Crazy Week

Every year for the last 15 years we have participated in some sort of Fireworks fundraiser for our youth group. In the beginning we flagged traffic for a local Fireworks stand. Cars would come in and our teens and young adults would flag them into parking places and then out of the facility. Kat and Nan were pretty little through those years so I didn't participate much unless I could find someone to watch them for me. I usually visited the group at least once a day and often ran errands. Hubby was busy from 7 in the morning till sometimes 11:00 at night, depending on the night. It was crazy but we made great money and it was the only fundraiser we had to do. Kat was 4 when we started. 

Four years ago we stopped doing that and started selling them. My girls were older and could help hold signs advertising our stand. The teens and young adults are hilarious as they stand on the side of the roads in our small town waving signs, singing, dancing, being silly. The people who visit our tent love it! 

 (Nan helping with my price list for the tent)

It was a VeRy long week for our family. If you knew our girls, you would know that they live for this week, that they will NOT miss out on one single hour. It also means that we are there all day, every day for an entire week. We arrive at 9:00 in the morning and leave between 9:00 and 10:30 at night. We don't get to sleep until around midnight and I'm up at 6:00 to get everything ready for the day and take care of other business. I pack a cooler for the entire day. I fill it with foods that are good for us and will fuel our bodies. We made it through without getting sick, just lost voices. My girls loved it. I'm so proud of their stamina, dependability, hard work ethic...even when sometimes it seems to "slip" at home I know when it comes down to it they are hard workers.

 (Nan and her friend holding signs)

This year we also made an announcement at church that we would love it if people would sign up to bring meals on a few of the nights just to bless the kids. They stepped up to the plate and we had yummy meals 3 nights of the week and on the 4th we BBQ'd for the kids at the tent. We also had one lady in particular bring snacks each day for the kids. People brought cookies, donuts and apple fritters from the bakery next door. What a blessing.

  (Kat jumping and advertising)

I was pretty much off the radar for that week, but I truly love it. I usually run the register with a few other gals and I love meeting new and often interesting people. This year there is a "Rainbow Gathering" several miles Northeast of our small town and for the last 4 weeks you daily see people coming into town walking up river, hitch hiking, driving their cars, any way they can get to where they're going, etc...let's just say it has been an experience. One man loved how enthusiastic some of our younger kids were and bought them all pop-its.

Well, this has turned into a longer than necessary post..sorry about that. This week I've been getting the house back in order, putting up 7 flats of strawberries and trying to finalize school from last year and think about the next year....AND...Kat got her driving permit and started drivers ed. WHAT!!! Where did the time go.

(Nan and hubby hanging out during a break....she's tired)

With Joy UNquenchable,