Half The Sky....fell on us.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine, also an adoptive mama to two girls from China, contacted me and asked if Lily and I would be interested in doing a lemonade stand and bake sale to raise money for Half The Sky. My answer was a resounding yes.

I believe that it is very important to teach our children to give. We live in such a wealthy society where the need for instant gratification appears to the sole purpose of life. It makes me cringe a little. Surely the most important things in life cannot be measured by the "stuff" you own. Growing up my parents did an unfathomable amount of charity work. I am not talking little things either. They put on and hosted huge events that attracted people from miles away year after year after year. These events were so much fun and all the monies raised were donated to charity. I can vividly remember the excitement as the day of an event approached.

Shortly after bringing Lily home I learnt of Half The Sky and we immediately got involved. Lily did a sponsored walk every year and we donated the money to them. Of course now we are forever indebted to them for the love and care they gave to Rosie during the first year of her itty bitty life. Lily understands that we have things that a whole lot of people do not have and probably will never have. She understands that it is important to help those less fortunate than ourselves and she does so willingly. When I told her we were going to have a lemonade stand she was giddy.

We started baking yesterday morning and continued until about 9pm. She helped with a lot of it and I give her a lot of credit. We took a few breaks to take care of other things and have a few minutes of silliness but for the most part she was right there by my side.

This photo is for my father. He loved condensed milk as a little boy and apparently so do his granddaughters!



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We got up this morning, loaded up the car and headed into the Gables. We set up the stand and all was well.



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

But then the weather changed and the sky fell down. It poured and poured. We tried to hold umbrellas over the baked goods and also tried to remain optimistic. The girls would run out from under the umbrellas each time they saw a person and would accost them. The day wasn't a complete wash and we managed to raise $112 but had it not rained we would have done so much better. The girls didn't care about the weather they still laughed and played, drank lemonade and stuffed their little faces with cookies. Tonight we are all eating cookies...leftovers from our cut short due to bad weather bake sale.

Lily is very proud of her accomplishments. She is also telling everyone that more people bought her cookies than anyone elses. I told her it is rude to boost but just this once she deserves it.