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Great Strides 2007

The walk on Saturday was a great success. Team Jacob raised $20,000 this year. That's pretty damn incredible. Our friend, Pam Adlon, went out and raised over $8000 on her own, and those good folks from the Bloggers For A Cure contributed close to $2000. The Valencia walk had recorded $94000 the day of the walk, but more money will taper in over the course of the weeks. Hopefully that figure will rise up to $100K by the end of the month.

That's a lot of money, my friends, and that money will be well spent. Thank you to all of you who were able to make a donation and to those of you who wanted to but couldn't this year. Don't worry, you're all still on our list. Expect a letter next year.

The walk itself was fun. The weather was really pleasant this year, so it wasn't too hot. And with over 200 walkers, there was a lot of exposure for the walk.

I wasn't too emotional. I kind of stuck with our family and watched out for Jake and Sophie. It was so nice having mom and dad out here to join us on the walk. When I tell them I know they don't have to be out here, they just look at me. "Yes we do." I don't know how to answer something like that, so I just smile and nod.

The kids did great. But the person I'm most proud of this year is Julie. She worked her tail off helping organize this thing and it stressed her out to no end. I could see the relief in her shoulders after the walk was over and it had gone off without a hitch. I am so proud to call her my wife. And then, after all of that, she helped prepare a killer cook out meal for all of our friends and family. It's becoming a tradition that we have a cookout celebration after the walk each year. Of course, the Malchus' were here, as were the Cruz family. Julie brother Seann came up the night before and celebrated with us, as well. Finally, there were our neighbors, the Wills, who also participated in the walk. At the end of the night, a lot of food was eaten, a lot of beer and wine was drunk, and everyone was exhausted from a long, good day.

Like I said, Julie was the real hero on Saturday. But I know that she would never take any credit. She would say that Jacob is the hero. And that all the people living with CF are the heroes. I would agree. But she deserves recognition for all of the hard work she did. Nice job, hon. I love you.

Aloha

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