When I set up my little raffle last week, I didn't really have any idea how it would go. I thought we'd justou see if there was anyone out there who was still looking for a BlogHer '10 ticket, and maybe we'd raise enough to pay off one of DeAnne's bills.

And then the internet did that thing that it does sometimes. People like Steph and Jenny and Yvonne and dozens of others spread the word and suddenly we had in-boxes filled with encouraging notes from people around the world.

I think that calls for a celebratory DeAnne photo, don't you?

We also watched through splayed fingers as 205 donations rolled in. You guys helped us raise $3,715 - every penny of which is going out in the mail this week, accompanying statements with a big Paid In Full written on them. I can't even begin to express how grateful my entire family is for this windfall. DeAnne can look forward to her recovery without collection calls, without endless statements. This is such a huge gift, and we promise that we will pay it forward.

Because I wasn't really anticipating such a big response, I figured I would handle things in a low-tech way. For each five dollars donated, I wrote the person's name on a little post-it, and then folded it in half so it wasn't sticky. And then I did that a bazillion more times.

Now, normally, repetitive writing gets me cranky and makes my wrists ache, but with each name I wrote out on a little slip of paper, I realized how lucky we are. So many unfamiliar names, each representing a well-wish for my sister. It became a meditation, and I found myself smiling and whispering "thanks!" to each name. I could have planned a more efficient method, but the act of writing each name out, whether once or a dozen times, brought home the enormity of what has happened. So I'll say it again. THANKS!

Now - about that raffle... I'll be finishing up the raffle tickets tonight, and will have DeAnne pick the winner by drawing tomorrow morning. We'll take photos, or maybe even some video, if she's up for it. I will post the results as soon as I reach the winner.