Here I am!

It's been over a week since I had time to blog. Last night was the auction fundraiser at school for which I am responsible. I needed to raise at least $130,000, but the past couple of years FBA has raised about $200,000 at these events. So I certainly didn't want to raise much less than that in my first attempt at the new job/school.

It was a rough week. There are so many last minute things that have to be done for a big auction/dinner for over 200 people with a six figure goal. I worked many late nights this week, much to my family's dismay. Especially Lena. She bawled Friday morning, "I don't want you to work late again!!" Oh, the tears made me feel so bad. But Friday was the last late night for a while.

We had quite a few last minute issues with the auction. On Tuesday I learned that my emcee could not be there. So I had two days to recruit a new one. After asking 2 others and not being successful, I was blessed to hear the name of Steven Murray, the communications director at HFBC. On Thursday, only about 28 hours before the event, he accepted the job. And let me say that he was AWESOME!

I also had a parent that was scheduled to speak to honor the teachers of the school. On Thursday she said she was losing her voice and may not be able to speak. I had a back up for her, but thankfully she was able to do it.

Finally, on Friday as we were setting up at the hotel, we had a missing set of jewelry. I looked for it for hours! It did eventually turn up but I was frantic.

Overall, the event was a great success! We raised $216,000 for the school and everything went off without a hitch. Here are photos of the auction all set up. It was lovely! (You can click on the photo to see it larger..)



I promised Lena that today, we could go to the park and play since Mommy has been gone so much for work. We had a beautiful day today, breezy and sunny and perfect! Here are photos from the park:







Tonight the girls and Daddy planned to sleep in the tent in the backyard, camping style. Kevin made a fire outside and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. But not long ago, Macey decided she couldn't deal with sleeping in the tent, she wanted her comfy bed. So she's in there sleeping now while Kevin & Lena are asleep outside. And I have a little peace alone...

Camping anyone?