Friday, December 02, 2005

Christmas In Iraq ~ The Final Tally


Those of you on my email list just got this email from me. But since it's after midnight and I have final exams to study for, I'm going to be lazy and just copy & paste my email here, giving you all the info on the final tally. Let's just say I was completely blown away by the response!! Y'all did awesome... y'all ROCK!!!! :)

Oh yeah.. and since it's now Self-Portrait Friday...(good grief where did this week GO?!) the picture you see here was taken on Nov. 19, at my oldest stepdaughter's wedding. :) The kids with me are my two youngest (biological) kids ~ Kathryn is 4 and Jeff Jr is 2. :)

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Hello everyone!!!!!!! :) If you are getting this email, it's because in one way or another, you were involved with (or at least, knew about!) my little "Christmas In Iraq" card-collecting campaign. If you've gotten busy and forgotten all about little old me, LOL, I'll refresh your memory... this year, I set out to collect as many cards as possible to send to three units in Iraq ~ one of them being my own local Dear Heroes of Georgia's 48th National Guard Brigade Combat Team, along with two other units that have sustained heavy casualities and many wounded in action. Well, all of y'all came through in a HUGE way... so much more than I ever expected!!! You are all wonderful, and PROOF that miracles still happen!!!!!

Between the christmas greetings I received via email, and the actual "regular" christmas cards people sent to me via snail mail, we were able to collect....

**drum roll please**

2,168 CHRISTMAS CARDS!!!!!

DId y'all catch that?! TWO THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-EIGHT Christmas cards!!!!!! WAY TO GO, EVERYONE!!!! *cries with joy* Thank you all SO MUCH for your kind generosity in getting these cards to me, to send along to my dear adopted soldiers!!!!!!!!!! The official breakdown is this:

My Georgia National Guard Platoon got roughly 1,000 of these cards & emails ~ since I have the names of all the guys in the platoon, I was able to get a bunch of big envelopes and write each guy's name on one envelope... each and every guy in that platoon has at least SIXTY cards... EACH. :-)

My other two units each get a big ole boxful of no less than 584 cards, to be handed out by my "point of contact" who will be receiving them. :)

YAY EVERYONE!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for participating!!! I cannot tell y'all how much it means to our dear deployed heroes to tangibly see proof of how much we back home support them!!!!!!! You all have each made a VERY REAL DIFFERENCE to a soldier... believe me, you really have. And for that, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you, thank you thank you to all those who contributed cards and/or emails, forward the information about this project to others, posted a message on your blogs, prayed for this project, etc!!!! You are all angels... thank you!

Now, y'all stay tuned...once christmas is over with, guess what happens next??? Yup!!! My "VALENTINE'S DAY" Card Collection Campaign! (Havent' thought of a snazzy name for that one yet... will happily take suggestions, haha!). So, y'all enjoy your Christmas, knowing you have done something wonderful for so many soldiers, and in January... back to work we go! :)

Thank you all again for helping me take care of my much-beloved "soldier babies!" :-) I can't tell you how much it means to me, that y'all did this for them!!!!!!!

Most sincerely,

Kat Orr
Loganville, Georgia

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