Acceptance Speech

Thousands of people have made the month leading up to Sarah's surgery not only easier, but memorable.

Friends, family, complete strangers, neighbors, and co-workers have prayed for Sarah, offered all help imaginable, delivered gifts, and spoken endless encouraging words to Sarah, me, and our family.

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote our pastor, Nick Floyd, a note that he shared with our Cross Church Fayetteville family. In it, I mentioned that we are overwhelmed by the response of our church family, but not surprised by it.

That sentiment remains true. Thank you, Nick, and church family, for walking through this with us!

I don't know how many times I've thanked Damon McDonald, but he deserves another one just for being Damon. (Shameless plug: Buy your next vehicle at Everett Maxey.)

The best part of our two trips to Houston was that we, never once, worried about our kids' well-being or state of mind. I hope this isn't overly sappy, but Michele and her family mean the world to us. This month has reminded us how special their family is.

Upon our arrival on Sunday, we immediately noticed a clean (and organized) garage and a manicured yard.

These two acts of service, alone, were absolutely awesome! Sarah raved about it all the way to the front door!

Then, she raved some more when she opened the door and saw this:

This is all the handy work of our great friend, and talented designer, Kirsten Blowers. Check out her store, Rifraff, on the Fayetteville Square.

We watched the Academy Awards a few nights ago. I'm pretty sure that if I knew, for months in advance, that I had a 20% chance of winning the most prestigious award in my profession, I'd have something put together. Not many movie stars do. What's the deal? No time to jot a few words down between sets? Maybe call up your favorite script writer, and ask for a favor? At least scribble down the 20 people you want to make sure to thank on the napkin of your favorite 5-star restaurant...

Some of the fumbling around can probably be written off as a lame attempt to show a little humility. "I can't believe it!" Yeah right.

Well, we can't believe it. We never left for Houston thinking we would come home to all this. There wasn't a 20% chance of this happening when we left. We don't know what else to say accept, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" (Sound familiar?)

We don't know who to thank, either. We've tried to put all the pieces together, but it seems that a few people may be too gracious to let us know they had a part in it. So, thank you Kirsten, Elaine, Michele, Angela, Rachel, and whoever else had a hand in our little home makeover.