11.14.2011

Where There's a WILL, There's a Way Rally

Recently, my mom & I began to talk about doing some sort of rally to spread awareness about all Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children does for Texas kids, what they have done for our family, limb differences, & Will's team, 

But, I told her I have no extra energy and no margin in life to pull it off.
She doesn't have much either but she offered her time and talents and boy did she ever pull it off!

Hanging over her street yesterday was this sign

Hours later - this street was FULL.

Will & his Lovie
Over 400 invitations were sent out,
the newspaper was contacted, 
& friends volunteered their time to man tables (& hold Ellie)

It was great!
A huge success!

Burch - a baseball superstar at OU came.  He is always so good to Will - coming to throw the ball with him when he is in town or sending him signed baseballs.
Several teenagers agreed to help us by face painting - a big hit with the kids!



And lots of people who are in Will's life - like his Kung Fu instructor (thanks Mr. Brandon!) & his preschool friends & his Sunday School coordinator  and Mrs. Colley from church came.

Will and the Bolins (she is his Sunday School coordinator at our church, he is head of Christian Camping International and a great speaker if you ever need one!)
Will adores Mrs. Bolin - she is a great great preschool teacher and I love the Bible knowledge he is learning under her and the way his heart is growing.  He hates to leave Sunday school and comes home really knowing scripture & then he applies it during the week.  
Today it was Boaz and Ruth & Naomi. Not bad for a four year old!  I am so thankful for those who invest in his life and for the fact that they took time to come show him love this weekend at the rally.
Some local businesses donated door prizes and Scottish Rite sent us lots of door prizes.  Will got to draw the winner's names.


Lots of his little friends came - we felt so supported & I know he did too!
(These are super cute kids but I haven't asked for their parent's permission yet to post them online and I feel weird about putting kids on the internet without parent permission.  I promise, they are cute!)
This baby, also super cute, is Ellie's age and for the first time, I saw Ellie get really, really excited about another kid.  She wanted out of my arms and to be standing like her new friend, E.  She also wanted to check out E's tummy which E wasn't so sure about.

This morning, when we walked into our church, the executive pastor was one of the first people we saw... and he was wearing a Will shirt!  He had brought his entire family to the rally & it was fun to see his kids this morning wearing shirts too.  Then, we saw Mr. Bolin - wearing a shirt.
Then, when we walked to the preschool area to drop off Will, all of the administration was wearing shirts!  
Then, when we got to Will's class,  all of his teachers and one of his friends had on a shirt.
Wow.  Just wow!
We are humbled and felt so supported and loved by our new church.
And Will, who has struggled this year with being the different one...
he felt loved and lifted up & celebrated!

(Will's teachers)
(sorry -fuzzy phone picture)

Thanks, everyone who attended our first rally!
And a HUGE thanks to my mom & dad for pulling it off - for  using your time, creativity, home, and money to pull off a huge rally & giving me the grace to not do the work!
Thanks to all who came and celebrated our son!
Thanks to Scottish Rite Hospital for the excellent care your give both of our children and especially to Becky - the Senior Special Events Officer (& a dear friend) who drove from Dallas as a hospital representative to be at the rally & provided us with fun give aways!
And thanks to so many who were inspired by the hospital and all it does for our family and other Texas families and gave - 
we raised 
$6,637.00 in 90 minutes!!!!!

And hopefully we heightened the awareness in our local area about Texas Scottish Rite and what they can offer families and children!

Most importantly, we celebrated Will & limb differences!

(want a shirt?  Email me at baseballsbutterfliesblessings@gmail.com
I have some shirts in stock to sell still.
Also - in the Dallas area?  Or a runner looking for a great race to do this winter in a warm state?  Join us at the Dallas White Rock Marathon where Team Where There's a WILL There's a Way Runs the Rock & Rocks the Cause!  The marathon benefits the hospital and we'd love to have you run or cheer or just show up at our pre-party!  More info & t-shirt info at

2 thoughts:

Annette Honeycutt said...

Ha ha! Totally don't mind and we had a great time! Btw! Cookies were AMAZINGLY GOOD! Where did they come from?! I loved seeing our kids play so well together!:-)

Unknown said...

WHAT A GREAT IDEA! LOVE THE RALLY IDEA...I will try to spread the word on my Facebook if that's ok about being a participant in the race. Have tons of BU yell leader alum in the Dallas area. Hope thats ok. Your pics are so good...and it never gets old of seeing Will running--I could look at the pics every day as well :) Awesome kid you have there. Glad you got your first trophy Will. Give your Mom a hug for me! Love always--EJ

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