The Vuvuzela

Support can come in hundreds of different ways. It can come in a hug. It can come in a kind word. It can come in a donation from someone that you may have never even met.

And in our case, it can also come from a two-foot long plastic horn that drones like a bee hive on steroids. While the vuvuzela has been called "an instrument from hell" by a soccer columnist during the horn's coming out party during the 2010 World Cup, the low, loud tone that comes from the bell has sounded particularly sweet for me the last week.

Just checking out the awesome vuvuzelas!!

A few weeks ago, Jim White told me that he and Darin Ashby had a plan to do something to help us on our Grace Filled Journey. The plan was to sell vuvuzelas with some sort of Grace-themed saying on them. Additionally, Jim thought it would be appropriate to have the "I Believe That We Will Win" phrase on the horns as well.

It's a phrase that both the United States National Soccer teams and Mary and I have used as inspiration to continue on our journey. While their goal of a World Cup is amazingly difficult, our goal of a treatment for INAD may be even more difficult to come by.

The Hillsboro girls gave Grace her very own shirt for this season!

But just because something is hard, it doesn't mean that it's not worth trying for and all of the support from the community makes trying much easier. Support like that from our friends in the Sunday night soccer league in Litchfield, where the vuvuzelas will be sold and where the Hillsboro team will be sporting shirts that say "Playing For Grace" on the sleeve. They presented Grace with a shirt last Sunday and made her an honorary member of the team. That's happened a few times now with different sports, but it never gets old. It's always special to our family.

Grace is an honorary team member this year!

And Grace not only got a pink Hillsboro shirt, but also a green and yellow shirt from the Southwestern team, who also made a very generous donation to the study.  We hope to get back and watch some of these inspiring girls play again this summer.

So from now on, when I hear that familiar buzz of the vuvuzela at a soccer game, it won't make me want to plug my ears or mute the TV. It will remind me of how much one little girl can inspire a community and how much a community can inspire her parents.

KRH