the most surreal weekend

I know I've deviated from my usual posts on diy projects, recipes, devotionals, and such...and been a bit consumed with this past weekend's BolderBoulder 10k. And you know what???

We won.

But that was just a tiny part of our incredible weekend...

For those of you who haven't been following along with us lately, check out this post on why a film crew was at our house.

Lets back up and start toward the beginning of our weekend...

Sunday morning we drove from Denver to Boulder and had breakfast with some sweet friends and headed to Media Day, which is basically a Press Conference with all the elite and professional runners. You know...the ones you read about and see on TV....the ones you never think you actually get to meet and chat with!

Abreham was in seventh heaven meeting the Ethiopian professional marathoners he watches on YouTube. And they were just as excited to meet him after having seen our video and hearing that an adopted Ethiopian boy would be among them.

The Denver Post had come to our home the week prior to feature Abreham in an article. John, the photographer got some fantastic shots of both our family, and Abreham among his heroes.

The little kids and I played {and played and played} out on that patio for what seemed like all day.

Finally, hours later we pulled Abreham away from the Ethiopians, promising he'd see them at the race the next morning.

But not before he gave one of the girls a beautiful drawing he had done of Haile Gebrselassie after she had told him she's close friends with this incredible Ethiopian runner who set the record for the fastest marathon time in the world.

He scribbled a fast note on the back of it, beaming with excitement. It was really sweet.

The next morning was race day! And the boys were up with the first glint of the sun.

The rest of us followed about an hour later, after we'd had breakfast in these awesome mugs and met the babysitter who would {so thankfully} be watching baby Elsabet for the day so she didn't have to skip her naps.

We had these shirts made, highlighting our seven year old, Anton's charity and proudly donned mine as I thought how incredibly blessed I am to have children with such world-changing passions.

We finally ran out the door {late as always}, praying we'd get parked and into the stadium with plenty of time to get settled before Abreham crossed the finish line!

What a thrill it was to cheer for him as we saw him round the bend into the stadium, quickly filling with people {they expected 50,000 spectators!}.

When asking him how he felt his time was, he shrugged with a smile on his face as he told me a friend and fellow young runner fell. Abreham stopped to make sure his buddy was alright and didn't start again on his run until the kid shooed him away saying he was fine and to keep running.

He didn't get the time he'd hoped...but even so, he completed the 10K in 40:13 and took 2nd in his age group, which we're all celebrating.

Better to take care of one another and be a good friend, in our book {plus, ummmmm last time I checked, 40:13 is still crazy fast!}.

{Ezekiel really latched on to Gebo Burka, and became buddies with him this weekend}

We waited, roasting in the heat of the morning sun for Ezekiel to hobble in next, with a hurt leg and then Ben, glistening with sweat and a big grin across his face as he saw us waving and cheering.

We headed up to the suite we had access to for the day and enjoyed some snacks to cool us off, as we waited for the results of the contest and whether or not we won.

Finally, they brought our family {and the folks from the other two stories we were competing with} down onto the field, in the middle of the stadium.

They showed little clips of all three videos and shoved cameras in our face as they handed the kids a huge check and announced us as the winners.

Abreham ran down the track and dropped his body down and lay prostrate as he prayed and thanked God for His blessing of the winning.

The rest of us stood there clumsily with the oversized check, grinning excitedly, feeling a bit out of place in front of tens of thousands of people.

Anton started jumping up and down saying, "Now we can buy a mountain house!! or a helicopter!!" He's so fun.

We're actually putting the money toward Anton's Hope, with the desire to use this incredible opportunity as a blessing to others.

While the little kids and I stayed out of the heat and enjoyed the perks of the suite {aka popsicles, muffins, and tons of yummy snacks}, Ben and the older boys spent more time with the Ethiopians.

At one point, Abreham ran by on the track and the whole Ethiopian section stood up and screamed for him.

.

He of course got choked up, as he saw such love and support from the people of his beloved nation...

...especially as he realized the cheering was led by the professional runners he only dreamed of meeting prior to this incredible experience.

Abreham also had the honor of holding the tape at the finish line for the women's professional race, where his new friend Mamitu Daska won first place!

 

{See Abreham in the right, letting go of the tape? Photo courtesy of the Denver Post}.

One of my favorite parts of the entire day was being able to sit, cuddled with our kids and experience BolderBoulder's beautiful Memorial Day show as they did an absolutely fantastic job honoring those who gave so much to keep us free and safe.

I certainly felt proud to be an American, and to show our Ethiopian kids in particular, how important it is to celebrate their new country and explain to the little ones the meaning behind all the tradition of the events we saw and experienced.

God bless America.

After spending much of the afternoon with their new Ethiopian friends, Abreham and Ezekiel finally hugged them goodbye...promising they'll see each other at the race next year.

 We also had the extreme privilege of having dinner with new friends Ryan and Sara Hall.

Abreham drew an amazing rendering of the couple and I had it framed, for him to give to them as a thank you for all their love and support of our family.

{this photo was taken moments before the little kids were playing in the revolving door...causing Elsabet to go flying and get a bloody nose. Sigh.}

We walked a few blocks to a fun neighborhood type grill and spent a few hours arm wrestling, laughing, Imani doing Sara's hair, and talking about our mutual love of Ethiopia and its people, as we got to know each other better.

Maybe next time we'll try again minus the chaos of having six tired kids with us.

On the way back home to Denver, this is what our cars looked like...

 It was such an incredibly exciting, surreal, and exhausting weekend.

A big thank you to each and every one of you who supported us by voting for our video and helping Abreham raise over $1,500 for The Steps Foundation.

You have opened our kids eyes to what is possible if you dream, work hard, and have the support of those you love.

And a huge thank you to all the people over at BolderBoulder for all your hard work and kindness. Patrick and Stephanie...you in particular, are such treasures.

And John, over at The Denver Post...thank you for loving Jesus and sharing Abreham's story on Monday. You are such a blessing to us.

 

 {click here for the web version of the article}