What a weekend!

As you all know, friends of ours (John and Carla Bennett) held a fund-raiser for Lila yesterday.  They own a martial arts studio in Reno and had a "break-a-thon", where all of their members participated by breaking boards using the force of their bodies.  Lila even had the opportunity to break a board!

(so sorry this video is horizontal...Matt and I can't seem to figure out how to rotate it)

Once again, the turn out was overwhelming, bringing out many emotions and much thankfulness.  Unfortunately, Lila was under the weather but pulled through and wanted to stay the entire time.  She enjoyed the positive energy in the room, all of the laughter and support, and the friendliness of all of the families around her.  John and Carla have truly put together an amazing community there at the studio, who all seem to be of the same mindset embracing our little girl with the love and kindness, as if the have all known her forever.

The supporters from Team Martial Arts Reno

There was a 10 year old boy named Kevin who approached Matt and gave Lila a high-5.  He then said that he had $5 to give to her and that he sure hoped that it would help (Matt teared up again :-).  The generosity and support felt from this group was unspeakable.  At church this morning, John said that they had raised $1800 for Lila and still were not done collecting all of the funds.  Oh my goodness...cut to Maria picking her chin up off of the floor...Matt and I are shocked and overwhelmed.  That is amazing, and speaks to the kind of community we have here in Reno :-)

Lastly, Matt had gotten photos of two little girls from church that participated and I wanted to share their photos as well....

Nyka

CeCe