Simultaneous do gooding.

So parallel to the work we are doing to gear up for the amazing Twilight Walk in September, we are also well underway planning the Kansas City art+gift auction, Metamorphosis 2009. Lots of busy, busy work. Lots of good things bubbling.

One of those buoyant, iridescent bubbles of goodness came in the form of a lovely donation from an enormously talented artist north of the American border. I'm sure you'll recognize the lively, fluid illustration style of Canadian Keri Smith. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, projects for Yahoo! and in publications for Chronicle Books. Not only is she an artist by way of successful career, she is also, more importantly, a life artist. She has a swell way of fusing the everyday with a swashbuckling disposition for passionate creativity. Keri's simple-yet-bountiful approach to living and thinking happily spills into ideas and projects for the likes of you and me.

The package arrived ...



and I opened it to discover not one but TWO copies of her latest book ...



autographed for two lucky winners!



Keri gets far more requests for donations than she can possibly fulfill, so for her to participate in our event is not only a thrilling honor but frankly, it feels as dreamy and miraculous as Glinda the Good Witch arriving on our doorstep in a giant pink bubble. We thank Keri beyond measure, and we hope that you're looking forward to all of the great art that will be waiting for you at our fall event.

From within.

I stumbled upon a nice collection of thoughts that might do you some good today.

With economy's belt (and unemployment) cinching ever tighter and the powerless feeling of employees working for employers who are taking advantage of said belt, sometimes we cope by checking out emotionally. We just unplug and detach from our work and from each other. Just want to say here and now, if you're looking for a way to passionately spend your time or energy on something that really matters, I can think of few things more important than saving babies from cancer. {That's a blatent invitation to volunteer with The Kyrie Foundation. ;)} And for the record, saving babies from cancer fulfills the following checklist. Read on.

From Jonathan Mead:

I discovered that not only is it valid to care about the work you do, it’s absolutely necessary. I used to think that you didn’t have a choice, or that doing work you love was some kind of luxury for the retired or gifted. And you know why? Because we’re taught that we can’t get paid to be ourselves. We’re taught that we need to become something in order to earn a paycheck.

Here’s some refreshing news: That’s an assumption.

More refreshing still: Just because a huge number of people believe in an assumption, doesn’t mean it’s true.

A lot of people once assumed the world was flat. And a lot of people now assume that work and play are not meant to coexist, that life must be a struggle. But the simple fact is, your life is a gift. To spend that gift in drudgery and grim duty is a waste.

So here’s the question you might want to ask now: How can I do what I care about?

Here are a few suggestions:

• Do something amazing.
• Start a revolution.
  
• Learn to give up caring bout all the unimportant things.
• Pull out all the mental weeds to allow room for the things you care about to grow.
• [Create a legacy]

If you allow yourself to stop caring about the things you don’t really care about, something amazing will start to happen. Once you move out all that attentional garbage, you finally create room for the things you love to take up residence in your life.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for revisions. I'm grateful for the do-overs, replays and second chances. Moreover, I'm thankful for the receptive attitude toward revision opportunities. Too often we get instantly defensive, our pride whimpering from a paper cut. Or we expect someone else to execute solutions without knowing the true work involved. Or we expect to create perfectly on the very first try.

In hindsight, we forget the mistakes themselves but distinctly remember how someone handled them, don't we? A blow up? A brush off? A blame game? Or with a pledge to do better? Or how about when someone takes the blame for a mistake for something that we know full well isn't his or her fault?

If we were frank with ourselves, how in the wonderful world could we expect perfection from the get-go when with our attention deficit culture rarely puts in the study or the effort that greatness requires? And therein lies the demise: when we lower our standards to attain a mediocre form of greatness instead of embracing the chance to improve.

Oh, man. That's deeper than I first thought.

I'm thankful for the willingness to make things better and for the tenacity to implement improvements. I'm thankful for the ol' "nose to the grindstone." I'm thankful for practice, rehearsals and training. And I'm thankful for the finale, when at the end of an endeavor you look back over your shoulder and know you have done well.

If you can recognize the need for improvement, things are already improving.

Author Unknown

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for familiarity. Don't you love it when you know something? When your really "get" another person or an idea or a place? Or when they "get" you? Like when you meet a brand new friend that you've known forever. Or how about when you meet up with an old friend, and you can pick up where you left off? I'm thankful for those kindred spirits.

I'm thankful for homecomings and family recipes and that which is ingrained in our very fiber, like breathing and sleeping. I'm thankful for compassion, a virtue rooted in familiarity and earned with empathy. I'm thankful for skills that magically come back, like riding a bicycle. I'm thankful for that relieved feeling of walking in the door from a long trip away. I'm thankful for the moments in which we know what we're doing because we had the courage to do it before, kind of like planning our Twilight Walk.

We will meet again my friend,
A hundred years from today
Far away from where we lived
And where we used to play.

We will know each others' eyes
And wonder where we met
Your laugh will sound familiar
Your heart, I won't forget.

We will meet, I'm sure of this,
But let's not wait till then...
Let's take a walk beneath the stars
And share this world again.

Ron Atchison

What are you thankful for today?

2009 Twilight Walk!!!

So, we've said before that if ever it's a little quiet on the blog, it means we're up to something!

We are now open for registration for The Kyrie Foundation's



WA-HOO!!!

You are invited to the second-annual Kyrie Foundation Twilight Walk, a two-mile evening stroll event to raise research funds to fight pediatric brain cancer. We'll walk nine quarter-mile laps, one lap for each child diagnosed every day with brain cancer in the U.S.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Bishop Carroll High School Track
8101 W. Central
Wichita, KS

$10 per registrant or $35 for a group of 4
(just like last year)
Registration fee includes t-shirt, illumination star and two free game tickets per child.
Children 2 years old & under are FREE!

4:00 p.m. Food & Festivities Begin
7:15 p.m. Twilight Walk Begins

And we're doing something a little different this year: there is the option to take the fundraising challenge, an "above & beyond" decision to fundraise on top of your $10 registration fee. We know that there are several similar events that require a registrant to raise a set amount; we wanted that idea to be voluntary not mandatory. The funds raised from this event are important—life and death important—but we'd rather have you be with us at the Twilight Walk than not all because of a fundraising expectation.

That being said, you can form your team now and go for the challenge—request $5 sponsors from friends/family, hold your own bake sale, host a lemonade stand, have a garage sale, turn in your aluminum cans—whatever you'd like to do to fundraise for your team. And ... the fundraising challenge team that earns the most donations will receive a very special trophy and prizes!

For more info on teams, fundraising and the event itself, visit our Web site.

We'll have our fabulous snack shack, loads of children's games, adult+child races, our super silent auction (great place to score gifts!) and Kyrie Foundation gear for sale.

As we confirm more exciting details in the next few weeks, stay tuned here to the blog or to our Web site.

Rain or shine. Feel free to bring portable chairs, strollers, wheelchairs, sunbrellas.

Also, if you'd like to volunteer for the event, please feel free to e-mail Chad at chad@kyriefoundation.org.

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for confidence.

confidence: noun 1 the belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something.

Sometimes we really get it wrong when it comes to confidence. We are quick to judge a personality and assume because the way a person dresses or speaks that he or she must be full-up with the stuff. But how many times have you heard that those crusty dispositions hide loads of insecurity? Like your cantankerous neighbor offers surprising sympathy or when you walk in on your nemesis crying in the bathroom?

Or what about the lack of confidence? I'm guilty of that. There have been hundreds of ways that I have compromised my speech, actions and decisions in order to keep the peace, to not rock the boat, to appease someone else's plans or sensitivities. I lump this lack of confidence under the virtue of "being considerate"——to a fault. If we're not careful, soon that lack of confidence begins to erode who we are meant to become and what we are called to do. What if we caved to everyone who poo-pooed our ideas or jeered at our decisions? No Disneyland. No antibiotics. No space shuttles. No music. No Sistine Chapel. That's what.

As for us and what we're doing ... there are moments when I've thought, "Who are we to fight cancer? What do we know? How can ordinary people like us think that we can give this cancer beast a showdown? We aren't Oprah or world-renowned scientists or Mr. & Mrs. Megabucks with philanthropic connections around the globe. How are we going to do this? We can't do it alone, so who the heck is going to care enough to help us?"

Feels like we're trying to build an ark or something. ;)

And then I say to myself, "Self, you have been asked to triumph. That's all. It's just a 'try' with a little 'oomph' behind it."

So it is.

What are you thankful for today?

Champs.

Hey—remember that fantastic group of softball players from Andover Central? Remember how they raised donations while simultaneously playing their hearts out on the softball field? Well, guess who won the state championship game?!?!?!?

Way to go Andover Central, 5A Softball Champions!

Regardless of this phenomenal achievement, you were already winners in my book. ;)

Busy, busy ...

Working on details for the 2nd Annual Kyrie Foundation Twilight Walk! Can you believe that—the 2nd annual? Can't wait to share next week.

I hope you are excited about this next big event, the kind of bubbly excitement that creates contagious enthusiasm and an effervescent spirit. Like grape soda on the back of your tongue or like being mid-air on a trampoline. I cannot wait to walk with you in September!

Until next week ...

Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as we make use of. One man gets only a week's value out of a year while another gets a full year's value out of a week.

Charles Richards