lead and the work that I do. I especially want my work to be about laboring for the flourishing of others. That's intentionally broad, but hopefully we'll have more to share on that in the coming months.

Your Word

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We watched the movie Eat Pray Love recently. It's a true story (and book) by a woman named Elizabeth, recently divorced, who travels around the world in search of her life's meaning. She stops in Italy (to Eat), India (to Pray), and Bali (where she finds Love). When Elizabeth is in Rome, one of her friends explains to her that each city has "one word" that defines it - like "Ambition" for New York - and then gives her a personal challenge to define herself in one word.

This scene reminded me of a yearly tradition we have in our household. When we were Trinity Fellows our friend Shannon asked us all to share one word that defined the previous year, and then to share one word that we hoped would define the next year. We've been doing it ever since!

The exercise is interesting because it requires you to consider the past year's events - it's joys and sorrows - along with your responsibilities and relationships to find one single word that could define an entire year. It then it requires you to consider your hopes, dreams, prayers, and desires for your life (or more specifically, your next year). Our "word" speaks a lot about who we are (both our stories and our characters), and who we want to be.

So if you're reading this, let us pass the tradition on to you. What is your word for this past year? Next?

Stay tuned for our "words" in the coming days. In light of all that has happened in our families this year, we have a lot of words to sort through!

By the way, we're up to 6 miles in our training program which we found especially hard to accomplish after fattening up on all of the baked goods of the season!

Note to self, Eggnog is not a protein shake.

12-11-10

Today we reached a new milestone in our training program - 5 miles! For both of us, who have never been long-distance runners, each "long run" day brings about a new personal record - so we have a little mini-celebration each Saturday for each other! This morning Lauren (a.k.a. Superwife), made scones and French pressed coffee right after we finished!

Today is also a special day for Jon's family. His brother Ben and sister-in-law Summer are in the hospital right now having a little baby boy. Prayers for them as they welcome their second into the world! Lauren noted that 12-11-10 is a pretty cool birthday for the little guy.

As for other countdowns, we are 5 months out from the Indy-Mini!

We struggled to roll out of bed this morning to train knowing how cold it was outside and how tired we've been with the busy travel schedule of late, but were reminded of our brother Andy and his daily, moment-by-moment struggle to make his way in this new world of his. At each moment of pain we experience in our runs, we count it as joy to be sharing in some small way in Andy's journey.

We are as determined as ever to complete this race and run our hearts out for him.