And we end our fundraising with Letters, Peelers, and a Skate Party!

Finishing up our fundraising was much easier than starting it! We mailed letters telling about our trip, to see if anyone would want to support us. Such a great response! Our first Sunday at church , after mailing the letters we were given 3 checks....all for the same amount. I thought God was laying the same amount on everyone's hearts. (At such a large amount it would have been over soon)! No, the amounts did not stay the same for everyone! We received checks from $10.00 to $1,000.00 . It was such a blessing. One of the Sunday school classes took up an offering for us and gave us $100.00 in a card. They all signed the card. It was so encouraging to us:) We have such warmth, support, and love from our church family. We are truly blessed to have them all. Peelers came next. They are coupon cards. We, along with my Daddy and my church family, sold these quite easily! My dad never allowed us to sell things door to door. He believes people would feel obligated to buy from you , and then you to buy from them, and on and on, ending up with stuff you don't want and without the money you cold use for stuff you do want.But, MY DADDY sold these cards for Chas and I ...Must be LOVE! :) Our final hurrah came in the form of a Skate Party. Soo cool! Our church rented the rink for a Jr. Church outing. I had asked if we could do this, because we hadn't had one for our younger kids in a long time. I also was hoping we could use it as a fundraiser at the same time. God is good. It was a GO for both. Chris, who is in charge of Jr. Church, said we could open it up to all ages.(Jr.church is 1st-5th graders) He wanted us to have as many people as possible. Praises to God!!!! It was a success in every way. It was just like I had imagined it would be....Christian music playing, people skating, having fellowship, and eating. Laughter and smiles all around. It was such a wonderful environment ! We sold lots of snacks and had soo many people come (easily 170..maybe more). We made over $800.00! Again, my friends and Daddy jumped right in to help. Poor dad never had a break! He started at the concessions stand, went to "working the door" and never stopped! We were busy, busy, busy. I am not complaining though, it is a Praise! There is Pics from the Skate Party at the end of this page. I don't know how to get them up here :).....Beth !!! I need Help!!!

MIXES and BRACELETS and EGGS....OH MY!

We spent soo much time fundraising. Our goal was to raise $6,000.00 Yes, $6,000.00. My favorite saying during this time was " Not alot if you remember God owns every penny on this earth". We made Brownie mix and Orange spiced tea gift jars, peppermint cocoa, heart and Candycane charm bracelets, and we went EGGING. What is egging? First let me say this idea came in the mail as part of our fundraising packet. We would go door to door ( Tori and Luke being pulled in our blue wagon ). Chasity would say " Hi, my name is Chasity and I am selling eggs to go on a missions trip.You can buy one for a $1, or for $2 you can crack it over my head, or... for $5 you can crack it over my mom's head ! (we added the last part) Crazy but true! We actually made ALOT of money doing that. Lots of eggs were used too. Everyone in our family(except Daddy),cousin Kassy, and friends Hilary and Morgan all had egg heads! It also caught the attention of a writer in our neighborhood and she wrote an article about it for the Indiana Weekly. It comes out this month.Prayerfully it will be something that brings God glory:) We laughed alot. It would also wear us out..lots of walking. We even wore out one of the wheels on the wagon! In soo many ways it was its own outreach and so encouraging to us spiritually.(It will be it's own post.) It is amazing what God can and will work through. We sold the mixes and bracelets in front of our house (busy corner), in front of K-mart and in front of Wal-mart. We were blessed to be able to set up tables(and not be there) inside Curves ,our optometrist's office, and at a friend's Jazzercise business! Sooo cool for them to do that for us ! It was very VERY cold. Our full blown fundraising months were Dec, Jan, and Feb. It seems like everyday was full of numb fingers, toes, ears, and hot cocoa. It was also a time full of strength, growth, bonding, encouragement, and love. Yes, sacrifices, tears, and " I don't want to go " was also part of it. The hours upon days of making the mixes and bracelets will not be forgotten. We made soo much of everyhing. Larry was really fast at it. He helped in all ways. (He was much faster at packing the brownie mix into the jar.) He went egging, but no way it was being cracked on his head! Seeing his big fingers making dainty bracelets for us to sell melted my heart:). Such a loving Hubby and Daddy.OOps I forgot more on that later, plus on the other fundraisers we did...Peelers and our Skate Party!

OUR ACCEPTANCE LETTERS

Before the oh so exciting day that these arrived, there were the oh so long applications from Brio/Focus on the Family to fill out. Our pastor even had a short page to fill out. Yes, references too. It was soo cool to read Chasie's application when she was finished. Being able to read of how she believes God has given her a heart for children and how she wants to reach those who don't know him sooo touched me. My eyes fill with tears now.....Thank you God! Yes, there is no greater joy than to see that your children are walking with the Lord. Not my words :). Of course my acceptance letters came too. Although weeks after hers. It was funny, because one of the questions on my application (to go as a leader) was what my weakness was in working with teens. I truly believe my strength is with this group, so I asked Chasity what weakness she saw in me concerning teens. Her answer, after much thought, was "You don't have one, are you allowed to put that". Awwww soooo many brownie points for my Chas. After prayer I did answer the question. Not with Chasity's answer. She didn't know what I wrote. The days grew more and more between her getting her acceptance letters and mine not coming. She finally came to me and said "What did you put on your application!" It was soo funny. My letters did come (an e-mail acceptance too)
and it was official....WE were going on a MISSIONS trip to PERU. We had already started fundraising. We both believed this was what God wanted for us, so was walking in faith. :)More to come on fundaising things we did! Almost time for school .

Hi

We thought this would be a great way to keep in touch with everyone! Be patient as we try to figure this out....I say we..right now it is just me and my caramel/chocolate coffee! Larry is working on the "big truck" and the kiddos are still asleep!! They sleep this long only because Tori and Luke have been sick and Chas and Van stayed up late. Sooo many things to figure out...can I erase after I post? Can I make spaces for the girls to have their own spots? I have many more, but will not ramble on..that is for later ; ). Ok, drum roll and post!