Wrapped in Love

We have mentioned many times how wonderful our friends and family are, and how much we appreciate all their help and support. However, we wanted to send a really big thank you to our friend (who also happens to be The Cancer Ninja's wife...yes, she is equally as amazing) who invited me to attend the Wrapped in Love event last night.

Wrapped in Love is held each year at The Bentonville Nazarene Church, which is also where Braedyn attends preschool. They sell tickets for women to come, enjoy dinner, and revel in the true spirit of Christmas - love and giving.  The premise is that each woman who comes receives a gift to "pay forward" to someone who needs it.  They explain that you may have no idea who the gift might help and that you may not come across this person for weeks or months, but at some point the person who the gift is truly meant to help will cross your path and you will know it.  What an amazing concept! You can check out their Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/Wrappedinlove.Bnaz?fref=ts
It was a beautiful evening full of hope.  Prior to the event, my friend mentioned that the church would like to hand out ALL-EN bracelets and say a little about Allen and his journey with CANcer.  We were of course honored that she asked, and excited that even more people would be pulling for Allen along his journey!

Throughout the evening, the event emcee spoke of love and giving, and recognized different people in the huge crowd for their selflessness.  It was touching to see so many women giving of themselves for others.  We truly have a one of a kind community here in Northwest Arkansas!

As the evening began to wind down and most tables had received their gifts to share with others, (I got a pancake griddle to pay forward and am thinking of giving it to TASC - a local group who helps single mothers - because I can just imagine a mommy pulling it out to make her kiddos breakfast Christmas morning) I was utterly and totally shocked to hear them ask me to come to the stage. The emcee told everyone of Allen's diagnosis and explained that on the tables were little boxes with ALL-EN bracelets in them.  She asked everyone - all 250 of the guests - to put them on and continued on to explain that Allen has his PET Scan Wednesday morning.  She asked each person to hold Allen in her thoughts during that time and throughout his journey.  To see so many people putting on a bracelet that stands for so much for our family meant more than we can ever begin to say.

CANcer SUCKS.  But, we know that it has been put in our lives for a reason and for a bigger purpose. We know that we are in the best possible place in the world to fight it (heck--Allen gets his chemo at a facility called The HOG--what could be better for a Razorback fan). We know that we have the best doctors and nurses watching Allen's every scan, blood draw, and test.  And, we KNOW that we have the most amazing friends and family wrapping us in love.