Since Anna was diagnosed our family has participated in the JDRF Walk for a Cure. It always falls right around the time Anna was diagnosed, so it's kinda like her diabetic birthday celebration. (crazy, i know.) We design t-shirts and invite all to come walk with us. Then the night of the walk we invite everyone over to my parents' house for hotdogs and games. This pictures in white shirts are from our first year and pink shirts are from last year. It has been awesome to see our friends, new and old come together to walk with us. But this year will look a little different. 
has struggled with coping with her disease. When Anna was diagnosed, she was 4. At that time, Anna would have jumped off a building if Joel or I had asked her to. That's how she handled her diabetes, we told her she had to, so even with a few tears she would do as she was told and move on. Now that she is a little older, she has more questions and emotions when it comes to her diabetes. This summer, especially, we have had MANY tears about how it 's not fair and when are they going to find a cure (which is still a long ways off)? She doesn't want anything to do with diabetes. So when I asked her about the JDRF Walk this year, she didn't seem that interested. The Walk was not high on her to do list, but she still wanted to have the party at Grandma and Grandpa's! Can I blame her? What 8 year old wouldn't want a party?!? So here is what we have decided to do...
This year, instead of focusing on finding a cure for our own problem, we are going to focus on helping someone else out. We will still have the Diabetic Birthday Party (really just celebrating that we made it through another year of diabetes). She and I had a long conversation last night about all the people in the world that have to deal with UNFAIR things. It's not just her. We talked about Autism, severe peanut allergies, poverty, cancer and a few others. We talked about people in 3rd world countries who have to walk miles to get a drink of water and how sometimes that water contains things that can make them very sick or die. Anna decided she wants to help build a well in Africa. We talked about all kinds of ways to raise money for this well. One way that she decided is to make bracelets with her rainbow loom and sell them. Then any money she makes will go to the well. We are going through Blood Water Missions. They focus on helping with the AIDS/HIV and Water problems of Africa. Check them out here: www.bloodwatermission.com Are you interested in a bracelet? We are taking orders!!
Even though we are not walking in the JDRF Walk for a Cure, it is still near and dear to us. I pray for a cure everyday. If you would still like to donate to JDRF, please do so. In fact, here is a link to a friend of ours whose daughter was also diagnosed about the same age as Anna. She and her family will be walking this year in the walk and if you would like to donate to them, you would still be helping us find a cure. Read about Ellen Klare
here: http://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR/Walk-TX/Chapter-HoustonGulfCoast4644?px=2922175&pg=personal&fr_id=2411
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