What a week!

• My Dad's health has been our biggest concern.  He collapsed while at Wal-mart on Saturday, and was admitted to the hospital after some test results in the ER showed internal bleeding and severe dehydration.  We've been fasting and praying that he recovers quickly and the latest tests don't show any major issues.
• I tried Zumba for the first time this week!  I was so incredibly bad at the dance steps, but it was a better workout than I was expecting.  My leg is feeling much better, so I've been running again, as well as doing other cardio and weight-lifting exercises.  I've adjusted to better eating habits, and am amazed how delicious fruit tastes when I don't pack my body full of sugar all the time.
• Remember how we are A/C cursed?  Yet another air conditioner stopped working this week, and will have to be repaired.  The unit cools off the upstairs of our house, where the kids bedrooms are.  They've been camping out on the other levels of the house (which are cooled off by a different A/C unit) until we can get another repairman out here.
• Brevan and Brynlie had play practice every day.  The big performances are on the 24th and 25th of this month, so they are cramming to memorize all their lines.  The community play they are involved in is 101 Dalmatians.  Brevan plays the part of Horace, one of Cruella De Vil's henchmen, and Brynlie plays the part of Lucky, one of the main dog characters.  It's fun to watch them improve their acting skills.
• Brynlie is involved in a volleyball camp at the high school. She is learning the basics of the game from the HS coach and varsity players. I'm hoping she enjoys it and has better jumping skills than her mom.
• I haven't had time to hit any garage sales this year, but went to a few in my neighborhood this past Saturday. My greatest find was a church suit for Brevan that fits him perfectly and cost . . .5 DOLLARS! I totally scored on that one.
• I spent Friday night with some good friends - Jill, Ciara and Brenda - for a much-needed laugh-fest.
• I got to watch an extra little guy for a couple days this past weekend.  Phoenix Finlinson is Logan's buddy, and he got to sleep over while his parents were out of town.  Logan thought it was the greatest thing ever to have his first slumber party!

• I finished assembling the blankets and pillows we are donating to a transitional house for homeless mothers and their children.  I have spent a whole lot of time on this project, and am excited to deliver the blankets today.  I will do a whole post on that project later.
• And finally, the activity that took a lot of my time this week, but was well worth the effort.  The girls have been wanting to do a lemonade stand outside Ryan's work for a long time, since it's in such a high-traffic area.  After finding out there would be a "Sports Soiree" at his work on Friday, we asked Steve (Ryan's boss, AKA our Bishop) if they could set up a stand outside.  After getting permission, I did my usual by making it into a huge event.  I have issues with often taking on more than I should.  I bought many kinds of soda, cleaned out the coolers, made a bunch of signs, borrowed a "stand," and helped the girls make lots of delicious treats.  Long story short, I turned a simple lemonade stand into a large Bake Sale.  The girls made the decision to donate half their proceeds to the victims of the recent tornado in Joplin, MO.  I was bursting with pride.

Bryn made a little "addition" to one of the signs I made.  I didn't realize until now that I spelled "victim" wrong.  How humiliating!

 The girls sold oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Everything was a hit except one batch of brownies which apparently didn't have enough sugar.  Oops!

 Some of the people that work for Ryan came outside to purchase treats from the adorable Ellefsen girls.

 The girls had a great time dancing for the passerbys to try to get them to stop!

 Many people stopped and gave money directly to Joplin without actually getting anything in return.  I knew the girls were doing a great service, but I was surprised by some of the reactions from people driving by.  One lady stopped to tell me her nephew lost his entire house in the tornado and was still recovering in the Joplin hospital.  Later on a very old truck pulled up, packed with people who were obviously struggling financially.  I don't say that to make any judgement, in fact I was very touched when one of the women told me her boyfriend had lost his life in the tornado, and she had many family members who had lost their houses and all their belongings.  She then literally turned her wallet upside down and pored all the contents into this ziploc bag.

I was so proud of my girls for working hard to earn money.  Any money that was donated for the victims of the tornado was put in a separate area, and the girls only kept some of the money they made from their baked goods and soda.  In all, the girls made about $140 and donated $98 directly to Joplin.