2nd Annual Chosen Marathon: SA Lewis to Ethiopia

This year's Chosen marathon was AMAZING!!! When I first started telling people and recruiting for our team, I wasn't going to really push it and I thought if I got 20 people, that would be great. Well... my dear friend Kristi, who is an amazing mom and coach, convinced me that I needed to beat last year's team number of 35. And we did with 50 team members (including myself, Eden and Claire)!!! Each day more people kept signing up and surprising me! God just kept prompting hearts and you all responded!! Out of the 50 people, besides the girls and I, we personally knew 26 members (12 from church), knew 7 through other team members and didn't know 14 of our team members AT ALL (including 6 of the kids)!! And 13 of the 47 were on our team last year. Doesn't that blow your mind?

I want to thank you by name and recognize each of you:

Lezlee & Jeremy Zorn
Melynda Dye
Jill Hill
Jim McDaniel
Faith Thomson
Tom Thomson
Melanie Romero
Danny & Jenny Gonzales
David Gonzales
Mike & Heather Walvoord
Mary Walvoord
Heather Adams
Becky Bounds
Monica Chapman
Georgia & Emily Ockerman
Nathaniel & Sara Dowell
Rick Deaver
Liz Culver
Kimberly Heimbecker
Sam Plake
Kathryn Stevens
Alison Luce
Rebecca Gough
Joyce Bogue
Bridget Emerson
Brandon & Samantha Hopkins
Joseph Leonguerrero
Alecia Murphy
Andrea Owen
Kristi Seitz
Kim Potter
June Shanahan
Leanne Boddie
Erin Wiedenfeld
Avery, Jack & Luke Lindley
Hannon & Parker Joseph
Ace Emerson
Addyson Schlink
Claire & Eden Lewis

This incredible group of people are made up of childhood friends, church family including an elder, friends of friends, spouses, total strangers, a next door neighbor, my immediate family, former co-workers, people from my high school and youth group that I've gotten reconnected with on facebook... I just love looking at who has created this year's team and am so humbled and grateful for the time, effort and commitment they made to help us bring our baby home.

The funds raised will be covering our second trip expenses which means as we have estimated, we are almost fully funded... PRAISE GOD! When we first started this journey 19 months ago we had no idea how we would be covering the expenses but every step of the way He has been faithful to provide and show us a testimony to "His will, His bill"!

Thank you again to everyone who made this year's experience unforgettable and for partnering with us as we continue to wait for our baby boy. You all have played a very important role in this journey! I urge you to not stop here and to find other ways to support adoption, orphan care and foster in one way or another. Trust God's prompting and prayerfully consider where He will take you!