Garage Sale

This past weekend I kicked off my fundraising with a garage sale. A bunch of my friends gave great items to sell and boy did it sell! Besides donating items to sell, my friend Kendra and her husband gave up their driveway to make this whole sale possible. It was wonderful to have my mom in town for this. She not only made snickerdoodles for the sale, but came both mornings and was an amazing help! Starbucks donated coffee, so we had the happiest buyers in town. The adults enjoyed the hot coffee and the kids were going back for seconds on the amazing cookies. Tristan was an amazing sales man, and the kids got to enjoy the banner we were selling while it was there. They were very sad when someone actually wanted to buy their slip-n-slide.

I am so gratefully for the generosity of my friends and felt very loved and supported by the friends that made this possible. It's a big crazy thing I'm doing, and it's nice to know I have people behind me. The fundraising was a success, but I have a LONG way to go. Time to get creative...

"Why Are You Going?"

It has been interesting to hear all the different responses when I tell people about my trip. Some people are excited for me, some are scared for me, while others seem confused as to why I would do this. After the discussion about if this a good time to go, where will you get the money, and isn't that dangerous, we finally get to the last stumbling block for a lot of people. My kids. How can I leave my kids for two weeks to go to Africa? The answer is simple, I'm going because of them. No, not because I want a break from them, but because my love for them made it possible for me to go and love other children.

Before I had kids, I had always wanted to do missions trips to Africa but didn't know how. I didn't know what I would do. I didn't feel I had anything to offer (which would not have been true). Like any new mom I didn't know what it would feel like to love my child, and when the next two came along I was nervous I didn't have enough room in my heart to love these children as much as I love Tristan. I could not have been further from the truth. They taught me that my heart was able to stretch and stretch and only feel stronger for it.

I know what I have to offer these motherless children now... my arms, my lap, my loving words, my heart. Thank you to my three crazy boys for giving me the confidence I needed to do the things I was meant to do. Most of all, thank you boys for sharing your mom with children who need some mom arms to hug them.