The month pretty much consisted of planning and finalizing our fundraiser evening. There was a base team of 4 of us. Amazing ladies. The first thing was to to determine ticket prices and get the tickets printed and get the word out. I printed 60 tickets with the hopes of selling about 40. I decided to just sell one ticket per family, rather then per person. I was pleased when I sold my first 20 tickets. Still wasnt sure the next 40 would be sold, but I trusted in God that who He wanted there, would be there. There were a number of other events happening on the same night that families needed to choose between. Next, we put the word out that we needed auction and raffle items. I hoped for about 20 items.
Ok, I'll fast forward to the night of the auction. Final number of ticket sales: 79! Final number of people who were coming: 222! Actual number of people who came: 212! Raffle items: 40! Silent auction items: ~25! Needless to say, this event WAY exceeded my expectations.
 |
| Silent Auction Items |
 |
| Week in Fairmont, all inclusive Fly Fishing day |
 |
| 1/2 Raffle items |
 |
| The church - transformed!! |
 | ||||||
| Table settings |
The day was crazy busy, but what a success it was!! Not only was the event a HUGE success, we also received an offer on our house and had to handle that during the afternoon. At the end of the day, we were able to come to an agreement on the sale of the house (only condition on the sale is for a home inspection) and we raised an additional 14% towards our 70% min needed before we leave. We are now at 31% of support committed to us (either in one time supports, or monthly supports). We are overwhelmed by all the support - prayerfully, financially, and personally. We still need your support! We are continuing to trust in the Lord that the remaining 40-70% (min-full) support will come in.
About the sale of the house - the possession date is May 31. I (Darcie) wish we negotiated on that. Oh well. This means we have a month to be out of here. 6 years of 'stuff' to sell. All our belongings need to fit into 12 suitcases. That's all we can bring to China, so that's all we are going to move out of here with. We will be living with my parents for the month of June, then traveling for the month of July.
Anyways, that is our month in a nut-shell.
House is sold (house inspection on Wednesday, then officially sold)
Auction/Dinner was a HUGE success (in our opinion)
Two things that have been lifted from our plates. However, I still dont feel that our plate has been lightened by this. We still have a lot on our plate. Packing the house - making decisions on what we need vs what we want, then selling what we don't need. Finding a home schooling option for B and J while in China. Finding good international medical insurance. Raising the remaining 70% support. Finding a cross - cultural training course we can take. And then there's the waiting on our visas. And I'm sure I've missed some things....
Please keep all these things in your prayers. We thank you in advance for that.
Time for me to say good night. Thanks everyone for making this month a huge success for our family. Overwhelming, yes. But so amazing!!
Thanks again for reading! Sorry it was such long time between posts! This month will be super busy for us with packing the house, but I will try to give you all an update in a couple of weeks.
