I won! I won!

I can't believe it but I actually won something and I wasn't even trying.

Rachelle at Take a Walk with the Riedmiller Family gave me my very first blog award. First, I would like to thank my parents, without them I would be nothing. I also need to thank my husband for being there with me from the beginning, laughing at my jokes and encouraging me. Then, of course, I can't forget my boys. Without them, what would my life be like. My life would be so boring, nothing to do but relax, watch TV, go out to eat, sleep!! And, I also would like to thank all the people who knew me when - before I had a blog and GOT AN AWARD!!!

Okay, enough groveling. Thank you, Rachelle, for giving me this award. I haven't been doing this for long but I have gotten so much out of this. I love being able to take a peek into the lives of others and see how they handle the challenges that have been given to them. It is so encouraging and uplifting. I look forward checking on my new friends daily.

Here are the rules (I didn't come up with these:)

1. The winner can (and should, really) put the logo on his/her blog
2. The winner must link to the person from whom they received their award.
3. The winner must nominate at least 7 other blogs for an award.
4. The winner must place links to those blogs on their own blog.
5. The winner must leave a message on the blogs of the people they’ve nominated.

Now come the problems. First, I can't figure out how to get the logo from Rachelle's blog to mine. Then, I'm not completely sure about the linking thing. I have everyone on my blog list so hopefully that works. The big problem is that I don't know 7 other blogs besides the ones that Rachelle nominated! But, here's who I do give awards to:

Sean, Natalie and Evan at The deMello's. Evan deMello is the little boy that introduced me to the blogging world. He is from my hometown and was born with a heart defect which required him to have a heart transplant. His parents had a COTA site to keep everyone updated on his condition. He had the transplant at the end of June last year and, sadly, lost his battle in October. His parents were so brave and inspiring throughout his fight and have continued their story about their brave little warrior and their lives without him. Evan never ceased to amaze me and neither do they.

Through Evan's blog I met Sara at ThinkPinkalicious. She is a mommy to the sweetest little girl, Maddie. Maddie has a rare form of dwarfism. Sara and Maddie had a wonderful summer and I was able to share in their fun through Sara's wonderful descriptions of their capers.

Sara found a jewelry website and was looking at it and noticed that the owner of the website had a little boy with CdLS. She e-mailed me and that is how I met Lisa Leonard at It's the Little Things. Lisa's son is David and he is 6 years old. She has another boy named Matty. She is very creative and a great photographer. I always enjoy checking in on her.

From these three, I have met all the other bloggers on my list and then some. I have truly enjoyed the time I've spent with each of you and thank you again for letting me peek into your lives. I look forward to much more.

Have a great week.