When I announced my giveaway earlier this month, I figured it would be easy peasy.  I would receive a few nominations, choose my favorite story, and choose a winner.  Simple as that.

I did not expect such a large response, nor did I expect the stories that would roll in.  I have cried, I have laughed, and then I have cried some more.  I have read story after story of heartbreak and hardship, as well as happiness and inspiration.

Call me overdramatic, call me oversensitive, just call me a WUSS. This decision…the decision of choosing a deserving winner has been near IMPOSSIBLE.  There was no way that one person was more deserving than another and I couldn’t make the choice.

Enter Travis, my husband.

“If they are all deserving, then why don’t you just pick a name randomly?”

And that is exactly what I did (thanks to random.org).

THANK YOU to those who took the time to write in about their loved ones, friends, or co-workers. But, more than anything, THANK YOU for renewing my faith in this season of love and giving.

The winner is….

Jillian (nominated by Terri Zyskowski)

and…because I am such a sucker for a heart warming story, I have (randomly) chosen a second winner…

C. Kempf (power in numbers…C was nominated sixteen times!)

Stories and full names are not included to protect the privacy of the winning individuals.