My mom asked me the other night when I was going to write my next blog post.  I took a double-take when she asked, not only because it made me think about how long it had been since the last one, but because it warmed my heart that there were people out there that might be anxious to hear about the progress towards our library project.

Things are getting very exciting around here!

We have finalized the dates for our library project trip:  August 5th through 16th.  It can’t get here soon enough!

I think about the project every day, not only because I am in love with the idea of sharing my time and resources with the people of Guatemala, but because it seems like there are so many factors lately that are “clicking” — making it seem closer to reality every day.  Let me share a handful…

1)  I scheduled a community charity rummage sale for the last weekend in April and have already advertised it and gotten confirmation that I will have family and neighbor support, both in donations to the rummage and with shoppers in attendance.  If you are local or have a way to get rummage donations to me, I will accept them any time between now and the end of April.  (Any items not sold at the charity rummage will be donated to a local thrift store to benefit families in the community.)  Despite the fact that my last charity rummage sale raised almost $2000, I wasn’t going to repeat this feat this year because of the work involved.  It is an exhausting undertaking!  However, as fate would have it, a family friend presented an opportunity that I could not ignore… I was given the unsold items from an estate sale with permission to put them in a rummage and use the proceeds for the service project.  I could not deny her the joy nor refuse her gift — rummage it is!

2)  I received word that a Spanish teacher made a large book donation, bringing our total collected closer to our goal of 500 books!

3)  A local girl scout troop is going to sew tablet covers for the 25 tablets we are donating to the school in Guatemala.  It is going to be a service project that they complete to earn their Silver Award!

4)  The third grade class at my youngest daughter’s school is going to coordinate a fundraiser involving the Scholastic Spanish book order form and a collection of school supplies and medical supplies that we will take with us to Guatemala!

5)  A regional healthcare hospital and physician network has donated medical supplies for us to take to Guatemala!

6)  The Guatemalan elementary school students that we will be serving with this project are planning a “small cultural activity” to present to us during our visit in August, to share with us a piece of their culture and to show their appreciation for our support.

All of these came to my attention and confirmed just in the last week!  (More details to be shared at a later point!)  That’s a lot of excitement in a short amount of time, and with each passing week, we get closer to being able to experience one of the most wonderful feelings in the world… giving to those in need.