Des Moines, Iowa

Just the map overwhelmed me...

Kendall's cheering section...

...and switch!  It's hard to smile with your jaw wired shut, folks...

The kids are going to do what?

Flooding is where?

I say let's call the whole thing off!

Heavens to Betsy!

Kendall is ready... I am not!

Faster than a speeding bullet and my camera, she was in the water...

I think I was crying at this point...

Don't they get a break first?

Who's the I state photobomber?

Does she get a break now?

6th fastest senior (13 - 15 year olds) in the Nation, folks!

Coach Ian adds his two cents...

We are so proud of you, Kendall!

Everything's a competition for us... even racing back to the handicapped parking!

 

2014 HyVee Triathlon National Championships at Gray's Lake Park

     With Colin's wreck not fully gone from our rearview mirror, it was time for Team Fallon to hit the road.  Cousin Kendall had qualified for the Triathlon National Championships so she was heading from Chicago to Des Moines, Iowa and we were hoping to meet her there and cheer her on.  With our cooler filled with Boost and smoothies of every variety (just what the doctor ordered for broken jaws) and a wheelchair in the way back of the Silver Bullet, we were off, but I wasn't sure we were ready.  Honestly, I wanted to stay back at the parsonage for the long weekend and nurse my anxieties while tending to Colin's wounds.  Instead, God was calling us out into the world to stretch outside of our comfort zones to love, serve and cheer Kendall on.  Quite frankly, I wasn't sure we had it in us...

     Luckily, we did.  I love how the feeling of family takes over me when we are together.  Watching Kendall with her older cousins the night before her big race, I knew then that it had been the right thing to do, despite all of my fears and insecurities about bringing a broken Colin out into the world again. Then it hit me.  When did Kendall grow up to be such a powerful young woman? Sitting under the gazebo behind the hotel, safe from the rain, eating spaghetti and meatballs, I listened in awe to her speak about her 13 year old life.  In my mind, Kendall will always be this little girl (see picture below) who plays the piano, writes poetry and I get to read with once a year when I drive cross country in June.  We make our Dunkin Donuts runs (and by that I don't mean we actually run for the donuts, but we drive there... together), and now she is placing at triathlons.  When did that happen?

     She placed 6th on Saturday at Nationals and here's the thing...I almost missed it.  She is growing up, and in reality, if she is doing triathlons at 13, I can only imagine what she will be doing at 33 or 53 or 103... and I want to be there cheering her on through it all...the good, the bad and the ugly.  Now, I could tell you how I think watching Kendall and the other triathloners compete will inspire us in the days, weeks and months ahead as Colin faces his own healing and rehabilitation, but I think that my wise husband probably said it best in his sermon on Sunday, "...when we give ourselves away in love by bringing Jesus' love and life to others, we often find new life in return.  In losing a bit of ourselves...in losing life we somehow gain it.  In giving ourselves away to make a difference in the lives of others, we find ourselves and we find life..."  Thank you, KK. We are so proud of you... always!

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.