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On Friday evening, I was pouring over our wedding budget, desperately trying to find a way to make it possible for us to pay for the wedding we have planned. In my in-box sat an email from our photographer, Larissa Cleveland, with a revised contract attached.  I had been avoiding signing the revised contract because it was just so much more money than we have to spend.  I started to draft an email to Larissa to tell her that we had decided we just couldn’t afford to add any time to the contract.  Tony returned from getting the mail and dropped an envelope on my keyboard.

“Who do you know in Minnesota?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.

I looked at the return address and ripped open the envelope trying to puzzle it out.  When I opened the envelope, I found a card, which read:

Sarah, Tony, Bean & Bug

After seeing the outcome of the photography contest, I was heartbroken.  You really deserved to win, so that should have been the outcome, right?  But the #s were in and that was that … sort of …

I did a little poking around, I found that you all have hit a nerve with Blog Land and that people really wanted to help!  … So, whatever else you plan, you have two additional hours [of photography] gifted to you!  Your family has something special going on, and we all want to see that celebrated (and documented)!

Much love!

Jenna of Smile in Motion and Blog Land

Below Jenna’s name was a piece of paper folded accordion style and taped to the inside of the card, with the names of 25 other bloggers who contributed to the gift.  {I’m not linking to your blogs here because I don’t know if you want the world to know who you are.  If you do, let me know.  I’ll add links.}

I have spent much of the weekend ruminating over how best to write this post, how to express the depth of our gratitude, not only for the gift of photography but for the outpouring of love we received.  I have to say, this is not an easy post to write.  I burst into tears — the ugly kind.

How do you say thank you to the Internet?

  • Thank you for believing in us.
  • Thank you for following our journey.
  • Thank you for taking time out of your day to write to me, to comment, to kibitz on our wedding plans.
  • Thank you for supporting us and cheering us on.
  • Thank you for making yourself a vital part of our community.

When I started this blog, I did not expect to find a community of women who feel like my best friends.  If I could have twenty-five bridesmaids, you would be them.  Thank you.