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

My heart for Africa

Much like affection for a deeply loved friend, my heart for Africa continues to grow. One of the first times I remember feeling compassion for the people of Africa was when I heard about the devastation AIDS was having on the country and Bono's response to it. I was glad that someone was doing something about it, but didn't know if or what I should be doing. A few years ago my friend was going to be in charge of getting donors to sponsor children through Compassion International and had several of the packets at her house. Of course I had to look through them and I knew that if I sponsored a child, I would like them to be from Africa. I flipped through the children’s packets and came upon a bright, smiling face of a young girl from Tanzania. She seemed so sweet and so deserving of love and a chance at life. I decided to partner with Compassion International and sponsor that beautiful young girl named Beatrice.

Fast forward a few years...I have been attending Crossroads for a few years now and LOVE it (there will be a future post on how it has changed my life). For the last few years Crossroads has partnered with a church in Mamelodi, South Africa called Charity and Faith. Several trips between the two churches have already taken place and from the time I heard about it, I have wanted to go.

There is something amazing about mission trips. Traveling somewhere to be intentional about serving people and loving on people is maybe my idea of doing the things God has given me passion for all wrapped up into one. Wow. I had never even realized that until I wrote that sentence. These kinds of trips are not easy, for sure, but my past two experiences have proven to be life changing and nearly indescribable. It has been far too long since I've taken a trip like this.

I knew that the desire to go was already within me, but I wasn't sure how it was all going to come to fruition. Brian Tome (the Sr. pastor) recently said, "Most of the time when God puts a call on your life it’s simply something you know that God would approve of and you just have to do it." That resonated within me and a few days later I went to Crossroads to attend an info session on Mamelodi and the upcoming trips. My mind had pretty much already been made up and this was only confirmation that I wanted and felt that I needed to be a part of the Go Mamelodi 2010 trip.

This is only the beginning of the journey for me; I hope you'll join me in some way. I'll be updating this blog probably a bit randomly at first, but more and more often as the trip draws near. Thanks for your charity in reading!

~With much love,
Dana

For last year's recap video check this out; my heart for her continues to grow.