DEADLINE
Oct 2 AIM acct must read $3500: check!
YAY! I made it! Whew that was a close one! First off I would like to start of by saying THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I cannot put into words how grateful to you I am. I’m left speechless and in awe of your generosity. Thank you so much for taking a step in faith and partnering with me financially. Without you, this journey would not be possible. Thank you to those of you who have donated your time in prayers…Its so encouraging to know you guys are praying for me!! Prayer in numbers is so powerful! Thank you to those of you who donated your time helping me wash cars, donated items for me to sell at the garage sale, letting me use your driveway for said garage sale, donating a tent…Thank you thank you thank you for all of you who have done your part to help! I really do appreciate it!!
Here’s for some story time on reaching this deadline….
I started September 1 needing $2200 more to reach deadline. Friday of the first garage sale I wake up super early (not a fan of mornings, the sun should be out and shinning when I get up…none of this before dawn nonsense) I get to my friends house and start dragging everything out to sell. About an hour later, the driveway is filled with items I’m to sell. Then it happens. It starts to rain. As I stand in the middle of the driveway, tears about to pour out of my eyes, I wonder if I should start pulling things back in and call it a day. Oh God please don’t let this happen! I seriously wanted to crawl under a rock and quit. This was my second attempt at a fundraiser..the first was a carwash that no one stopped to get their car washed at! I was about to have a breakdown. Then it hit me….Ok God! You can make it rain, you can make it stop! I started praying hardcore and as I prayed, the clouds broke and the sun came out!!! Wow! Thanks God you rock!! Between Fri and Sat I made $340 which is awesome because I had no big items!
Thursday rolled around and I now was at $825 needed within 3 days to make deadline. Ok God, I’m trusting you! Thursday was my carwash, made another $104.…Mid week, Mid day carwash $104? Yeah…I’ll take it!! Thank you God!
Friday morning, 2 days before deadline, and I still need $721. I was off work that morning so I decided to try another garage sale. Epic fail! Apparently people were stopping at the garage sale at the top of the hill instead of continuing on to mine. 2 cars passed and 3 stopped in the 3 ½ hrs I was out there. $7.50 I made. Ok God…My deadline is in 2 days, I have no more time for fundraisers…Your gonna have to show up big! I started to hit panic mode by this time but I kept hearing in the back of my head a phrase I’ve been telling my squad: Dude, Don’t Doubt! Ok God…its yours…Do your thing! By Friday night through random donations I was down to $350!
Sat I wake up early for work… get there just to find out I no longer have a job. Great. There goes the money I needed to pay off debts and to save for spending money. Then God gave me a peace…I was getting so exhausted from working to jobs anyhow and now I can get back into church on Sunday mornings!!
Sunday morning on my way to church I was like ok God…Today’s deadline, I still need $250 I’m giving it to you! By the time I left church I was $100 over deadline! THANK YOU GOD!!!! And again, Thank you so much for your donations!!!!!!!! J
God Rocks my world yet again!!! The things he has done within myself and in my squad are so awesome….Such an awesome God we serve!! This is the only deadline I was the most nervous about. I knew if I didn’t make it, then God had other plans for me next year. If I did, then this is exactly where God wants me and no questions asked he will provide the rest!!
December
The countdown is on!! December 15 will be my last day of my “job” for at least a year! I’ve had several people question why I would take a year off of work and not make any money. I’m going from serving tables for a paycheck to serving people for an even greater reward than any money could ever buy! I cannot wait to love like He loved, Serve like He served! To be His hands and feet!
December 18 I plan on heading down to Florida to spend 2 weeks with my Fl Friends and Family. Really looking forward to spending Christmas with my family…I missed them so much last year! I’m super excited about seeing all my friends I’ve missed and also meeting up with friends I haven’t seen in years. Its so awesome that the preparation for the race has not only begun new friendships but has also rekindled some old friendships. So awesome! FL Peeps….SEE YOU IN DECEMBER!
Deet
So Deet will be my new perfume next year. Imma keep them malaria caring mosquito’s away! Between the deet on my skin and the tea tree oil in my hair (to keep away lice) I’m sure I’ll be smelling lovely. Along with of course the lack of a shower on a daily basis. Let me just say my blog reading friends….Be lucky your watching from a distance! Haha Which brings me to the thought of bugs in general. Up to this point I don’t really mind bugs. Spiders of course is a different story. Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about them things! Well now my outlook on bugs is a bit different….I’m a little nervous, not gonna lie. They carry crazy stuff that can get me super sick…not a fan! Oh and this whole Human Bot Fly thing one of my managers keeps bringing up…yeah I could do without them. If you decided to google it, save yourself and don’t watch the video. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. And thanks to my squad mate Stacy she told me of Cambodia’s delicacy of eating tarantula’s WHAT?!?! I don’t even like seeing one 10 feet away. Yet you want me to pick one up? Put it in my mouth? Chew it? Umm yeah…no way! Btw Stacy…Did you ever find out how to say “Tarantula Allergy” in Cambodian?? Haha
D Squad!!!!
So yeah…turns out my squad is the D Squad!!! I can’t even begin to express my love for these people!! Complete strangers, such great friends. We have a group page on Facebook so over the past few months we’ve gotten to know each other. We pray for each other, encourage each other, share our fears, doubts (Dude, Don’t Doubt!), excitement…we share it all! D Squad consists of about 60 people from all over the US, Canada, and even one from Scotland! We chat on FB, Skype, and I even had a 2 hr long 4-way call with a few of the girls yesterday (yes its possible and yes its confusing haha)! I absolutely love these people!! And guess what?? In less than 2 weeks I get to meet them all!!!!! I’m super excited about finally meeting the people I’ve gotten to know over the past few months. I’m also super excited about meeting the non-facebookers on the squad!! Training camp is a week long camp…Sunday-Sunday…Starting Oct 16. Squads C, D, and E (the 3 routes leaving in January) all meet up for an intense week of training, getting to know each other, worship, and lots of other craziness we know nothing about. it’s a racer rule, or so I hear from my blog stalking I do, that we aren’t allowed to share about training camp so future racers wont have expectations. Nice to know I’m not the only one who stalks previous racer’s blogs haha. Anyhow…I’m SOOOOOOO excited to meet everyone and just have an awesome week! Oh…and also just to show how God thinks ahead….Oct 18 is my 1 year at work which means I get a weeks vacation pay. Ironic that camp falls on my anniversary week so I don’t miss pay? I think not, God is just awesome like that!!
ENO
Ok, fine, I know it doesn’t start with a D but I want one!! Go ahead, google it…you can even watch the video’s for this one! Its only the most awesome hammock ever! And yeah, it packs up the size of a softball. Christmas is coming up and my birthday in January so hint hint nudge nudge 😉 Seriously though…I’m thinking that beats sleep on the ground in a tent. Well…when I have 2 things to tie it to. Hm. Yeah. I’m putting that on my “To get for the race” list. Which, btw, I have almost everything I need!!! I just need a couple small stuff but that’s its. Yay! It makes it even more real!
D end!
Thank you again for all your support!! I still need another $11,900 to be fully funded. Any donation amount is much appreciated! $5, $500, $5000! It can be given in a one time gift or you can partner with me by supporting monthly. To donate click “support me” on the left of my blog OR mail a check payable to Adventures in Missions PO Box 534470 Atlanta, GA 30353-4470 Thank you so much!!!
Deadlines:
10/2/11 — $3500
12/18/11 — $6500
4/1/12 — $11,000
7/1/12 — $15,500
**I’m praying to be fully funded by 12/31/11
