Sweet Summer Saturdays

As is typical, the summer flew by. The addition of planning for and implementing three major fundraisers for our adoption compounded the speed, it seems, and we are just days away from the new school year.
On three separate Saturdays this summer, we took on projects of unusual size! The first event was in June, a giant $1 sale that filled the gymnasium where we attend church. The only way to describe the magnitude of the event is to show you a "before" picture of the pile we acquired to sell!

Friends, family and strangers donated and purchased over 1600 items and donated food/beverages! It was a full day and we were pleased to raise enough for a RT plane ticket to Uganda!

Early August I joined with 3 other local photographers to offer portrait sessions for a donation to our adoption expenses. I'll post the video from that event as soon as its ready, but it was a great day of amazing food, fun clients and lots of great photography! Here is "the team" after a long day of shooting!

Most recently (last Saturday) we were blessed to round out the summer with our biggest fundraising project to date: our Both Hands project (pictures here: ). We got together a team of friends and family to work on the home of a local widow. That team raised funds for our adoption (and their work on the house) as well as getting down and dirty at the work project! We had a great time, accomplished a lot of work and will watch as God helps with our finances! We are over halfway to our goal of $15k to bring Kevin & Sheba home and getting excited as the reality of meeting them gets closer!
Two videos showcase the work we did can be found by clicking through to the same link as the photos (above).
Tax deductible donations are still being accepted via Lifesong for Orphans. Simply click on the link to the right of this post and you can donate online or get the address to mail a check. If you mail a check, please put VandenHoek #2038 in the memo line. Thank you, all, for your support!