Great Strides = Great Success

What an awesome day for our family today as we participated in the Great Strides walk at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. The pic above was snapped by another participant on Tina Cravens, one of Amanda's awesome aunts iPhone. The walk was an amazing, goal busting fund raising success for CFF, and the time we spent together as a family after the walk was absolutely priceless.

Veronica and I love our brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and beautiful grandchildren beyond words and we know they feel the same about us. Amanda would have loved to have been there, but guess what, she was in spirit. She loved everyone in this picture VERY much and we know she is proud of us today and always.

Thank you so much to Mercy Soto, another one of Amanda's awesome aunts for putting the team and the day together. We all had a fantastic time and hope for more awesome family events in the future. This is just another example of how Amanda touched each and every one of our lives and made each one of us a better person.

Tomorrow We Make Great Strides...

We are greatly anticipating our Great Strides walk tomorrow morning at Schlitterbahn. Amanda's Aunt Mercy Soto organized Team Amanda Braveheart. It is going to be a great day, with lots of family and friends walking to raise money to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. Schlitterbahn is the perfect place, because it was one of Amanda's favorite places on the planet. How appropriate.

While Amanda was growing up, we didn't attend many CF related events. The first year that we tried to do a Great Strides walk in Austin, it was canceled because smoke from garbage fires in Mexico had blown into the area and the organizers felt it would be too hard on the CFer's lungs. So we went home. By the next year, the organizers started restricting CFer's with certain pseudomonas from participating in the walk. Amanda was in that group. We had rather hang out with Amanda at any given time, than hang out with walkers. If she couldn't participate, we wouldn't either. We valued our time with her. That was the same year that she was not permitted to attend the 65 Roses Camp. She cried so hard over the news, and her mother and I were equally heart broken that she couldn't go. Damned pseudomonas!

 Many people have wondered why we weren't more "involved" with the cause. Now you know. It was not the time to be involved. God knows the end from the beginning, and He knew there would be a season for our involvement. Our cause was Amanda, and with her we were very involved. This will be our 1st real walk.

Amanda would be very happy to see our family just hang out and enjoy each other, and that is the promise tomorrow holds. We are excitedly looking forward to it.

If you would like to help Team Amanda Braveheart in our effort to raise funds, you can follow this link to donate to my walk... http://www.cff.org/great_strides/dsp_donationPage.cfm?registeringwalkid=7959&idUser=571808

 We are only $1210 away from our goal. We would cherish and appreciate your help. Any amount helps the fight. God bless.

I've Had An Epiphany...

Epiphany? Well maybe. I originally titled this blog "Amanda and Me". I am sorry for interjecting my biography in your life. I've seen the light. I've changed the title to "Amanda and Us". She made everyone of our lives better. Ya'll KNOW she did.

While I have shared whatever you had to say about Amanda, this blog is not a tribute to me. Why should I make it that way by titling it in such a way? Well, in a faint attempt to justify myself, I'm a self centered human being. Now do you understand? OK, denial is the first step to recovery. Amanda was BIGGER than me, than my relationship with her as dad, friend, brother in Christ. Amanda was a giant when it came to RELATIONSHIP! She was OUR friend! Not just mine.

Many who knew Amanda had no idea she had Cystic Fibrosis. She wanted it that way. She just wanted a "normal" life. Often times, she would get too much attention, of a negative kind, when people discovered she had CF. Since she was SO relational, it hurt her when she wasn't accepted for who she was in spite of CF. She was artsy, loving, kind, country, cool, loving, smart (both street and book), tough, really tough, a loyal friend who would launch you if you dissed her closest friends and especially her family. She was a true red, white and blue Texan. Her bloodline was Scottish and Jewish ROYALTY and she was a ball breaking pistol. Oh, and she had CF. One of her favorite sayings was "F__K CF". By the way, tough guys- she could drink ANY and maybe all of us under the table. She was a ball breaker.

There, that's a little about what I know about Amanda Elizabeth "Braveheart" Warnock - Cross. If you have something to add, either comment or email me at jimdwarnock@gmail.com and I will share what you know about Amanda. Please don't spare the details...

Thank you.