THIS SUNDAY I am running (Who am I kidding? I haven’t trained well at all, so I’ll be walking, or crawling.) the San Diego Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon to raise money for Compassion International. Several months ago, my friend Sarah and I decided to join forces, organize a team, and see what kind of funds we could raise.
So far we have raised over $8,450 dollars. $8,450 to free children from poverty in Jesus’ name. Yeah, I know that we are still way short of our original big hairy audacious goal of $20,000. But I also know that we still have time. Okay, we have 5 days. And I believe we can do it. Or we can get close. Or the very least, we can get closer.
So I thought I’d introduce you to the team and make one more plea for your help. This is Team San Diego. Go meet everyone, say hi, and give them some money and/or encouragement.
My name is Jennifer Bryant. I’m twenty-five years old and I just moved back to my hometown of Ada, Oklahoma. I worked as a tax accountant in Dallas for the past two years. I never thought I would be running a 5k, let alone a half marathon. But Compassion is such a great organization that truly changes lives. I’m thankful I’m getting a chance to support them!
My name is Tim Farmer and I heard about Team San Diego through Jessica and Melissa Sesma. I was born and raised in San Diego and I work for the City of Chula Vista running adult sports leagues. My brother tried to convince me to run the full marathon but when I labored through every step of my first training session of 1.7 miles, I decided the half would work just fine. I just began sponsoring a child through Compassion and thought it would be great to help raise money for a great organization. I’m looking forward to running next week!
My name is Marijke Groat. It’s pronounced Ma-rye-ka. 🙂 I currently live in Southern California, but moved here from Minnesota, Texas, and Alaska (in that order). I sponsor two children through Compassion: Céline from Burkina Faso, and Hana from Ethiopia. I love music and songwriting, and I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed training for this half marathon! Can’t wait for race day and I’m looking forward to meeting everybody.
My name is Milyn Groat. I live in San Clemente and just went back to work after 10 years as a stay home mom. I am currently working as a project coordinator.
My name really is LV, with no periods. It¹s not an abbreviation – My name is LV, and I have a brother named DR. I have lived and traveled all over the world and has spent the last 4 years traveling extensively throughout the United States serving as the national ambassador for Catalyst, a movement of next generation leaders in the church. In 2008 I made the move from Atlanta, GA to Orange County, CA to help launch Catalyst West Coast and quickly added the role of directing Catalyst Connect – a relational initiative focusing on smaller, more strategic learning environments for influencers who want to continue their leadership development journey. I am in the process of transitioning from Catalyst to join the staff team at Mariners Church as Pastor of Care and Recovery and am thankful to call southern California home. A University of Colorado Alum, I played professional volleyball in Slovenia where I learned my 6’5″ frame was average in the land of Eastern European Giants.
My name is Chad Markley and I’m married to Sarah. To pay the bills I own a IT consulting company, but my real passion is music and worship leading. Sarah and I and our two girls attend Newsong Church in Irvine where we’ve all been blessed to become a part of the community there over the past year. I walk our golden retriever, Flower, every morning and make it home for dinner (most of the time) every evening. I’m happy to be a part of the Compassion team and I am looking forward to the race on Sunday.
I’m Sarah Markley and I’ve had the privilege of co-captaining this team with Lindsey. I haven’t been able to train this spring as much as I would like but even so, I’m looking forward to Sunday. I’m a stay at home mother who spends most of her free time writing in some way or another either for my own blog or for other collaborative blogs around the web. I’m married to Chad, who will also be running on Sunday, and we have two daughters ages 9 and 5. When I’m not writing I love to hike in the canyons near my house in Orange County or take my girls to the park or beach.
Be sure to go meet the rest of team Team over on Sarah’s blog!
And if you’d still like to give toward my personal fundraising goal, click here.
A BIG THANK YOU to those of you who have already supported us. We appreciate every prayer and every dollar.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.