Our Black & White fundraiser! October 14, 2011

I know some of you are dying to know about our fundraiser, so here is the update!

1. It truly was an incredible event!  We had about 40 people show up- most of whom were dressed in black and white.  It was so fun that everyone caught onto the theme.  A seriously special thanks to my friend Kristin who helped come up with this awesome party idea!

2. The food was awesome!  Of course (almost) everything was black and white except for a few healthy items.  My amazing boss and her amazing mom did all the set up for the food, they brought great dishes and table cloths and cool stands to put everything on.  I made most of the food, but my favorite baker Sweet Daphne Confections donated Blondies and some cupcakes.  Royal Crest donated the white and chocolate milk, which we are still enjoying today!

3. Decor was super fun. I had a great time getting everything ready down to the last detail.  For the tables, I did mostly black & white plastic cloths and then just a simple lantern on top of a few sheets of layered newspaper.  It was super simple, but very cute. I sewed all of the napkins in black and white fabric, so we folded them up and set them at each place setting.  We also had three quizzes about the Congo and famous adopted people and adoptees on every table for entertainment.

4. We had a sign when you walked in directing everyone to what the evening would hold.  Then we had signs all around the venue leading people to what was happening where.

5. We had the most awesome photobooth in history complete with props.   Joel Strayer is amazing.  He built the photobooth just for this event and painted a map of Africa where the camera came out of the booth (how cool is that?).  When it is all said and done we will use the pictures to make a book for our kids to share with them the story of their journey home. Here are a few of the photos- honestly, I wish I could post them all here!  I'll be uploading them to my website so you can see the whole gallery soon.  I'll be sure to post a link to that on here.

5. We did a little presentation with the help of our home study agency and my Compassion grads that I work with.  My mom recorded it, but she can't upload it until she gets home, so I haven't had to watch myself on video yet....

6. We sold (and are still selling- post to come with details) some 'work'.  I sold photography packages and Andy sold handyman services.  The table for our work was really fun.  Andy's gift certificates were on plywood!

7. We handed out some SWAG (stuff we all get) which was a CD of black and white songs, a map of Africa and our prayer requests.  I have some of these left over- if you want one, let me know!  I'll send one to you.

8. And probably what most of you have been waiting for- donations!  Including our mail in donations, which we are still getting (you can keep sending these!) we have raised: $6875!  We will need $13,000 to accept a referral and we have about $9000 in the bank (this includes the $6875 that has been donated) , SO-- we are soooo close to this step being complete thanks to your amazing generosity!  We honestly cannot believe the outpouring of support from YOU! When I told Linda (our homestudy agency director) how much we raised, she could not believe it.  She asked me if we expected to raise so much and honestly, I didn't have an answer...I guess I didn't really have expectations for it, but, I am truly blown away!

Speaking of referrals- I spoke to our agency today and no referrals have come in in a few weeks.  To keep our expectations realistic, we are hoping for Christmas, ok Thanksgiving, wait, Halloween, no  tomorrow!  Seriously, any day now we hope to get it.  Christmas is keeping it real, Thanksgiving is probably realistic and Halloween is a dream come true.  Keep praying for this!

Anyway, I hope you all feel that you were part of this great event!  Thanks for keeping it in your prayers.  It was everything we hoped and more!