Busy few days

Sorry for not updating everyone sooner, but it has been a busy few days with going to my woman's retreat and all.

My meeting with Linda and Renee from Olmsted was wonderful! I really enjoyed meeting the two of them and they had some great ideas. I left the meeting really excited.

I have been going full tilt trying again to get more sponsorships. Ryka was not able to help out, so I have been contacting other sneaker stores and distributors. I still haven't gotten a printer yet either, so I am sending out proposals for that also. I plan to try a few restaurant chains also to see if maybe they could give me gift cards to use as I travel. Keep sponsorship in prayer for me please.

My woman's retreat was so amazing. It was put together by two of our ladies in their 20's. So amazing to see such giftings in such young woman. It was just what I needed to do for myself before such a big undertaking as this walk. I was refreshed and renewed. I realize that I carry The Temple of the Lord inside me and I will be bringing it with me everywhere I go. I also faced the spot where I broke my ankle. If you don't know the story...I was at the retreat I think three years ago, and we decided to walk around the lake. I steped on an uneven area in the grass and twisted and broke my ankle. This Saturday, I stopped and looked at it for a second and then walked right on by and walked about half way around the lake. It started to sleet and I needed to get back for the next session or I would have gone further. I really felt like I was supposed to fact that this weekend and it really felt great!

Meeting with Olmsted Center for Sight

I am so excited, I am meeting with Olmsted Center for Sight tonight. I am really looking forward to this meeting. I thought we were going to have to postpone it again, but it looks like everything will work out. God is just so good! I will try real hard to update everyone, but I have my woman's retreat this weekend and don't know if I will get a chance to. Hopefully I will and hopefully I will lots of exciting news!

Thank you once again. I am so lucky to have such powerful prayer wariors on my side. You make all the difference!

Heard from a sponsor

I heard back from Ryka, the company that I am hoping to get my sneakers from. So excited. I really love their shoes, they fit my foot so well. Besides food and lodging, my shoes are probably going to be one of my biggest expenses, since I will probably go through many pairs. So keep this in prayer please. This would be big!

I will meet with Olmstead Center for Sight on Thursday!! I am really excited to talk to them and exchange ideas. It is amazing how God works, I was just thinking about being able to help them out, but they have contacts that could help me too! They are also a lot more experienced in fund raising then I am (this being really my first time trying something like this). I look forward to any ideas they may have.

Thank you again everyone. Your prayers and support mean so much to me!!!

Insecurities creeping in

I haven't written in a while. Things are kind of at a stand still for a little bit. I have sent out requests for sponsorship and now just need to play the waiting game. I meet next Thursday with Olmstead Center for Sight. I am hoping that meeting goes well.

Today was not one of my best days. My insecurities came creeping in, more like charging in. I sent a panicked text to a good friend. "I don't know what makes me think I can do this. What makes me think I can mak a difference...I am so much not capable to do all it takes to achieve this" Being at a point of just waiting for things to happen helped contribute to my melt down I am sure. He did text me back an amazing and totally encouraging text. It is so great to have friends who let you panic and then know what to say to bring you back to having confidence on the One who will walk through this all with me. I am right, I dont have what it takes to achieve this on my own, but the great thing is I don't have to! God will bring me through this. He will strengthen me. He will make it all happen. I know there are things I need to do, and I have been doing them (contacting sponsors, getting the word out, getting my body in shape).

Please keep me in prayer. I am sure there are going to be many, many more melt downs before I start and while I am walking, but God has this as imperfect as I am. God likes to use imperfect people and even the great people of the bible had doubt and imperfections. (thank you Alex for the remimder). Hopefully I will continue to remember how unable I am to do this on my own and recognise where my strength truly comes from. Because if I stop relying on God and try to do this in my own strenght it will never happen.

I can do all this through Him that gives me strenght Philipians 4:13

Live with Abandon

I want this song by The Newsboys to be my new unofficial theme song.

http://youtu.be/-SJR2vdJFXw

I went to Letchworth State park Monday. They had a craft fair. It was really nice. The leaves were just past peak, so not as beautiful as they could be, but still amazing! I brought my cart that I want to use on the walk with me and pulled it around the craft fair. I was really happy with how it handled. (I had stuff in it so there would be extra weight) It went well over the grass which was wet and a little muddy and over the paved sections. I did find out that I am more comfortable pulling it than pushing it. We walked about 8 miles around the park.

Prayer requests

Since prayer is what I need most, I decided to repost my prayer requests. I am sure what I need will change as I get closer to the date, but here are my needs for now.

Prayer for favor on the sponsorship requests submitted with Verizon, Ryka, Hilton, Buffalo Printing and the requests I will be submitting. Please pray that God will show me any other areas that I should ask for further sponsorship and open those doors for me also.
2. People to walk with me and/or drive along with me even if they can only commit for one state or one city. My particular areas of worry are Wyoming and Nebraska where I could go 40-50miles without approaching a town. Having someone with a vehicle who would be able to pick me up and take me to a motel at night and then drop me off in the morning where I had left off on my walk the night before. I have the same concerns in areas with mountains, I don’t want to be stuck on the mountain at night.
3. Continued health and protection for my family especially my mother and daughter
4. Protection and healing for my body especially my feet. I have ruptured my right Achilles tendon and broke my left ankle so I have issues with pain when it is rainy or damp or I overdo it (I will definitely be overdoing it :))
5. Pray that I remain humble and always place God first in all that I do. Pray that I am always listening to His voice and walking where He has me walk, and speaking the words that He has me speak.

Thank you everyone! I have needed to hear your words of encouragement, you don't know how much they mean to me. Thank you for all of your prayers and support as I continue to prepare. This is not something I do alone, I have all of you behind me lifting me up, and I really charish that!

UPDATE:
I had submitted a proposal to National Geographic to follow me and photograph and write about what I see along my journey. I heard back from them, it was not a yes, but it was not a no either! (long shot I know) I had also submitted to some other travel magazines. If I could get that to happen, I would have a vehicle following me. That would really be an answer to prayer!

The charities I chose and why

I just wanted to give everyone a little idea on why I had chosen the charities that I chose.

Northtown Pregnancy Center:
I was pregnant at 17 years old and facing all the choices, do I keep the baby, give it up for adoption, or have an abortion? I was scared and confused, but I did know that I did not want an abortion. I was lucky in that my family was very supportive and stood behind my decision to keep my baby (Noelle). I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't and I was out on my own. Maybe my decisions would have been different, being scared and having no where to turn. That is why I chose to support Northtown Pregnancy Center, it will be a place to offer help and support to woman who are scared and feeling like they have nowhere else to turn. For so long we have been telling woman not to have abortions, but not offering answers or alternatives. Northtown Pregnancy Center is doing that for woman and that is why my heart lept when I first heard these woman talk of their dream. It is why I knew I needed to give them my support.

Olmstead Center for Sight:
Two years ago my daughter had a horrible migrain and went to the emergency room, where they did an MRI and found that she had a brain tumor. A Craniopharyngioma, this type of tumor is located near the optic nerve and the pituitary gland. They removed all of the tumor (so thankful that she did not have to deal with , but she was left blind in her right eye and with many more problems because her pituitary gland was no longer functioning. Dr. Castiglia, her neurosurgen is an amazing man who really did all he could for my daughter. After spending much time in the hospital and many, many, many doctors appointments, we had found out about Olmstead Center. We were in a very low place. Noelle was feeling like she had lost so much and we went to Olmstead center and they could not do enough to help her. Dr. Simons explained everything so well, there was no way we couldn't understand what was happening with her vision. The people at Olmstead were amazing, a total God send when we needed them most! So I chose Olmstead Center for Sight so that they could continue to give people hope when they needed it most.

I hope this gives you all a little insight into why I believe so strongly in these two amazing organizations. Please support them so that they can continue to be there to offer support to those in desperate need.

I have links to both charities!!

I now have the links to both the charities I hope to support on here. Just click on the "Charities" tab at the top of the page and both Olmstead Center for Sight and Northtown Pregnancy Center are there with the links to their websites. Please check out both websites and help support these wonderful centers so they are able to help everyone they can. Thank you so much!!

There is a seperate tab if you would like to donate to my expenses I will have before and during the walk. Please make sure to click on the tab or tabs you would like to donate and donate directly that way!

I am excited! We are moving forward!!

Spoke to Olmstead Center for Sight

I spoke with Linda from Olmstead Center for Sight today. They are the other charity I would like to raise funds for. They have done so much for my daughter. They gave us answers and help at such a desperate time. I knew I wanted to do something to help them in return. I wanted to be able to help them give someone else the hope they had given us.

I am so excited! We are working on scheduling a face to face meeting to brainstorm. Just the short time I spoke with Linda gave me such hope that this was meant to be, that God had His hand in all of this. I was feeling for a little while like things weren't moving. I had submitted proposals for sponsors and was just at a point of waiting for things to happen, but now it looks like at least some parts of this are moving forward. Some of the contacts the Center for Sight have are some of the companies that I have been looking for sponsorship from. This looks like we will be a good fit for each other.

Once again everyone, thank you so much for your support and prayers. I could not do this without having all of you behind me!

What's new.

I have submitted two more requests for sponsorship. One to a printer for business cards and a banner and one to Hilton Properties to get my lodging paid for or discounted along the way. Keep these in prayer for me please. I also had a bunch of flyers with my blog address printed up. I plan on passing those out all over and have given some to others to pass out also.

I have gone to the gym two time and I have been doing two hours on the treadmill. I do one hour keeping the treadmill level and concentrating on speed and distance and then do the next hour keeping the speed even and adjusting the incline. I think I will add 1/2 hour on the eliptical soon. I was walking for 2 1/2 hours when I walked outdoors, so this should hopefully be doable. I just need to get instructions on the eliptical, it looks like it takes way more coordination than I have to work it :).