Running the Marathon

Our Little Cheer Group

Me and my picture of Jake...year #2. I love that little face and when the runners see it they pick up speed and keep running. Some of them touch it but they all smile when they see that baby's picture!

This would be Brandon running past everyone he could to get to the finish line. Not bad "B"..did his first 5K in 28.8 minutes! YEAH BRANDON!! Mama is so proud of you son!!






Look at all that air under Jake's feet. I do believe he floated to the finish line. That baby knows he had fun in Memphis!!! He wasn't quite as fast as Brandon and I think he probably ran a whole lot more than 3 miles by the time it was over cause he would run and catch up with "B" and then wait on Zach....try to catch his brother again...wait on Zach...lol. He made it though in 37.11 minutes! Not bad for his first race either.....can we see the proud Mama theme going here???

Look its me and LEENIE!!!! See that one way sign behind us....with our navigational skills we might need to make sure those are in plain view everywhere we go!!!

2008 St. Jude Marathon

Well, we are back. This is a picture of me and the boys picking up our packets for the run. I was a big dummy and didn't bring my camera on this trip...you know I was thinking more of underarmour and coats and totally had a brain fart and forgot my camera. So I hope Leenie doesn't mind me stealing some of hers!




This is Team Jake at the Pasta Supper. For those of you who don't already know..this is a supper the night before the race for all the walkers/runners to carb up. Lots of yummy pasta dishes and salad for everyone. Team Jake is just growing and growing. Hopefully next year there will be a lot more from Homer!!

As for the race, Brandon beat us all...he made it across the line in 28.8 minutes. He placed 26th in his age group ...he ran the whole thing! Jake made it in 37.11 minutes. He placed 27th in his age group. I am not sure of Zach's exact time, but he placed 31st in his age group and Charlene and I placed 103rd and 104th in our age group. We locked arms and crossed that finish line together. We walked mostly but we did run some too! It was COLD COLD COLD, but we made it in under an hour and I thought that was quite impressive for our first year. Our boys don't believe us that we ran, but we did and I am sure there is proof of that in someones pictures somewhere!!!! When the race was over we went to the 1/2 way mark and cheered for a little while and then moved on to mile marker 24 where we cheered for the Full Marathon runners.
I have to tell one little story about Jake. He really got into the cheering thing! He was telling all the runners what a great job they were doing and that they were almost there. One runner came around the corner and you could tell he could barely go. Jake saw him and walked to where he was bent over rubbing his legs. Jake told him that he was awesome and that he was almost there...that he couldn't give up yet and that he knew he could do it. The guy looked up at Jake and smiled and told him he was sure gonna try. Then he started jogging again ..ran by me and Charlene and told us that he was gonna try! I was so proud of Jake for doing that. Later, after we went back to the room, Jake fell asleep and was talking in his sleep still telling everyone to keep running for a cure and that they could make it! Brandon and I were sitting in the hotel room giggling at him talking in his sleep, but that just proves the impact that all of this had on the kids....they will be going back next year!

I will post more later...when I get access to more pictures. Bottom line is that for the second year I was touched deeply by being a part of Team Jake, the marathon and St. Jude! It is just something that has changed my life definitely for the good and a trip that we will continue to make yearly!!!

Walkin in Memphis~

I am just not real good at keeping up to date with this blog with everything I have had going on. But there are just some things that I have to report. Friday morning Charlene, Me, Jake, Zach and Brandon are pulling out of here at about 7 a.m. heading to Memphis TN! We entered the St. Jude Marathon and before you all start getting all impressed, we are WALKING in Memphis...not running. Don't think I got it in me to run anywhere...LOL Anyway, we are members of Team Jake and we have been raising money for a couple of months now for St. Jude. Let's just say we met our goals and then some!! Not bad for our first year being full fledged members of Team Jake. But, its still not enough. We have work to do everyone! Childhood cancer is killing children everyday and that is just not acceptable to me! Far as I am concerned, this year is just the beginning of many years to come for the Homer Kids of Team Jake to help raise money for St. Jude! Please keep us in your prayers for our trip up there to be a safe one and for everyone that is participating in this marathon to receive a blessing of a lifetime! Charlene has done an excellent job on her blog of telling everyone about our fundraising efforts and I would suggest going to her page and reading about it and taking a look at the pictures she posted there. I can't read it without crying. I can't look at the picture of Jake Raborn without crying. So get your tissues ready and read...and then next year when we start our fundraising efforts again...join us....donate with us...join our team...do whatever you can to help this great cause, because I promise you will be blessed more than you could ever imagine!
Thank you to everyone that donated to us this year!!! Words can't express how much we all appreciate you! Until next time...~Melissa

Prayer Request for Emilie DuBose

I don’t know how many of you might remember this, but a few years ago after the St. Jude Auction in Minden, Keith and I had the privilege to meet the DuBose family. Someone won the life-size doll house that year and they gave it to this family of little girls! Gordon Simmons asked Keith to come help him move the dollhouse from the civic center to their house. This is a precious little family and their girls are just beautiful! They need all of our prayers right now. Please read this email and go to Emilie’s page and check out her story!
Thanks,
Melissa


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Not too many times in life have I sent out a blanket email to my entire inbox; however, the little girl in the picture above has caused me to take extraordinary measures.

Brittany and my hearts have been stolen by little Emilie Grace DuBose. Her parents, Todd and Alicia, are our music ministers at FBC Minden and very special friends. Including Emilie, they have 4 precious little girls (each are special to us in their own way and each have a portion of our hearts). Some of you receiving this email know this family well; others have never meet or heard of them.

Regardless of your relationship to this family, I am asking everyone for the most scared instrument God has given us – the ability to pray.

Little Emilie is only 4 years old and has battle tumors her entire life. Plexiform neurofibroma is the official name of the tumors to which she has, and to put it in simple form, it is tumors that grow laterally along her nerves. To date, the tumors have extended all the way up her right arm and now into her neck. While I will not go into complete details of her case, you can read her entire journey and details surrounding the urgent need for prayer at http://www.caringbridge.org/la/emilie.

Emilie was set to be part of a study using a new drug that should cause her tumors to stop growing; however, on her way to the first appointment, her parents received a phone call saying she was “kicked out” of the study. (Again, please take time to read the complete story at the website).

Now comes the call for prayer. As with a lot of times and circumstances in life, we are not aware of why God chooses for things to happen, and again, I feel this is case. While we are not sure why God would see fit to allow Emilie to be removed from the study, we do know that He is sovereign and that His will is greater than our own.

Britt and I ask you to pray on 2 fronts - 1) That God’s will shall be done in regards to Em’s entrance into the study, as a possibility exist that she could be readmitted into the study on the words of her St. Jude and St. Louis doctors. 2) Comfort, peace, and strength for Todd and Alicia. While they are two resilient, strong, and God-loving parents, we can only imagine what their feelings, emotions, and thoughts are right now. Not only is Em’s condition a matter for their family, Alicia just gave birth to the 4th girl, Bethanie, in late September. As a tumor survivor myself and a product of prayer, I can relate to what little Emilie is battling; however, we cannot identify with Todd and Alicia’s battle. All Britt and I know is that comfort, peace, and strength can be theirs through the Lord.

In summary, we are asking you to please pray! Pray for this family that is so dear to us. Pray 30 seconds; Pray 5 minutes; Pray 1 hour! The time frame doesn’t matter, but the prayer does. Our God is all knowing and just the utterance of the “DuBose” name can stir His heart. Please pray continually!

And the final action we ask that you take is to forward this email to your entire inbox. As inboxes are constantly bombarded everyday with forwards about the election, about funny stories, about news, and about quirky games, can you find the time to forward this important, call-to-action email? The people in your inboxes will probably not know of us – The Ebeys. So, please take the time to change the subject line before you send your email. Remove our name and put your name.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and caring so much to pray.

In His Love
Jason E. Ebey

My only Daughter....

This is Prissy....she is 1/2 shitzu and 1/2 pomeranian. She is also 100% human and the only daughter I have or will ever have! She is the smartest dog ever and cute as she can bee!!! We all love her!

Goofy Kids~

Are these not the craziest lookin kids ever! My little Jakearoonie and Sheaby! This picture was also taken at Unkie(thats what all the kids call Keith) 40th Birthday! Guess they thought since all the adults were actin crazy then they should too! You would think these two were brother and sister instead of cousins! They fight like brother and sister and they take up for each other the same! Jake can get Shea to do things that none of the rest of us could...not sure if that's a good thing or not! Maybe ok till they get a little older.......

don't even wanna think about that!

Keith's 40th Birthday 1-31-08

We had a party for Keith's 40th birthday. It was a surprise party! I had invited all our family over for a cook out and he thought that was all there was to it....boy was he surprised when all his friends showed up!

This is a picture of him wearing some of the cooky gifts he got that night!

This was his cake....everyone thought I had put a picture of Jake on the cake...that boy does look like his Daddy!

I so do not know if there are words for this picture...Jeremy thought it would be cute to get his dad a stripper for his 40th. As you can see Jeremy couldn't afford the stripper so he had to compromise...I think Keith lost out on this one! The rest of us couldn't stop laughing!!! Jeremy, Honey, I think u gotta a runner in ur hose!

Election 08

Well, it SUCKED! and...I am kinda like Forrest Gump.....that's all I gotta say about that!

Claiborne Parish Christmas Festival 2008

I guess you blog about things that are currently going on...so the thing that is happening right now that is taking up the most of my time is the 2008 Claiborne Parish Christmas Festival. Since I am chairman again this year, I have been working with my committee getting things ready for another festival. It will be held around the courthouse on November 29th from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. We are starting the day off with the 3rd Annual Hills of Homer 5K run that will start at 8 a.m. There will be many food and craft vendors set up around the square in Homer. We will have free buggy rides until noon at which time line-up for our parade will begin at Homer High School. The parade begins at 1 p.m. and will wind from the High School up to and around the square. There will be various local artist performing all day long. At 3 p.m. Monty Russell and the Hardcore Troubadours will be performing for our street dance. We still have many available spaces for booths and if anyone is interested please give me a call at 318-927-2046 X208. Anyone interested in participating in the parade that day should also call me for information.
We are looking forward to a great festival this year and would love for everyone to attend!