$9,247. It was not the grand prize, but those who watched Wheel of Fortune Wednesday saw a Colorado Springs mother take home thousands in winnings from her appearance on the game show. More importantly, Kearstin McGinnis can now say she has touched her dream.

Dressed in her finest blue, Kearstin McGinnis went for it all on the Wheel of Fortune Wednesday night, while friends cheered on her quest to live a dream she's had for a few years.

"Since I was three,” McGinnis said. “I pretended I was Vanna [White]."

The show the crowd watched at the Broadmoor, where Kearstin works, was taped in California in November.

"I think she did a wonderful job," said her supervisor, Dana Barton.

McGinnis’s fan base for her big debut was national.

"My great grandmother is in Ohio watching at a nursing home with all her friends," she said.

She tried to make it international using a web-cam connection to Iraq. Her husband, Staff Sergeant Steve McGinnis, is serving an extended tour in Baghdad. There were a few problems establishing the connection.

"It didn't work, no," Kearstin said.

What she did have was a room full of support.

"Kearstin has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know and really deserves her 15 minutes of fame," said Barton.

In Kearstin’s case, it was 20 minutes that netted two puzzles solved, and nearly $10,000 cash.

"[It was] very special,” she said of her experience. “It still brought me to tears."

It was also a dream come true.

"I wouldn't change a thing," she said.

Kearstin also won a trip to New York, which she hopes to take with her husband hopefully later this year.

The producers of Wheel of Fortune asked Kearstin to write about her experience on the game show. Read her blog by clicking on the link below.