Home makeover thrills Orem's Thill family

OREM — The tears started when Cayce and John Thill stepped out of the limousine with their 14 adopted, foster and biological children to lay eyes on their fully remodeled home and newly landscaped yard, a $200,000 gift inspired by $10,000 donated through the show, "Oprah's Big Give," and ABC 4 News.

"We had no idea that they were going to do this much," Cayce Thill said. "We kept getting e-mails (from friends) that said 'wow' and that's all."

The family left Tuesday for a four-day trip, expecting to find only a new dining room with a table big enough for their whole family when they returned, but the founders of Heart 2 Home, a Utah nonprofit organization asked to head the project, decided a dining room wasn't enough.

"When we came to do the meet-and-greet Monday, we thought we can't just walk away," Connie Perrett, a volunteer with Heart 2 Home, said. "We can't just do an addition and that's it. My plan was to find a volunteer to head up each of the bedrooms."

Volunteers turned makeshift bedrooms in the garage into an island paradise for one of the girls and a sports mecca for three boys, ages 7 to 9.

Lauri Walker headed the project for the boys' room. She coordinated with an Orem High School shop teacher and students to build a new triple bunk bed for the room. Other volunteers gave up football jerseys and hockey equipment to decorate.

"I saw (the bedroom) I started with, and this renovation is huge," Walker said as tears spiraled down her cheeks. "There is a saying that says, 'with great love always comes miracles' hanging in the bathroom. I think that is what this is all about."

The Thills and those who know them are no strangers to miracles of love. The family has welcomed 35 foster children into their home.

Dayna Chadwick, a 22-year-old single mom, is one who has benefited from the Thills' dedication to children in need of foster care.

Chadwick said she began using meth for the first time when she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her baby girl, Addison. She used heavily for six months until last April when she came home to find her daughter in a coma due to meth ingestion.

The baby was in a coma for three days and diagnosed as developmentally delayed by two months after she was released. Addison was put into the Thills' care by the Utah Foster Care Foundation until Chadwick could get her life in order. Today, Chadwick and the Thills are fast friends.