Hello Internet World,
Once again, we have neglected our blog. Life has been very crazy for us lately as we are working as hard as we can and tying up loose ends before our move. I feel like we had our first real weekend in a long time this week, and it was AMAZING to relax a bit. We have been busy shopping, purging items we don't need, trying to see friends and family, working long hours, learning Creole, attending an attachment training and orphan care conference (awesome stuff!), meeting with and presenting at churches, fundraising, running a marathon (Roni), and just every day stuff. Whew! As a side note, I love to cook, but I don't think I've ever eaten so many meals at restaurants or from the freezer as I have in the last month. :)
A friend from church asked us when we were headed out of Nashville this morning, and we told her June 10th. She then proceeded to point out that we have exactly ONE MONTH left in Nashville. We totally did not realize this, and it sounds so crazy to think about! We are excited, nervous, scared, happy, sad, and probably lots of other things as well. We will be leaving our jobs by the end of May, which will leave time for a mini vacation (two nights in a nearby city), packing, and seeing the friends and family we have lived with for the past five and a half years.
We have had so much encouragement along with some discouragement in the past couple of months. Many of you have asked what we are still in need of right now. Before I go into that, let me just take the time to say THANK YOU to all who continue to pray with us and have supported us in forms of verbal encouragement, financial support, pledging money towards Roni's Run for the Hope House, and helping us fill up a moving truck with baby supplies and household goods.
We can not do any of this without the support of others. We are pretty far off from being fully funded for our first year. We had a goal of 30 boxes of diapers, and we greatly exceeded this goal along with so many more supplies (gift cards, crib sheets, pack and plays, books, toys, kitchen supplies, etc.). We then asked our supporters to help us raise $2,620 as Roni ran a marathon to raise funds for the building of our home. We exceeded this goal with your help, raising $3,700.
Now we are asking for one clear thing in these final four weeks: Can you help us reach our goal of 20 monthly supporters before we move? Right now, we have seven supporters who have committed to giving on a monthly basis, ranging in amounts of $25 to $300 per month. We do not have any specific expectations for dollar amounts, so if you can only give $10/month, or if you can give $1000/month, we will be blessed by your support. Most donations for the marathon were $26.20, and added together, they totaled $3,700, which is a big number. However, many of those donations were one-time, which will not carry us through our service in Haiti. We need consistent partners who will continually remind us that people believe in the mission we are a part of. Will you please prayerfully consider being a monthly supporter? We will be happy to share specific numbers with you and would love to have a conversation with you in person or over the phone. To give, you can click the tab above called "How can you help?" Please be sure to put "Bhullars" in the designation box so funds are appropriately tracked. Email us anytime with questions at the address listed in the "Contact Info" tab.
Steph and Roni
