Fundraising Fun!

    We just finished 2 fundraisers in the last 3 days for our mission to the Philippines.  They were both an awesome success!

  On Thursday we had a spirit night at the new local favorite: Sweet Frog. This is one of those new frozen yogurt places where you can choose from a wall of different frozen yogurt flavors then top it off with an array of toppings. My favorite is dark chocolate and coconut yogurt (2 separate flavors) with raspberries, blueberries, coconut shavings, a few marshmallows and fudge!  Yum!  Sorry- I know this isn't my food blog!   We had the support of my mom along with friends from Kernstown UMC, Winchester Academy, and Panera who came out to socialize, eat and support our mission! It was awesome! My favorite part of the night was getting hugs from so many of my sweet students from the Academy. As overwhelming as it can be at times, I truly miss being surrounded by children all day long. We will find out how much we made in a few days.  One of the biggest "God sightings" from the evening was having a complete stranger come over and hand us $16! Granted that's not a large sum of money- but it was all she had in her wallet and it was amazing to see generosity and kindness from a complete stranger.  Praise God!

Sweet Frog! :)  Once friends came we were too busy talking to take pictures! 

   Earlier on Thursday My Mom came out and helped me get things organized for our yard sale that was on Saturday. We organized, priced, sorted, and made signs to prepare for the big sale.  It was good to spend some one on one time with her and it was a big help to have another person there to help motivate and get things done.  Saturday morning we got to the church to find some awesome donations had been dropped off for us to sell as well.  It took a good hour to get everything organized and set up but with the help of Amy and Abby Youmans we had an awesome looking- well maintained shop that had a steady stream of visitors all day long!  It was great to spend the morning with these amazing girls. They helped keep the tables neat and filled with merchandise, assisted the shoppers and made the morning fun! I enjoyed interacting with people at the yard sale. I really felt the Spirt moving and providing in so many ways.  Between the quality donations that were made to us, the amount that was purchased, the shade and decent weather, and generosity of customers- it was a blessing of a day!   We even had a couple that are dear old friends of the family drive out from Front Royal just to say hello (possibly goodbye for a year) and to give us a donation.  We also were blessed by the Henshaw family who helped organize the yard sale for us and who's boy had a bake sale to benefit both us and to purchase school supplies for local missions project.  Thank you Jacob and Luke for your hard work and servant's heart!  We made about $250 off the table rentals and donated goods alone!  We also made some large donations to area thrift stores with the left overs.  God has really increased my ability to let go of things. I am a tiny bit of a pack rat and it's hard for me to let things go sometimes but this is truly and area where God is working in my life.  Thank goodness! ;)
 - Meghan

The beautiful and helpful Youmans Twins :)

Our tables and racks- still in the process...

 Thank you to all who participated and supported us through these fundraisers. We truly appreciate you! 
- Craig and Meghan