Star of Hope Benefit

What a beautiful night...I've been looking forward to it for a LONG time! In fact, all wk I've been thinking we were a day ahead because I was so excited :) ha! So, we had a slight glitch of plans for Kallen, so once again, he headed off with us to his second benefit dinner. I know we are breaking oh so many rules of etiquette, but I always just hope he'll smile or something to distract anyone who's annoyed with us! (oh, by the way, please ignore our Christmas decorations!!!)

So I've been really looking forward to this dinner, not only because I LOVE Star of Hope so much and am SOOOO grateful for all that they do in Houston, but also because Ron Hall and Denver Moore were speaking (authors of the amazing book Same Kind of Different as Me). Which I'm pretty sure during the talk he said they're in the process of turning into a screenplay...with the producers of "The Pursuit of Happyness"...but don't quote me on that one...we were doing some baby control at that point! :)

So ironic because earlier in the week I received a call from one of the coordinators to ask if we'd be willing to sit in an "auxiliary room" because they had gotten such a great response and the banquet was overflowing. Of course, I said, of course, but I was super disappointed because I really wanted to see them in person, and be there in the huge banquet room for all the energy etc etc...and I totally know better, given that we are going to a fancy dinner to raise money for the homeless which already seems kind of confusing.

Anyways, we arrived and walked past the huge ballroom to our beautiful auxiliary room to table 134 and as we sat, I noticed a beautiful three yr old girl sitting at the table with us is a fancy black velvet and red satin dress...she was precious. We all said our hellos, and one of the men sitting at the table leaned over to me and said that we were lucky because we were sitting at the table with them...they were sharing their stories that night....ummmm wow. Humbled. Instantly. They were the reason we were even there. I sat next to Michelle, who was so beautiful and nervous, and for good reason. When she shared her story...I don't even know how to begin...how her daughter cared when she was so down...how she used to live under a bridge...how her disease had her in so much bondage...how she is now an administrative assistant at MD Anderson...continuing to recover one day at a time...humbled. I was oh so humbled.

I didn't take pictures of them...just didn't feel right...but can I just say how much the three of them changed my life. The three year old had been homeless with her mom and dad, when her father was in a car accident that kept him from being able to work...that could most certainly be us...most certainly. We are just one step away from being in their shoes...literally. The least of these...I just don't know...I just don't think they are the least of these...there was so much life and hope and love sitting at our table...yeah, I am so grateful for table 134 and that we had the HONOR to sit there.

AND before dinner started, Ron and Denver came to our room to talk to us and thank us---awesome...Denver especially was exactly as I had pictured him :) amazing... we had to leave before he spoke (Ron was taking an extra long time! ha!!) and I was so bummed, but little Mr Man was up W-A-Y past his bedtime and had been a truly GOOD sport!

Greater Things are Yet to Come...