In Awe.

Less than a week ago I had $1600 left to raise for my upcoming mission trip to Mamelodi, South Africa. Today happens to be the deadline that they had set to have 100% of the trip paid for.

Let me attempt to recap the awesomeness of last week's fundraiser. A few weeks ago I decided that hosting a bake sale at my job would maybe yield some money towards my trip. So, the ideas started flowing. It would be incredible if I were able to use our lobby space during lunchtime, knowing I would get a lot more foot traffic that way. I made a few phone calls and was completely bummed when I was told, "NO, sorry, we don't do that sort of thing." I understand; I get it, but the disappointment was still there. I then asked if I could hold it on our HR floor, hoping that there would be more space and more chance for other people within the company willing to stop on that floor. Nope, not allowed. But, I was granted permission to use my floor's own breakroom to set up shop. Meanwhile, I had already sent out an email to several friends asking for help with baking and getting things together for the bake sale. Thankfully, finding friends willing to help proved much easier than finding a location.

One friend in particular was someone that I considered not asking because she is a new(er) mom, is busy, and I hadn't had the chance to see or talk to her in several months. She responded that she would gladly help and asked how the fundraising was going and I sheepishly replied that I still had $1600 left. She told me she would be donating and when she told me the amount, I was shocked...and humbled and incredibly grateful. A few days later she called to say that she had found some "extra" money for me in their budget and would be more than doubling their donation. This, my friends, is the power of God. I have no doubt of this. My friend is generous and a believer and her response to me when I was thanking her was this, "We love you and you are so brave and this is an amazing opportunity...thanks for the opportunity to make pretty valentine treats and give our money to something fantastic!"

Fast forward a couple of days to the day before the event, which was last week. Last week I worked Monday and Wednesday nights (making them 12+ hr workdays w/o commute time), was supposed to have a meeting on Tuesday night, and this left me with very little time to prepare in advance for the bake sale. Thursday was a very, very long night of baking. A few friends came over for a little bit and they were a huge help, but I ended up baking until the early hours of Friday morning, got just over four hours of sleep (this is not easy to do anymore!) after wrapping them all cute and loading my car.

I baked about two dozen brownies, 11 DOZEN cookies, baked and decorated 36+ cupcakes, and dipped some pretzels in chocolate. In the midst of my exhaustion, wondering if this would even be worthwhile I prayed something along the lines of this, "This is all I can do God. Meet me where I am and whatever happens is up to you."

Friday morning I arrived with bags in tow, with friends meeting me to help me unload my car with all the goodies. It was a sight to see! There was everything sweet a person could hope for and there was a lot of it! I wasn't sure if anyone would show up, let alone enough people to consume even half the amount of stuff we had. I had advertised the bake sale on all the floors my company occupies and tried to make the signs interesting and cute, letting them know this would be a great time to buy something sweet for Valentine's Day.

And, do you know what happened? People showed up. A LOT of people showed up. It was pretty much non-stop the entire time I was there. People were gracious and generous. People were curious about my trip and excited for me. There were people I had never met before giving me $20 donations and well wishes. A.MAZ.ING.

I bet you wanna know how much money we raised, don't ya?

Here's a look at the fundraiser by the numbers:

*84 cupcakes
*15+ DOZEN of FIVE varieties of cookies
*15+ bags of Oreo truffle balls
*meringue heart cookies
*10 bags of dipped pretzel rods
*4+ dozen brownies
*mini cupcakes
*key lime pie
*fundraiser coupon books (which, surprising I sold 5 of @ $20 each)

FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF:
$425 in cash donations and $65 in online donations

It would not have been the same (or even possible) without the help of my friends and family. The people in my life are amazing and this is just one example of that amazing-ness. Big props and thanks to Sarah, Ruthie, Laura, Lynn, Connie, Trina, Athena, Jill, Diane, and my dear Momma for baking and supporting me. HUGE thanks also to my prayer partners including, but not limited to: Jen, Christine, Tim, and Brendan.

I currently have only $320 left to raise since a few more donations have trickled in since the fundraiser. This is incredible. This is huge. This is only because of the power of God. Feeling full of joy, gratitude, and amazement (all of that and a few leftover cookies).

with love,
Dana

"He is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to HIS power at work within us." Ephesians 3:20

"Who do you say that I am?"

That's the question that I'm asking now. I want to be intentional about how I spend my days; to live fully, with kindness and love and without fear and guilt. I want to learn what God has to say about the person that I am and how my passions and dreams can be lived out. It is going to take some time and effort to focus in on what those passions and dreams might be; but, I'm willing to do the hard work that is required.

I fully expected to post on this blog a lot more frequently and I want to commit to doing that very thing for the time I have left before leaving for Mamelodi. March 25th is only 45 days away now; I'm hopeful that I will be able to have a clearer focus now.

Since I'm a list-maker I'll go ahead and share a few of the things that I have planned to give the space in my life to make this growth possible. It's my way of showing up and having God meet me where I am being faithful to what He has for me. He won't love me any more or any less by what I am doing. This is more about me being able to take hold of the things He has for me, the things He wants to teach me, the things He wants me to do and be about. I'm letting go of my feeble attempt to control the things in my life.


*Read the Bible (I know, right?) I'm thinking I'll choose a topic each week and focus on that (beauty, freedom, grace, love, the poor, etc)
*Read "Godric" by Frederick Buechner
*Read "Free" by Brian Tome
*Listen to Dan Miller's podcast, 48 days to the Work You Love
*Journal my thoughts
*Be aware that my words and actions portray someone and is that someone the person I want to be
*Be active and intentional in participating in the all-church journey about Freedom

I fully believe and expect things to happen now that I am choosing to not sit and let the days continue with hardly a thought as to how I used my time. It's going to be great to look back and see the changes!

"Who can tell where days begin, when waking up means slowly caving in.
And still you haunt me through faded sheets, like the memory of what I used to be.
Give me back what I can feel
Give me something real"
~Something Real by Ashley Peacock