Trembling

UPDATE AT 11:33 AM (Virginia time) - THE DUNCANS ARE NOW OVER THE WALL!!
UPDATE AT 1:58 PM (Virginia time) - THE BOOTHS ARE NOW OVER THE WALL!!

Yesterday, as I was emailing back and forth trying to decide how we should close out this Mulligan Stew Giveaway, I received this letter from Traci Heim:

Julia,

Scott and I have talked.  Every day people keep blessing us. Every day. 

We think you should tell people that we are so overwhelmingly blessed by their generosity, and we think you should stop raising money for us and focus on these families. We still have time and options and God will not leave us high and dry. This has been made exceedingly clear by the generous helping of stew my precious children have been given.

We do not want to hog the stew. We want it to feed so so many of these precious ones who NEED it. 

So there it is. The only thing we have to offer is our further portion of stew. 

I cry and pray for all of these children. I plead with the Holy Spirit to get in the faces of His people so much that they can't rest until they flee their comfort zone and embrace the adventure He would have them say yes to. Say YES to the blessing of Laurel and Harmony into their families and homes and hearts. Say yes to helping these families raise $2000 to bring their kids home. 

So, "Please sir, I can eat no more."

Please give it to these families. Pour out your stew and feed them all.

Love,

Traci Heim

I never wanted to set a fundraising goal for this Mulligan Stew Giveaway.  

Of course I wanted to raise as much money as possible, but I had no idea how much it might be, and I didn't want to set any unrealistic, unattainable goals.  I nosed my little fundraiser dinghy carefully out into the water, but I never strayed too far from the shore.



Then on Monday, the drama began: A generous donor offered $500 for the Lost Boys if we could get all 8 of our featured orphans over the $1,000 wall by Tuesday night. More generous donors responded; and with God's help we met that goal, raising $2,200 in just two days.

When that was over, I was done.  What a relief!  No more.   I just wanted to sail through the rest of this Giveaway.  If we met our unspoken goal of raising $2,000.00 for each family, than Hurrah!  If not, then at least we had fought the good fight.  I was finished with the drama.

Then we received a new email message that started the drama all over again.  

This new message contained a new challenge: Another generous donor was offering $1,000, $500 each for Harmony and Laurel, if we could reach our other unspoken goal of raising $2,000 for each of the families who are adopting from Katie's former orphanage.

$500 each for Harmony and Laurel, the two most desperate cases on our Mulligan Stew list. The two older girls who are just months away from aging out of their orphanages and becoming unadoptable forever.

Our donor couldn't have chosen a worthier cause. Unfortunately, as matters stood yesterday, this donor's challenge meant that we would have to raise $6,105.23 in just 3 days.

No way.

No way.

We talked.  We agonized.  I trembled.  No way.  

I e-mailed the Heims, the other fundraiser families and several other people who've been helping me with this Giveaway.  Shared the offer with them.  Begged them for wisdom and prayer.  

That was when Traci Heim sent me the email message that opened this post: "Please sir, I can eat no more...Pour out your stew and feed them all."

How the Heims humble me.  That was NOT what I expected or wanted.  Their need is so enormous: although this Mulligan Stew has helped them a lot, they still need to raise about $28,000 more before they can rescue Maria and her siblings.

However, Scott and Traci believe in adoption with all of their kind, generous hearts.  They believe that children should be in families, NOT in mental institutions.  They would surrender their last dime to give Laurel and Harmony a chance at a real life.  They're looking beyond their own family's needs and standing in support of the other wonderful families, the ones who are snatching abandoned babies out of the darkness of Katie's former orphanage.  Because they trust that God will not leave them "high and dry," they are willing to give up their portion of the remaining Mulligan Stew so that everyone else can have more.

So: Under the terms of our new donor's challenge, we now have three days to get 7 more families over the $2,000 wall.  Three days to raise $6,105.23.  

I tremble even to type that fearsome number.  I am weak in faith.  

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But: WE ARE DOING IT FOR LAUREL AND HARMONY,  two girls who DESPERATELY need families RIGHT NOW!  We are going for BROKE to RESCUE LAUREL AND HARMONY!!

WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT FOR THESE TWO GIRLS!!

  

Here's the deal, the End Game for our 3-week long Mulligan Stew Giveaway:

If we can get every single family from Katie's former orphanage over the $2,000 wall, then Laurel and Harmony will each receive an extra $500 in their grant accounts.

We have three days to accomplish this.

THE RULES HAVE CHANGED. Because the Heims have generously offered to give up their portion of the remaining stew, you no longer have to donate to Maria in order to enter the Giveaway.  However, that doesn't mean that the Heims' story is over. I know that the Holy Spirit will speak to hearts about that.

Also, in order to encourage everyone to get out the word about Laurel and Harmony: WE ARE NOW OFFERING DOUBLE ENTRIES in our Giveaway to all those who SHARE ABOUT LAUREL AND HARMONY ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK.  We are also offering TRIPLE POINTS for all those who SHARE ABOUT LAUREL AND HARMONY ON THEIR BLOGS OVER THE NEXT THREE DAYS!!  You will need to e-mail me your blog link in order to get the triple points!!

We have two goals for these last 3 days: (1) We must get seven more families over the $2,000 wall; and (2) We must RAISE THE ROOF to find families for Laurel and Harmony.

A legal complication makes Harmony's case special: You MUST NOT post Harmony's picture on your own blogs. You can only link to this blog and tell other people about her.  The law is different for Laurel; you can post Laurel's picture anywhere and everywhere.

Shout for them!!  Storm heaven for them!!  They age out in a matter of months.  Laurel faces an adult mental institution!

There are no words to describe the horrible fate that these poor children face if no one steps up to rescue them within the next few months.  PLEASE!!!

WE ARE GOING FOR BROKE TO FIND LAUREL AND HARMONY A MAMA AND PAPA TO CALL THEIR OWN!!

Here's Where We Stand:

We have three days to raise a total of $6,105.23.

These are the 6 families from Katie's former orphanage and the amounts that they still need in order to climb over the $2,000 wall:

The Unroe family - $1137.82 raised - NEED $862.23

 The Carpenter family - $614.00 raised - NEED $1,411.00

The Burman family - $1670.00 raised - NEED $330.00

The Menges family  - $1525.00 raised - NEED $475.00

 The Duncan family - $2000.00+ raised - OVER THE WALL!!
The Booth family - $1091.00 raised - OVER THE WALL!!
The Brown family - $737.00 raised - NEED $1263.00

The Archer family - $2030.00 raised - OVER THE WALL!!

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"A Common Stew for an Uncommonly Good Cause!"

 

We have raised $28.304.68 for our Mulligan Stew...

 338 people have donated!

GO TO THIS LINK TO SEE WHAT WAS DONATED TO THE MULLIGAN STEW GIVEAWAY 2012 AND TO SEE WHOM IT BENEFITED!!  THIS GIVEAWAY ENDED MARCH 31, 2012