Two Upcoming Events for CJSTUF

March is turning out to be a busy month, indeed!

If we needed any more proof that spring is on its way, check out this picture from my front yard this morning!






Roger's last blog highlighted the Monument Ave 10K details, so if you need more info on that, please go back one post...

The Pampered Chef Fundraiser for CJSTUF ends on March 20th.

15% of all sales will go to CJSTUF.

If you are interested in attending the actual party on March 16th (7 PM), email me ASAP.

Just to show you how important this event is, I am willing to miss LOST to go to a Pampered Chef party. Those of you who know me understand that is sacrifice.

If you can't make the party but want to order some fabulous Pampered Chef goodies, go to www.pamperedchef.biz/jessicasapron and enter CJSTUF as the host.

The other event next week is at Randolph-Macon College. Romp n' Roll's own Emily Arnold will be presenting her senior project: the drama production Alice in Wonderland. The performances are Thursday March 17-Sunday March 21; however, proceeds from the 2 PM and 8 PM shows on Saturday March 20th will benefit CJSTUF! We are grateful to Emily and the drama department at RMC for making this possible. I understand that the play is very family friendly. I also understand that the 2 PM show on Saturday is filling quickly! Tickets are $5 for adults and $2.50 for kids. Call 804-752-7316 for reservations.

As if that weren't enough action for the foundation, our regular board meeting is next Wednesday. Our board members have been very busy in their respective committees planning the next stage of CJSTUF so keep on the lookout for news and new things including rollout of:

• a redesign of our website
• the application process for our financial assistance program for families in need
• upcoming fundraising opportunities for the year, including CJSTUF merchandise!!

That's all folks....

10K, Carbo-Cramming Party, and Unused Registrations

Run, walk, or mosey on down!

The Ukrop's Monument Ave 10K is coming up on March 27th and somehow, we have ended up with unused registrations. I gave out codes for every spot and then some but as of this writing there are still slots available.

Registration officially closes at midnight tonight so I'm putting out the codes and the number of unused spots here in the hope that someone will use them. There is a pledge form on the home page if you desire to gather contributions for CJSTUF.org and a t-shirt is available if you wouldn't mind sending me you size.

There is no cost to participants but enough donations to cover the $35 or so for the registration and t-shirt wouldn't be a bad thing. Go to the Sportsbacker's registration site and enter everything like normal and then when it comes time to pay, put in one of the codes from below. Hit "Verify." If someone didn't beat you to it, you'll be registered.

Remember, registration closes at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! Wednesday, March, 10, 2010.

Here are the codes and the # of slots available for each:

cjsthumbsupfoundation5ktb 2 slots

cjsthumbsupfoundation7jd7 3 slots

CJsThumbsUpFoundation7DLG 1 slot

If you don't want to do the 10k but want to participate, our TEAM CJ Spirit Group will be a wonderous thing and we can always use more butterflies. Spirit Groupers who collect pledges will also get a t-shirt. Meredith Hayes is the chair of that committee if you'd like to cheer us on.

If you're one of those given a code and slot earlier and have not registered, I apologize if there was any miscommunication or confusion. We're already working on a system for future events to streamline the process.



Now on to the "Carbo-Cram" (I've decided this is what we're calling it this time. The title might change after the Marketing Committee meeting tonight! Klauers, Feel free to offer your opinion.)

This will be a pasta party for TEAM CJ and TEAM Reese participants and their families; co-hosted by Reestrong.org and CJSTUF. It will be held on Friday, March 26th starting at 6:30pm at Shady Grove United Methodist Church in Mechanicsville (Same location as the FABULOUSLY successful Thumb's Up Ball). There's no cost but if anyone wants to drop a donation in the jar, we won't throw it back at you.

There's an event description on the CJ's Thumbs Up Foundation Facebook page but if you don't "do" FB, please just drop us a line and tell us you're coming and how many there will be in your party. I will be your maitre'd (no idea how to spell that and, apparently, neither does my computer) I'm planning on about 100 but if everyone registered for both teams actually comes with family, there could be significantly more so we need a good count.

What we need are a few good cooks. We already have a few but can always use more.

We would also like to provide some childcare and need volunteers for that. Hold off contacting us until we confirm we have the space available. I'm not worried about finding the warm bodies.

Last but not least, we need the food, drinks, plates, utensils, etc... Pasta, sauce garlic bread, salad, dessert (preferably something chocolate! Other things to for those not able to eat chocolate.), tea, sodas, water, anything else we can think of off the top of our heads. You can start dropping off items at Romp n' Roll whenever you like. I said the Wednesday before on the event description but that seems too close to to the event. Bring it on now!

The very cool and totally stylish TEAM CJ t-shirts will be officially handed out then unless you just can't wait and want them sooner. Let me know so I can try to have them with me.

This is all about eating, drinking (non-alcoholic, of course), and sharing in the glow of "The Network" that you all have so generously built up around Reese's family and ours. Oh, yeah, and carbo-cramming!

For those running/walking/mosey-ing the 10K, 17 more days to go! Don't think we're going to get an official group run in but I will scope a good meeting point for all of us the morning of the race. It will have to be a good bit before the race as the TEAM CJ Spirit Group will have to head on down to the Arthur Ashe statue near Roseneath and Monument since that's where they will be stationed, cheering us along on butterfly's wings.

I'm not exactly sure where the Reesestrong spirit group is stationed but make sure you scream and yell with them as you zoom(?) past.



On to other things:

This weekend was pretty exhausting but as you may have heard, Rachel finished the first draft of the book! Totally worth the extra work. I'm reading it now, offering my .02¢ worth. I told her not to tell me how it ends but she said something about not watching My Girl.

Starting next week, I will be taking some of those non-profit learning classes the Rachel has been taking through VCU. The first is a sorely needed time management class (everyone stop laughing!). It's a weird thought that I haven't taken official college classes in many years but I figure preparing for the classes I taught at Randolph-Macon College and elsewhere will at least help a little.

These are also very long, all-day courses so it will probably seem more like a conference, only more interactive, and I'm all about conferences.

Both Rachel and I are fighting off colds, nothing too bad at all but we will be bathing in hand sanitizer at the store and not touching the kiddies too much if at all possible. The Zinc and vitamins are rolling.

Well, want to get this out so people can dive at the 10K registrations. Don't bonk your heads, now! :-)

Our best to the Berry, Braun, and Waters families who all both back home from their "vacations" at MCV.

Reading and Writing

I returned from my retreat with a draft of the memoir...and the beginnings of a cold. I'm fighting the cold with zinc, vitamin c, and chicken soup. I don't have time to get sick.

So, yes. Many of you have commented for months that we should turn this story into a book. Thanks to our endless blog postings and some other things that I had already begun to write during the last half of 2009, I worked further over the weekend and emerged with a 37,000 word (or so) manuscript.

The draft of the book is kind of crazy. I actually have it printed. With a cover and binding. (Thanks Office Max). I keep telling myself, "It's just a draft." It needs editing and it may even need some more content. I have a few people, most assuredly members of Garrison Keillor's Professional Organization of English Majors, [You public radio nerds know what I'm talking about] who have already volunteered to take a glance at it and offer suggestions.

I'm also not-so-actively searching for a literary agent. I know that's the next logical step but I don't want to rush things. Like I don't have enough on my plate?

It was very nice to get away for a few days. I was by myself and literally in a cabin in the woods. Of course, it still had all the comforts of home (electricity, running water, WiFi) but I wasn't pulled every other minute to something in the house or to the phone.

In between typing I took breaks reading some literature that has crossed my path in the last few months. One book is called A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss by Gary Sittser. Great book. The chapters are very short and it's a pretty quick read but the content is powerful. His life had been touched by some pretty significant tragedy and through his grief and healing, he found some very powerful insights about what it means to deal with it from day to day. I could relate to his prose.

The other book is A Broken Heart Still Beats: When Your Child Dies. It contains short stories and excerpts from larger works by both famous people (Paul Newman, Mark Twain) as well as lesser known authors regarding their experiences dealing with their child's death. I haven't read much of the book yet BUT I was thrilled and surprised to see that one of the endorsing quotes on the first page was by Ashland's own Phyllis Theroux. Small world.

Reading and re-reading the manuscript brought back so many memories. I was very glad that we had taken the time to record so much in our blog posts. The bulk of my writing this weekend revolved around those final two months that we had with Charlotte so a lot of emotions came flooding back as I wrote.

In order for me to get away, Roger worked his tail off. We had a very busy weekend at Romp n' Roll with classes, a Kids Night Out, and a full slate of birthday parties so he is very tired. I'm grateful to him for all of his hard work.

Speaking of Romp n' Roll, for those of you who haven't heard the news, we are officially moving the Virginia Center location to Mechanicsville.





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Our lease at Virginia Center is up at the end of May and we needed to find a location with more affordable rent. The long term goal had also always been to distinguish ourselves geographically from the other two locations so that our "territory" had better definition. While some of this has been in the works on our end for a little while, it's brand new information to many of our customers and fans and the reactions have certainly been mixed. I certainly hate that we will lose some of our regular customers because of the move. We expected this would happen. At the same time, I am touched by the level at which some of our customers have been upset by this situation. I suppose that if we were just any old kid's place, our relocation would be a small blip on our customer's personal radar. The fact that people can get so out of sorts by the news tells me that we have a somewhat loyal following. That I like.

The next two months will be BUSY. We have already begun meetings with the architect and contractor. The space is built but the interior must be completed so that it looks like a real
Romp n' Roll so that will take some kind-of major construction. Fortunately, it looks like we can take many of the current elements of the store (our front desk, barn doors, etc.) with us so that should help with some of the expense. Be on the alert for a moving party! We will accept any willing hands (or trucks) when the time comes. I pay willing workers in pizza and beer.

So I think that will get you caught up for the weekend. Spring is definitely in the air. I walked around in short sleeves today! It was fabulous. Interestingly, at my retreat, there was STILL snow on the ground. Be gone Ol' Man Winter!

Time Marches On....

It's March! Spring is slowly creeping into the air. I heard a rumor that while we are supposed to get almost an inch of snow tonight (nothing compared to what we've had this year), it is supposed to hit the 60's later this week!!! I am tired of looking at gray skies and bare trees. Even with my pollen allergies, I am longing for spring.

We have a lot going on with CJSTUF this month. First of all, I announced in the last blog post that we are holding an online Pampered Chef sale for CJSTUF until March 20th. Susan Ferguson is hosting the show and Jessica Pittman is the Pampered Chef consultant. 15% of sales will go to CJSTUF. You can order online by going to the link above (www.pamperedchef.biz/jessicasapron). Enter CJSTUF as the host.

Of course, at the end of the month (March 27th) we will have the Monument Ave. 10K. We are already getting some donations trickling in from runners. Keep up the great work. I understand there may be some special prizes for those that bring in $$$!! Even if you can't run (or walk), come on out to cheer on Team CJ.

Speaking of Team CJ...I am excited to announce that we received the TEAM CJ race shirts yesterday. Drum roll please...

Front of the shirt

Back of the shirt

If you can't tell from the pictures (sorry, not the highest quality pic), the shirts are light purple. Everyone running and raising money for TEAM CJ will get a shirt. If you are cheering for TEAM CJ at the race, you can have a shirt for $8. Any extra shirts will be available for a minimum donation of $10. We will let you know when we have shirts available.

We have more merchandise in the works and on the way. The board has been very busy working on designs, pricing, etc. and we hope to have the CJSTUFF (online store) up and running by April. (Fingers crossed). Special thanks to Madison Fairburn for the t-shirt designs.

Roger has been busy shuttling back and forth from MCV helping to care for our friends, the Berry Family. Wesley had a brain surgery last week. He is still in the hospital and on the mend. We have had some generous people donate meals and Roger has been helping with the coordination of that effort.

I think that the pervasive sadness has reared its ugly head this week for both me and for Roger. We are settling into our new life and new routine and it is both heartbreaking and surreal (there's that word again). We were having dinner last night and talking about Charlotte and the entire experience. Again. There are times when it seems like a dream. A nightmare. Something that happened a long time ago, in another lifetime. Sometimes I think that if I didn't have the pictures, videos, and other memorabilia to remind me, I would wonder if I didn't just dream her existence. Her life on this earth was so short and yet strangely full and complete. It amazes me when I think of all the lives that she touched with her grace, beauty, and charm.

There I go waxing poetic again. I feel like I'm repeating myself and if I do, I apologize.

Anyway, this weekend I have the opportunity for a much-needed retreat. Thanks to some friends, I am headed off to a cabin in the woods for some rest BUT I actually have a very focused task. Many of you have mentioned putting our experience into book form. Not far into this process Roger and I agreed that we wanted to do this and the constant support and encouragement from our rabid fans have convinced us to move forward with the effort. Thanks to our blogs and some more work I have done over the past year, the bulk of the memoir is actually complete. I need to find some time to sit, without distraction of email and work, and actually flesh out the rest of the book.

I am not sure what we will do in terms of publishing. I know that we could always self-publish (go-getters that we are, what's one more thing on the to-do list?). We have also been talking very informally with a local publisher in Richmond but that's about the extent of our progress in this effort. If anyone in our network has resources or connections in the publishing world and you think they might be interested in our story, please have them contact Roger or me directly.

So I am going to a non-profit leadership class at VCU on Friday and then I will be retreating to the woods until Sunday evening (no Henry David Thoreau references, please). Much thanks to Roger for covering my shifts at the store on Friday and Saturday. We have a full weekend of parties and classes at RNR and he has agreed to take that on so I can be distraction free.

Ok, so I will close this now. I just got a call from Roger that he just finished a post himself so you will get 2 for the price of 1 today. Hopefully we weren't too repetitively redundant.

Has it been a week almost?

Since our last post, yes, indeed.

We've been really busy lately and most of our free time has been primarily used for "We" time or "Wii" time! (Hula hoops...UGH!)

Some updates around the sucky cancer world...the Berrys have had to go back into the PICU. His Caringbridge site is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/wesleyberry1

The Waters had a G-tube placed (no fun) and at last word were waiting on surgery.

Think good thoughts about them and the many, many others out there.

We've been delivering weekday lunches to the Berrys and would like to do still more. Please contact us if you're willing to do something. Tomorrow, Thurs, and Fri. They're good during the weekend. Next week is "wait and see." Healthy if possible and no coffee or soda, please. Thanks.

TEAM CJ and the Monument Ave. 10K is rolling along. We've passed the $1000 mark for pledges and I've only heard from a tiny percentage of folks! YAY!!! If you're FUN-raising and have a moment, please send me a rough estimate of your pledges. If you have money in hand that you want out of your sphere of responsibility, please either bring it to us at Romp n' Roll at VA Center, send to PO Box 854 , Ashland, VA 23005, or deposit it into your own account and have fun in Cancun. (OK, I'm kidding about that last one) Please have checks made out to "CJSTUF."

If you have received a registration code and haven't registered yet, please do so ASAP. I'll start reassigning codes next Tuesday. If you try to register and have trouble, I might have to get you a new code anyway or you might just want to register on your own. There has been a small amount of confusion about codes.

Also, if you haven't done so and want to FUN-raise for CJSTUF, please print out a pledge from here and go harass your friends and family.

Just a reminder, the registration codes were given out as part of bulk registrations under the CJSTUF umbrella with the idea that participants would gather pledges and in return, CJSTUF would pay the registration fee and give everyone a cool t-shirt. (They're in, by the way). The codes have already been paid for. The absolute least I want is to cover the expense of the codes, t-shirts, and anything relating to the pasta consuming party but if the early reports are a sign of what's to come, it should be a great event for CJSTUF!

If you don't want to run/walk/mosey, the TEAM CJ Spirit Group is always looking for more people the cheer on the runners/walkers/mosey-ers. Meredith Hayes is the "chair" of the Spirit Group effort so please contact her.

There will be a joint pasta party hosted by CJSTUF and Reesestrong.org on Friday, March 26th at Shady Grove Methodist church in Mechanicsville. It's free for TEAM CJ and Team Reese partcipants and the more supplies get donated (spaghetti, sauce, garlic bread, etc...) the less we'll have to charge "civilians." It's not a FUN-raiser in the fund-sense but more of a community event. Donations will always be taken and split evenly between CJSTUF and Reestrong.org but that's not the purpose of the evening.

I think that's all for now. I still want to have one group run/walk before the actual event but haven't gotten around to organizing that. (Anyone???)

I hesitate to write this next part. As some of you have known, I had been having more trouble dealing with, first, anger issues and then some very deep sadness. I even scheduled a one-on-one with Dr. Matt and I've NEVER done that before. I felt the need to try to get things straight in my head or at least out in the open so I could deal with it all. Funny thing is, by the time I sat down with Matt, I seemed to be over the worst of the anger.

As far as the sadness, I have never stopped being very sad and Allie dying didn't help things but I've been missing Charlotte much more than usual lately. I've found myself almost losing it on multiple occasions threatening to affect work. This is all relatively normal under the circumstances and not unexpected.

The part I hesitate to write is that last night I had a dream that Charlotte gave me a piece of pre-school type art that she had made (still not too weird, I dream about her all the time). It was a small piece of paper torn from a brown shopping bag with a smaller rubber ring glued to it. Inside the ring was a light blue flower shaped plastic "jewel" like the kind we use for craft projects at Romp n' Roll. It looked like any number of things she made at Tuckaway or "Montessori House." I remember it pretty vividly.

Here's the thing for all you PSY101 students: On the back was written in very legible handwriting, "Take care of the living." I kid you not. In my dream, I assumed she had written it. When I woke up, I felt refreshed and a little less sad. So here's the challenge for all you armchair analysts: Was that me wishful thinking that Charlotte was sending me a message or was that my rational brain telling me to buck up and deal? Or was Charlotte actually sending me a message? Whatever the real answer, I feel a little better. I'm going for a mix.

A sad addendum

Not long after my last post, I found out that our friend Allie passed away today. We had met Allie and her family in Texas. They are from Colorado and have been all over the country the last few months trying to fight Allie's recurrent leukemia. She had a cardiac arrest during a lung biopsy this morning. Roger and I are very sad. Allie was not much older than Charlotte and leaves loving parents and a twin sister, Sarah, behind. We are thinking sad thoughts for their family today.

Please keep them in your prayers.

Lots of goings-on

So, where to start? A lot of announcements, it seems.

First of all, if you're not busy this afternoon/evening (Wednesday, 3/24), head on over to Chilis at Virginia Center and eat (or drink) for ReeseStrong. 20% of your meal cost will go to ReeseStrong when you present a flyer. Flyers will be available at the restaurant and are also available at Romp n' Roll. Roger and I had a lovely lunch over there and got to see some of our favorite families as well!

ASK has some events coming up soon too, including the ASK walk on April 24th. If you're not busy racing in other events, this is a fun thing to do. They featured Charlotte on their posters and flyers this year. We are honored.

Things are rolling along on the CJSTUF front as well. We are getting ready to redo our website so watch for changes (coming soon!!!). We have had many requests from home-based businesses that want to raise money for CJSTUF so we have decided to select one to two home-based businesses per month that will raise funds for CJSTUF. Hopefully that will help spread the wealth a little.

Our first featured business is Pampered Chef. Jessica Cole is the sales representative in charge of the party and it will be hosted by Sue Ferguson. The actual party will be on 3/16 at about 7 PM. I will post more information soon if you would like to RSVP; however, you do not need to be present to help. 15% of all sales from this party will go to CJSTUF. You can go online to www.pamperedchef.biz/jessicasapron and type in CJSTUF. I will have some mini catalogs and order forms at Romp n' Roll soon (probably by next week) in case anyone wants to place an order directly from me. I'm hoping to attend the party itself. If you've never attended a Pampered Chef party, you would be in for a treat. The food is usually FABULOUS and I always come away with a great new cooking tip (or two!).

Finally, tomorrow is the big (drum roll) reveal from the Thumbs Up Ball. The MOMS Club of Mechanicsville (Cool Spring Chapter) will be coming by Romp n' Roll at about 3 PM to present the proceeds from the Valentine's Weekend Fundraiser. If you're in the area, stop on by to check the results. I promise we will post news on the blog and Facebook soon after.

I think that's it for now. Yucky weather seems to be moving in to Richmond so Open Gym is hoppin' today; however, I don't think we'll get tons of snow. Just wet goop!

Stay warm and dry...Rachel