A Light in the Darkness

Sometimes things happen that make me very sad.

There is a lot of evil in this little old world of ours, but guess what everybody?

Light will ALWAYS overcome darkness, no matter how dark it is.

My friend, Brooke, has an amazing son, Aiden, who has a huge heart.

Here is an excerpt from an email that Brooke sent to her family and friends.

"Aiden and Jakob have been friends and classmates since second grade.  Jakob has Cerebral Palsy and some time last year Aiden started asking Charlie and I about Jakob's condition.  We did our best to describe CP in a way we thought he could understand.  A while later we decided that Aiden and Charlie would read Devoted,

the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt and the races they run together.  Most of the book was over his head but I think the essence of their story sunk in a little.  

Well last week, completely out of the blue, Aiden said to Charlie, 

"Dad, I think Jakob is really cool."

"Me too buddy, Jakob is a really cool kid," Charlie said

"Do you want to know why I think he's so cool?" he asked.

"Sure thing, buddy"

"We'll Jakob can stand up on his own now, and he can wave, and he can say 'hi' and before he couldn't do any of those things, so I think that's really cool."

"Wow, that is really cool.  Jakob is a pretty special kid, huh?" Charlie replied.

Then Aiden looked up at Charlie and said, "Dad, I kinda still want to be in the Navy, but I really want a job where I can help kids like Jakob learn to walk."  

After Charlie caught his breath and fought back the tears welling up in his eyes, he told him how awesome that would be and he encouraged him to ask who in Jakob's life does that for him and then we can learn more about that career.  

Charlie then suggested that Aiden might invite Jakob to do a race with us, and that Charlie would push him and Aiden could run along side his friend.  Aiden got pretty excited about the idea but insisted that he push Jakob.  "We'd be just like Team Hoyt!"

Now they are trying to acheive this goal of running a race with Jakob.  They are working with a non-profit organization called Ainsley's Angels of America.  They work to provide equipment for people with disabilities so that they can participate in athletic events.  Right now the goal is to raise $800 to provide Jakob with a chair that he can use to participate in this race and many more to follow.  I have a feeling that once this story gets out, they are going to raise so much more than that and help many more people achieve their goals.  

If you would like to read more about Team Aiden and Jake or to donate money to this wonderful cause, here is the link

Team Aiden and Jake

Think of all of the "sweet moments" this will create for not only Aiden and Jake, but so many more amazing people!  I love this!  Makes my heart happy. :)