WE DID IT!!!

Oh my gosh! I am so excited!! The crop for Stevie and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was Saturday! I went way over the top on my fundraising goal!!! These ladies and a few more (how did I forget to take that photo of you two Brenda and Joanne?) shared Saturday with me, opened their hearts and their wallets in a BIG way, and helped me to finish the fundraising portion of my marathon! WHAT a relief!!!

In fact, we went so far over the top, that I am able to help out my friend Helen with her fundraising! She is the glutton for punishment friend that got me into running marathons in the first place, the one who went to London with me and got her English accent refurbished while we were there, the one who has run with me for the past seven years when we can get our schedules in sync. She has been through the hard runs with me and we have raced many races together, usually with her telling me that if I would stop talking long enough to run hard, I might have had a better time. I think she has finally realized that no matter how often she tells me that, that it would suck all of the fun out of the long races for me, so she just lets me be, and kicks my ass in the race times. She is the runner I wish I could be, driven, with a beautiful stride, she inspires me every time we run together with her determination to do well! But, a little of me is rubbing off on her...she is learning that it's ok to slow down and chat with your friends once in a while, especially when we're not training for anything! LOVE her!!

I got off on a tangent! This was supposed to be about thanking a whole lotta people who have helped me out!! To all of my online friends who read about Stevie and chipped in some $$, thank you! To all of the rest of you who sent enough scrapbooking items for me to create 30+ HUGE auction packages, thank you, thank you, thank you! To my cropping friends who came and created so many amazing layouts on Saturday, thank you! To Nancy, and the staff and the customers of Youngplay Memories (my FAVORITE scrapbook store!!), I will never be able to thank you enough. To my friends and family who have supported me through many years of marathon fundraising, THANK YOU!

To those of you who have been praying for Stevie, our whole family thanks you. He is doing better this week, just had a minor infection last week, but many of you know, that with cancer patients, no infection is ever minor. The antibiotics have kicked in, and he is eating again (lots!) and starting to perk up, so we continue to pray for miracles for him.

I'm going to get all sappy on you for a minute, but I really need to say this. Your outpouring of love, support, generosity, and friendship really humbles me. To say I have surrounded myself with a community of amazing friends is such an understatement. I don't have the words to tell you all that is in my heart. Just know that I love you all, and feel so blessed to have each of you in my life.