....And a little bit extra.

powered by:
Easy Fundraising Ideas

First of all, it took a lot for me to not write the title of this post in ALL CAPS. BECAUSE THAT IS HOW I FEEL!!!!

I want to go outside in the rain and tell every single person that my Father takes care of me so that I can take care of others. My Father rocks.

Let me tell you what just happened this morning, all in the span of half an hour.

8:30am: I check my email and see that one of Elaina's family members donated $50 to us! I text her excitedly about it, knowing that her grin is as big as mine.

8:48am: I get a phone call from an unknown (208) number. It's Diana from St. Mark's on Northview. I instantly perk up because, at the end of February, I had submitted a proposal for the St. Mark's Charity Fund (or something like that), which is a way for St. Mark's to help out community causes through a verification process. For such a big parish, that makes a lot of sense, since they get several requests for funds a week. While Elaina and I both call St. Mark's home, we weren't really sure if our proposal would be accepted because we're a non-affiliated trip. In other words, we could technically take the money and run and no one could do anything about it. We are admittedly a risk.

BUT Diana's phone call gave me some hope. She asked if we still needed $475, and I told her we just needed $425 since we had that $50 donation this morning. Then she said.... "We have it covered."

WHATTT???!?!??!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Actually, what I really said was "WOW" in kind of a whispered, shocked voice.

On St. Mark's home page... I'm in red... thought I'd share :)

Apparently, our reputations preceded us and the honesty of our blog was what made the parish council, who could have denied our request, comfortable enough to give us the funds. In my excitement, I'm glad I was still able to tell Diana (and you, dear reader) that EVERY PENNY is accounted for and I have all the receipts to prove it, as well as a mighty fine Excel Spreadsheet detailing where we've gotten our funding and where it has gone :)

After I got off the phone with Diana, I texted Elaina (who was in class), and told her the news. She responded with, "What!?!?!?" and so I told her more details. She responded with, "What!?! Lol" ... That made me laugh.

She and I... humbled. Surprised. Thankful. Humbled again.

We realize that we don't deserve this charity, this love, from our community, but TRULY it has been a community effort to send us to India.

Before I sign off on this appropriately-long post, there are a few other points that I want to mention:

First are my dear friends Natalie and Amy. Natalie, quite some time ago, said she would love to help us fundraise using one of her AMAZING talents: baking. This past weekend, Natalie came through. She baked wonderful cupcakes and cookies to sell, and, with the cooperation of Bob Barros-Bailey and Chuck Skoro, I was able to sell this creations at Theology on Tap and St. Paul's Student Center. That little bake sale has been a HUGE success - over $80 have been raised. !!!

HAT!!!!!

Also, my friend Amy knits beautiful hats. She actually gave me a deep purple one for Christmas, which I've worn in several blog photos (and I'll post another one). She donated 3 hats in blue, black, and brown to our trip. I don't really know how to sell hats, so I've been waiting for God to use this donation in whatever way He decides. If you would like a hat in exchange for a donation, please let me know. You can't have my purple one, though. I love it too much. :D

Lastly, THANK YOU. Wait...

THANK YOU!
Your support in reading and sharing this blog, donating here and there, have been crucial to our success. And it's not even our success really - it's my Father working for our good. If you'll notice, we're even a few extra dollars over our needed amount. To me, that just reconfirms how my Father loves - He gives us what we need... and a little bit extra.

Thank You, Jesus, for guiding this process. I know our work will be heart-breaking and perhaps I might even get mad that you sent us, but if you didn't know what you were doing, you wouldn't be God, I suppose :) I love you, Lord. Thank you for loving me first.