Cupcake Success!!!

Guess what?!?! We raised $230 from our cupcake sales yesterday! :) We are well on our way to getting those teddy bears. Thanks to everyone who stopped by yesterday. We had a steady flow of people from 2:15 - 6:00. We loved all the company! The kids had a blast playing in the backyard (when they weren't busy stuffing cupcakes in their mouths or trying to flag down passing cars). I have some great pics to share. As soon as I recoup from my 22 mile training run yesterday :0, I'll get them posted. For today, I think a nap is totally up my alley!!! I'll be dreaming about cupcakes and teddy bears...

Cupcakes and Clothes for Teddy Bears!!!

So my daughter and I are working hard to bake about 200 cupcakes to sell on Friday afternoon. My friend did it... and I'm so copying her cause she made almost $500!!! Also, I'm having my favorite clothing and accessories sales reps over to sell their fabulous stuff and donate a percentage of profits to the Teddy Bears and The Raining Season as well! We'll get there somehow. Oh, did I mention that my awesome running buddy friend gave us her Starbucks money that she gave up for Lent? And Elite Dance in Nolensville is contributing 6 bears! Spread the word... and share the love!!!

A Half Marathon and A Need for 16 More BEARS!!!

What a day! It started off with a half marathon (my best time so far). :) My sweet little girl was thrilled to hear how I did. My little boy just wanted to know if I won... it lessened his disappointment when I gave him my medal. (All finishers get one in case your wondering.) Anyway, as soon as it was over I had a message from The Raining Season. BIG NEWS!!! Their Sierra Leone staff had just visited Shenge... an area in Sierra Leone that was greatly affected by a ferry accident. Many people died in the accident leaving many children orphaned. The staff was disturbed by the conditions of 38 of the children and insist that they be moved to The Covering (the orphanage) by Monday!!! This is more than the facility is prepared for or has funds to handle. Many of the staff in Sierra Leone are willing to forego their salary to make this happen. Check out TheRainingSeason.org... they can use a lot of help right now! As for our Teddy Bear project, we're going to need 86 bears now... 16 more than the original number. We're up to 50 bears so far, so I know that we can meet this challenge! Tell your friends and let's see if we can all 86 bears paid for!!! THANK YOU!!!
Oh, and as a final note for today... this is the passage I kept seeing on the backs of running shirts today (that is before I passed them... hee, hee, hee!)...
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13
So true!!!

43 Teddy Bears to Go!!!

Okay, so our lemonade stand on Saturday and Sunday made $70. Our Monday morning hot chocolate stand... not so successful... but at least we had a great friend and her kids stop by. How cute is it that my kids hold up this poster and yell, "Save Sierra Leone!" That's right, we're saving them one teddy bear at a time! :)

Now it's Tuesday... crazy day... I've been working at our church's consignment sale all day. I love it... such great people to work with! Our Sunday School class is even donating items to sell to benefit The Raining Season.
Anyways... good news! Ms. Cheri Urie from our dance studio, Elite Dance in Nolensville, just donated 5 more bears. Now we have 43 left! Oh, and I had someone at the consignment sale hear our story and pledge ANOTHER BEAR! I can't wait to see my daughter and her friends make these bears with love and send them to Sierra Leone with The Raining Season's May mission trip! They promise to take lots of pictures to share with us. :)

Teddy Bears for Sierra Leone

Welcome! We are so excited that you're stopping in to check out what we're doing... well, here's our story. It started a couple of weeks ago when my 7 year old daughter was sitting in church with her dad (I was busy teaching the preschoolers). The craziest thing happened... they handed out money!!! I know, it's usually the other way around at church. :) But, yes... every single person sitting in church was handed an envelope with $5, $10 or $20. Fabulous, right? But wait, there's a catch! It's now our responsibility to go forth and multiply our money and basically "pay it forward". They're calling it "Living a Better Story." Wow, not an easy challenge! Of course, I'm lucky... totally off the hook thanks to my preschoolers. But I do want to help my daughter think of something meaningful to do with her money. So we start talking and decide that it would be fun to raise enough money ($560) to send teddy bears to all of the children in The Raining Season orphanage (therainingseason.org) in Sierra Leone. My daughter's dance teacher (at Elite Dance in Nolensville) agree to charge us the bare minimum to let her and her friends stuff the bears themselves using the Noah's Ark Workshop. So we're trying to see who is interested in "Sponsoring a Teddy Bear" for $10... https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=E2L7YAWVVBZMA
We've also been working hard selling lemonade and brownies. Now we're out to brave the cold morning to sell hot chocolate and breakfast casserole! :)