"March Forth"

Today is March Fourth and I decided that we as a family would "March Forth" and do good service each year on March 4th, so tonight it began.

I don't recall where I had heard of this idea before, but it had been some time from when I heard it to actually putting it into action. I felt this was a good way to involve the kids in doing good (not like we don't do it already). I had Benjamin, Anna, Emma, and Justin choose 2 families each to deliver cookies to and share our little idea and say thank you.

Benjamin and Clinton had already been involved in service that day by driving around and collecting fast offerings for church. Benjamin was gone for about 2 1/2 hours and Clinton was gone for about 3 1/2 hours. Since our ward started doing this as an assignment for the YM each Fast Sunday, Benjamin has gone on a route with Brother Adam Froerer and Brother Trevor Ricks. He has a blast with them. I am glad he gets to spend additional time with them outside of Sunday and Tuesday activities. I think because of the time he spent with them today, he chose those two families to deliver cookies to tonight.

Anna selected Amelia Korbitz's family. Amelia is in 5th grade and she is in Anna's class. I would say Amelia is probably her best friend at school and she has known her since Kindergarten. She and her family are very kind. They have another daughter who is younger than Emma, but they have a lot of fun playing together. Whenever Anna gets to play with Amelia, Emma gets to go play with Francesca. It makes the playing so much more enjoyable for everyone. The other family she chose was Lindsay Pluister's family. She has known her a long time and has even had her dad as a soccer coach before. When Anna delivered the cookies to them the dad answered the door and she said, "Happy March 4th. I am 'Marching Forth' to do good service". He said he was very glad to have a treat since their whole family had been ill for a while.

Earlier this evening, Lindsay's mom called to see if Anna told me thank you. She said that was the best thing that had happened to them all week. They had been sick since Monday and they haven't gone anywhere, done anything, or felt great. They are on the mend finally and sure appreciated it. She said that whatever made Anna choose them, she chose the right house. I felt very pleased about that and I shared the conversation with Anna. I told her that I was glad she chose that family and whatever made her think of them was the Holy Ghost prompting her to do so, and that I was proud of her for acting on the inspiration given to her.

Emma chose friends from school, too. The first family was Rylan Gaspar's family. She and Rylan have known each other since Kindergarten and are currently serving together as Student Council representatives for their 3rd grade class with Ms. Brackett. Emma has also had her dad as a soccer coach before. Rylan comes from a great family. The other family she chose was Cady Murphy's. Cady was in Kindergarten and 1st grade with Emma, but she skipped 2nd grade and advanced to 3rd grade. When Anna was in 4th grade, she and Cady Murphy had Mrs. Neylon together for the 3rd/4th grade Literacy Enrichment Class. Even though they don't get together regularly since she is not in Emma's grade, she still wanted to do something nice for her.

Justin selected Will Potter's family. Will is a Kindergarten boy that lives in the culdesac behind our house. His family is very friendly and they had been kind to let Justin come and play for a while, especially after I had Cameron. Will is probably Justin's best neighborhood friend. The other family he chose was Peter Anderson's family. Peter is Justin's best friend/church friend.

Tonight was just a small way we could show our appreciation for the friendship and service these families offer to us.

Lookie, Lookie, Who's Got Cookies!

Cookie pick-up was today! Anna's troop had an assigned time to pick-up the cookies. I offered to help sort them, so when our pick-up person brought them to the "sorting house", Anna and I arrived to assist. Anna had the largest amount of cookies ordered, so we were able to gather up her cookies first and then continue sorting the cookies for the other girls in her troop.

Anna had set a goal to sell 200 boxes of cookies. Not only did she achieve that goal, but she passed it by quite a bit. She did a great job and sold 275 boxes. I'm so proud of her.

Once we brought the cookies home, then our own sorting began. Anna had previously written names and the amounts due on grocery bags which allowed us to easily separate the orders for her customers. We finished sorting around 12:30pm, I fed Cameron, and then our family headed off for Olivia Nygard's baptism at the church at 1:00pm.

Luckily, we were able to ask people ahead of time if they would be attending the baptism and we could deliver the cookies afterwards. We connected up with 7 families at the baptism. I sent 2 orders with Benjamin to take to the Stake Center when he watched our Young Men play basketball. Anna and I delivered almost all of the other orders. We have a few orders to mail to Grandma James, Jawana, Benae, and Jessica, and a few other neighbors and family members to deliver to as well.

I'm glad we were able to accomplish so much, but unfortunately, we spent about 5 hours driving around delivering. It gave Anna and I a nice chance to be together and stop off and pick-up a McDonald's treat. I got a McDouble and a medium-sized Shamrock shake and she got a McChicken and a medium-sized Shamrock shake - YUM!

Cookies, Cookies & More Cookies - The Sale Begins

Here's my Girl Scout Cookie Seller, Anna James. She has been in Girl Scouts since she was in Kindergarten. She is now is 5th grade. She loves her leaders, the girls, the fun things they get to do, and selling Girl Scout cookies (more than selling the Fall Products). Everybody LOVES Girl Scout cookies. You can't eat just one and you can't just buy one box, either. My favorites are definitely the Thin Mints. It is quite easy to eat through one whole column of cookies inside the box, if not more, once they are opened. That's just counting me and not sharing with the family! Today, Anna and I will spend some time contacting friends and family by email, phone, or in person. She can't go door-to-door, but she can go to the people she knows that live in the neighborhood. That's our plan. I sent out a Facebook message yesterday letting people know she is prepared and that the cookie sales will be starting. A few people mentioned that they were interested in ordering. We'll start with them first. Grandma James said that she would like hers "home" delivered. I think we can deliver to her when it is around the James Family reunion, if she doesn't mind waiting.

Here's a little update on how our selling went. We didn't get out the door until after 3:30pm, since we had been cleaning house and other stuff. A few people were not home, but those neighbors that were there and wanted to buy some, Anna and I ended up chatting, too. We chatted with people at every house that bought from her. Later on, we came home and called various friends and neighbors. Grandma James and my niece, Jawana, even wanted to buy some, too, to help her out. I'm proud of Anna. She could have spoken with more people, but by the end of the night she had 100 boxes of cookies sold. Now she has 100 more boxes to go to meet her goal and 22 more days till the order forms are due. That's a long time to sell, but they are not suppose to sell door-to-door to people they don't know. Basically, she will contact friends, family, and a few teachers at school. Awesome job, Anna! I can't wait to receive my cookies when they arrive on February 11th!