Rachel's Challenge

I must say that this has already been a quite eventful and emotional morning for me.  On the way to work I usually listen to Kidd Kraddick and today is KIDDS KIDS day where they take calls and donations for their anual trip to disney world for terminally ill kids with cancer.  The stories of people calling in with kids that have gotten to go on the trip before as well as parents of kids who are getting to go this year was very inspirational.  These kids are going through the worst part of their lives, yet get to enjoy a trip of a lifetime to Disney World, every child's dream, because of people like you and me who call and and donate even a buck! 

So I am crying on the way to work just thinking about my child who will be here in December and how I pray for her to be healthy, as I am sure all these parents also prayed, to find out years later they had cancer.  It breaks my heart. It also lifts me up to know how positive the kids and their parents are during the whole process.  I hope I can be that strong!

Then I walk into work just in time for an assembly called Rachel's Challenge.  I knew a little bit about it before, but wasn't real sure the details about it, just that we were on a modified schedule and it was another assembly we had to attend with our students.  WOW!  The next few words will express my thoughts throughout and after the assembly.

Rachel Scott was the first student to lose her life in the terrible school shooting at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999.  I remember being in high school that day when it happened just shocked thinking it could never happen to me, to my school, to my community, as i'm sure Rachel woke up thinking that same day.  Of course I was sad for them and happy at the same time that it wasn't me and my school (selfish I know) but then I went on with my teenage life, and probably never thought anymore about that day......until now. 

The assembly is based on an essay that her parents found just weeks after she died going through her things.  It was an essay on ethics and being kind to others, hoping to start a chain reaction throughout the school, the community, the world.  Rachel was an unselfish kid who always put others before herself.  Sounds cliche I know, but it has impacted the world for 10 years now and will continue to leave a legacy.

I know that you can go online and read all about Rachel, but this is more for my thoughts.  Sitting there the whole time, I couldn't help but think about bringing a child into this world in just 9 more weeks.  I think about what kind of kid she will be, what she will aspire and dream to do, what kind of student she will be in high school, college, etc. 

It is my hope and prayer that my daughter, Berkley, will be a child like Rachel.  One that will sit with the lonely at lunch, one that will help the disabled in the hallway, one that will journal her thoughts, one that will be true to herself, one that won't let her environment shape her character but yet let her character and integrity shape the environment, one that will tell me and her dad she loves us often, one that learns to love unconditionally, one that works hard to be successful, one that gets up when she falls hard, one that sheds a tear of compassion every now and then, one that says i'm sorry and admits that she is wrong, one that takes pride in her schoolwork and leads her school, one that takes a stand, one that this world will remember forever.

It is my hope and prayer that Brian and I will be the best parents we can be to help her be the child I described above.

http://www.rachelschallenge.org/