Strong women doing amazing things!!!

Tuesdays this year at every retreat are Stand Up Paddle with Ocean Cure!  We are excited to partner with this great organization and are so thankful for Charlie, Chris, Brandon, and Matt for all of their cheers, support, and helping us paddle in 15-20 mile per hour winds.  We had a huge group paddle and everyone did an amazing job!

 

 And after a day fighting the wind and trying something new, we were spoiled by a magical night with our dinner with the fishes at the North Carolina Aquarium at Ft. Fisher.  We had tables set up in front of the big fish tanks and had a peaceful dinner and the Aquarium all to ourselves! 

 And the kids got to enjoy the touch tank!

A great day!  Check out the video of Stand up paddling posted on our facebook page!  The day is best described as strong women doing amazing things!

A little wind, a cool day, and a whole lotta fire!

This morning at the volunteer house, we started the day with a daily devotional that reminded us that God has already planned out our day and our purpose- and this was absolutely a fun-filled day to see this at work.  The day started at cool and windy.  Luckily the sun was out, the kids were ready to jump in the water, and everyone had packed a sweatshirt for when it cooled off.  The joy on kids' faces is always so refreshing on the first beach day!

The winners of the egg toss!!!

 And then we experienced the love from the Carolina Beach Fire Department, who cooked a great meal, performed a rapping show for us, and made us feel so special!

And to think... it is only Monday!  Loving our new Little Pink Family Members- they did not let a little wind and a cool day slow them down.  And the fire department did a wonderful job warming us up!

Dinner with 39 of our newest friends....

The 2012 Little Pink Retreat season has started with the beginning of our Kure/ Carolina Beach Retreat!  We have 10 great families from far and wide.  Once again, the kids all became fast friends and the parents had a chance to meet, hear about the week, and start connecting with other adults (luckily they get to do that when we are feeding their kids sugar in a separate room).... We had lots of birthdays and celebrated them with a Little Pink cake. 

From the first hello...

 through a wonderful dinner...

times making new friends....

Thanks to Paul for making us our own Little Pink Corn Hole game, for Kate and Bob for a wonderful dinner with all the fixin's, and for my awesome husband, Terry, who celebrated our 17th anniversary tonight with me and 39 of our newest friends! 

Life

Life is full of emotion.  Life is emotional.  Life can be an emotional mess. 

But life for adults during all of these times is different than for our kids. 

Kids come at life with an unbridled desire for happiness, simplicity, and the expectation of joy.  A magic wand exists for them that many adults have lost.  When things go wrong, someone, somewhere, will have a magic wand that makes it all better. 

This has been a tough week for our family.  After 2 and a half years of dealing with mommy having cancer, our world was rocked when daddy had a heart attack.   The details of both of those stories don't really matter- what does is that once again, our son had to count on a magic wand. 

But the magic wand does not come without leaving its marks.  At 14 years old,  he should not have to deal with the idea of losing his mom.  He should not have to deal with the gravity of almost losing his dad this week.  He should not have to deal, but he does. 

The reality is that kids who have parents who are faced with critical illnesses live a life that is different from kids who don't live in this world. 

I noticed it last year at every single retreat that we had.   The kids were all amazing.  They face something that makes them stronger, more empathetic, more willing to give love, more protective, more accepting of life as it is.  They also get each other immediately.  Every retreat week, it is like a group of cousins that see each other a couple of times a year and when they get back together, they immediately fall into comfortable rythyms.  And it is quick- usually the first night. 

And at the root of all of that is that "they get it".    They have learned that life is not about getting everything you want-- it is about the fact that life is full of emotion;  life is emotional; and life can be an emotional mess.  But it is what you have and you are just happy to have it.  Now, I don't know if they are truly aware of any of this cognitively at the time.  And they have all of the same issues of other kids- ADD, good grades, bad grades, shyness, extrovertedness, attachment issues, and any other kid "thing". 

But take a moment and meet one of these kids and you will be amazed at who they are becoming.  They need everyone's love and support because their lives may turn out very different than anyone imagines.  And they have the ability to see that even when life does not seem fair and they have to sacrifice, it may not be fair, but it is still worth living.  And so they live it and try to be happy, despite the trials in their life.  And they live it and try to find the simplicity because their lives are already complicated.  And they live it with an expectation that joy will come, because that is where hope lies. 

Two or Three Things....

Earlier today, I sat in church and absolutely knew that each and every word of the sermon was directed at me.  Has that ever happened to you?  In fact, after the service, I joked with the preacher that he must have placed a bug in my home, my car, and my mind.  Each word, each sentence, and each passage was meant to speak to me.  The subject was a little known story about Moses' father in law giving Moses advice about being able to do two or three things well and trying to get him to see that he cannot do it all by himself.  (Exodus 18)


Coming up on the second year of Little Pink, this message is where my heart has been for the past eight weeks.  I have been preparing for the amazing continued growth of Little Pink this year.  I have been studying, getting expert advice and mentoring, reaching out to people that I know are committed to our mission, being open to brand new people who want to take on new roles within our organization, and praying that I will be able to guide an organization that is sustainable to do God's work over a long period of time.   The dream and vision for Little Pink still continues to expand and amaze me- but this year, we are grounded in putting together a top notch organization that can fully function to grow exponentially over the next few years. 

And what I know and have learned is the same as the message at church today.  I am really good at two or three things.  I will even go out on a limb and say what I think that they are:  1) I have the ability to see the top of the mountain and figure out how to get there without letting the trees get in the way.  I dream big, think big, and expect YES as the answer.  and 2) I take time with people, hopefully making them feel like they matter- because that is how I feel.  Each person is a gift and I want to give to each person my real, authentic self, but more importantly, want to get to know them.  This can have the outcome of motivating people and embracing new ideas. 

You will notice, my list is short- two things!  What that means is that we need LOTS of help!  So as all of the new applications roll in, think about how you might want to use the 2 or 3 things that you are good at to help with the mission and the vision of Little Pink and meet the needs of this new batch of families.  This Wednesday, we are having a volunteer meeting at St. Mark's Church in Burlington at 6:30 pm for anyone interested in becoming a part of our organization.  Please attend- we would love to meet you!  If you live far away and are interested, please email me at jpattencoble@littlepinkhousesofhope.org  to find out details of our GoTo Meeting at 4 pm, Wednesday, January 25th. 


The big announcement of the day is that 2012 Little Pink Breast Cancer Family Applications are OPEN! http://www.littlepinkhousesofhope.org/Apply-for-a-Retreat.html