Did you think I was dead? It’s been a handful of days (five I think) since I last posted. I left last Thursday to embark on an epic journey with Girl Ninja to Princeton, B.C. in Canada. We were not alone on this trip, however, we loaded up a charter bus with 30 freshmen from our local high school to spend a week at a Young Life camp there.
If you recall a few weeks back, I posted about clever ways to help these kids raise money to cover part of their camp costs. We did a lot of flocking, they sold bags of coffee, Jamba Juice partnered with us and gave us some coupons they could sell, we were hired to tear out the carpet and paint a the walls of a basement, we built fences, and we even received $1,500 from a PDITF reader who asked to help support these kids.
How insane is that? A reader I’ve never met decided to hit me up and offer to pay for three camp spots in full in hopes of allowing kids that come from less privileged families the opportunity to have a week at camp with their friends. I’m blown away by this reader’s generosity not because of the amount given (although that is pretty incredible), but more so by the fact that she reached out to me unsolicited. I didn’t ask my readers to support these kids to camp, but she took it upon herself to do so anyways.
That my friends is why I am dedicated to being financially responsible and a diligent saver. I want to be able to bless people not only when they ask for it, but when they DON’T. I want to give unconditionally, to someone I’ll never meet, in hopes that their lives are better because of it, without expecting or wanting anything in return. Financial stability allows one to give without hesitation.
It was one heck of a week and Man Oh Man am I exhausted. I’ll definitely be spending my Fourth of July reflecting on all the crazy games we played, the deep/emotional talks I had, and the happiness I saw in our kids’ eyes as they felt the love of the Lord pour out all over them.
If I had to choose one picture, from the 800+ I took, to sum up this happiness it would be this one…
