Birthday Fun!

Birthday Fun:

For anyone that knows me, birthdays have always been my favorite time of year.  From count downs to all week celebrations, I have done it all.  Getting sick has definitely put a different spin on my birthday.  Getting well, has taught me that I need to enjoy every day and live it up!  Today, I turned 37.  It is an odd number, nobody really throws parties at 37. Well…..this year, I threw myself a party.  Here are some fun pictures from my day.

Streamers across the room, fun ones in the doorway to walk through.  I princess table cloth with juice and cookies for the homeroom.  The homeroom also got glow sticks and fun presents.  I know, I know, Best Teacher Ever!

Throughout each class, I told corny birthday fun jokes every 3-4 minutes.  Here were some of my favorites:

Why were the elephants thrown out of the pool?  They couldn't keep their trunks up.

Why didn't the skeleton go to the party?  He had No-body to go with.

What do you get when you cross and bear and a skunk?  Winnie- the Pooh.

Perfect jokes for my 6th graders!

Dollar Store Special, Flower headband.  I pretty much wore this all day long.  Even after I took it off, I felt like I was wearing it. 

Flowers from my wonderful husband!  Thanks Stephen, I love them!

Pizza, cake and .....

Selfies....


It was an amazing day.  I loved every moment of it.  Thank you to all the people that called, texted, or wrote on my facebook page.  I gave out more hugs today, than some of you would believe.

Remember, you only live once and life is way too short.  It is important to love those who are dear to us and truly live each day!

Jen Berta get ready for next year........365 days of planning and prepping!

Face of a Champion!

All day long I thought about what to put in my blog. I have not written in a while.  I feel like today is a day that should be written about.

Today I ran the Komen 5k race for the third year in a row.  This year I ran it without my sister- in-law, without my husband, and without my Sunday morning running partner.  To be brutally honest, my heart was not in it this year. I have been in a funk for a while.  Although I look like a 36 year old on the outside, I am really like an 85 year old on the inside. This is just one of the many side effects of the medicine that I take to keep the cancer from returning.  Sometimes it is just hard to have a body of an 85 year old when you mind wants to be like a 36 year old. (if that make sense)

Don’t get me wrong, I am truly grateful to be alive and I really try to live every day to its fullest.  However, there are some days that are just harder than others.  There are days that I wish I could just crawl back into bed and not push through the pain I feel in my feet or joints.  However, being a mom, you can’t really just crawl back into bed and forget the world for a day or two.  Being a mom forces you to push past the pain and persevere.

          

        I started the race and was feeling ok.  There were points where I wanted to stop and walk.  There were moments where I said “it is just a race, I don’t have to run it all.”  But there were stronger moments where I said “don’t stop, keep going, don’t let yourself down, show the cancer who is the real boss, you never give up and you won’t start now, show the medicine that it can make you gain weight and cause you to hurt all the time but it won’t stop you.”  I ran hard at the end.  I had a high school classmate at the finish line who gave me a great high five!  Thanks Kurt for being at the end of the race, it totally helped me finish strong.

          So here is my after race picture:  

This is my champion face!  I am about 10 pounds heavier than last year but I ran it 30 seconds faster!  As Margaret Newman said “determination and the fighting spirit prevailed!”

Here are some other pictures from my day.  These pictures show why I get up every morning.  In the end the people around us make it so much easier to live life.

We celebrated Elisheva's 8th birthday with a tea party with her friends from school.

Shua scored a goal at his game today!

Spending time with loved ones!

Catching moments like this.....precious!

We did it!

I rocked it!

Running the Rock and Roll ½ of the half in Las Vegas last Sunday night for Chai Lifeline was a truly an unbelievably amazing experience.

Even before I ran the race, I was so proud of how much money Devorah and I had raised for Camp Simcha.  We raised over 8,700 dollars. The pre-race pasta party was so emotional for me.  Just watch the following videos.  You too will be in tears.  Watching these videos really hit home and made it all worth it.

Here are some pre-race pictures.

3 Bader kids in one location at one time and none of them live in Las Vegas. Next year, lets have all four of us there and maybe we can all run the race together. 

We asked this guy in the hotel to take our picture and he gave us a 100 dollar bill towards our race after he learned about the cause.  How awesome is that?  True kindness in this world.

Two amazing people that we met on this adventure.  They were running the 1/2 marathon in honor of their sister who is very sick.  They both rocked it!

Pre-Race lunch

Walrus Joe.....

 Jack....I will always love you.....Titanic

  It was really cold before the race.  As the sunset the wind picked up and we were chilly.

I ran hard and pushed myself during the race. I had been running and raising money for months. I didn’t want to let myself down.  After the pre-race pasta party, I didn’t want to let those children down as well.

I could not have done it without the cheers from my brother Joe.  He was there at mile marker 3 and helped me get to the finish line.  Thank you for the cheer leading Joe!

Devorah and I are an amazing team!

Overall, this was an experience to remember and I will be there for those children again.  I am counting on you to help me reach my goal again next year. I am counting on you to run with me!

Thank you to Stephen for all his support over these past few months.  Thank you for holding down the fort while I was running the streets of Las Vegas for the children of Chai Lifeline.

Thank you mom and dad for helping with the kids and supporting me on this journey.  Thank you for continuing to push me to achieve my goals.

Thank you Devorah for encouraging me to run for Chai Lifeline!

Thank you to all my contributors.  I hope you will be there with me next year!  I really could not have done it without your support, motivation, and encouragement.

Chai Lifeline Race

Chai Lifeline Race

What have I learned since I joined the Chai Lifeline team?

 For starters, people are very generous.  I am in awe of how many people have helped me reach my goal.

I also learned that it can’t hurt to ask.  There were several nights that I went through my Facebook list of friends and asked four or five people if they would be willing to donate.  For the most part people donated 36 dollars.  In some cases some people donated more.  The best was when I would ask one person to donate and then another person would also donate.

 I started this adventure accepting the fact that I would have to fork over a lot of money to make my donation goal.  Even after Stephen said I only need 100 friends to donate 36 dollars each, I was still doubtful.  The first time I posted the link, I got a few people to donate.  The second time, I got a few more.  Then it was slow for a while.  I learned that I had to be proactive. 

I learned that I am a stronger runner than I was back in June. 

I learned that I can push myself on Sunday mornings and then feel great for the rest of the day.

I decided to run on Chai Lifeline’s team because they help sick children.  I interact with children all day long. I love teaching my students and being such a big part of their learning experience.  As I run my 6.5 miles next Sunday there will be a few former students that I will really be thinking about.  These students fought cancer or a pediatric illness while in my class.  They were brave and courageous individuals. I will run with them in mind.   I want to say a special thank you to:

Michelle, Elisa, Robin & Mike, Kimmie, Erica, Connie, Adele, Judy & John, Jayne, Linda & Gary, Aliza (my awesome Sunday running partner-you have made me a stronger runner), Risa, Jennifer, Mom & Dad (you guys have helped me so much, I love you!), Jill, Allison, Christine, Cheryl & Jason, Julie, Charles &Malka, Michelle, Margaret (you are an awesome coach!  Thank you for always having me in your thoughts and helping me stay on the roads), Joanie & George, Michelle & Leo, Micah, Alex, Galit, Ilan, &Noah, Ricki & Joel, Kathy, Brian & Quentin, Suzanne, Lauren, Rebecca & Tyler, Stacy, Coach Paddock Rome, Karen, Penny, Anne, Alex, Erin & Matt, James, Chris, Susan, Melissa, Jim & Danielle, Ellen, Ben, Kelly, Kevin & Cheryl, John, Robin, Amy, Gitty, Corrin, Gerry, Tiffany & Shane, Becky, Lori, Daniel, Mike and Mickey, Dominique, Jenn, Neil & Sandy, Annette & Bob, Erin, Menashe & Rona, Judy, Shoshanna, Stacy, Robin, Nicole, Kim, Teri, Jennifer, Jeff, Emily, Nina, Shira, Anita, Rachel & Joel, Jen, Julie, Ishai & Family, Bill, Judy & Bob, Ilana, Bria &Steve, Scott, Debbie, Joanne, Vanessa, Sara, Aileen, Heidi, Ardith, Caryl, Sandy, Aaron & Karen, Leah, Benita, Shawn & Beren, Kurt, Crystal, Melissa, Marcia, Rachelle, Susan, Katie & Josh, Barbara & Rich, Becky, Jen, Eileen, Lottie, Susan & Mort, Robin, Dawn, Barbara, Joie, Erin, Faith, Dean, Roni, Erica, Maura, Susan, Karen, Scott,  Mary, Helen, Avi, Sue, Stacey, Anne

A very special thank you to Devorah for encouraging me to complete this challenge!

A super special thank you to Stephen for helping me get in all my runs!  

Thank you all for being a part of this adventure!