Lo hisimos!

Okay, so I chose the title largely because it's one of my few Spanish phrases (learned from Dora the Explorer), but it means "We did it!" and we really did do it, with the help of all of you.

My sister received this message from Sister Carmen at the orphanage the day after Christmas:

2012/12/26 Hermanas de Jesus Buen Samaritano <hermanasjbs@gmail.com>BUENOS DÍAS, ESTIMADA DIANA
HEMOS RESIBIDO EL CORREO, NO HAY PLOBLEMA PARA SACARLO
YA HABLE CON UNA PERSONA DEL BANCO, LA OTRA SEMANA  LO VOY A SACAR
DESPUES LE ESCRIBO.
MUCHAS GRACIAS POR LA AYUDA QUE BRINDAN A ESTA OBRA DE DIOS.

BENDICIONES

ATT: HERMANA CARMEN

My sister translated it as saying:

"Good day, dear Diana.
We received the money; there was no problem getting it. I had talked with a person at the bank the other week after you wrote to me to say I was going to get it. Thank you so much for the help you provided to this work of God.
Blessings."

I feel relieved to know they got the money, and that they'll be using it to help make things just a little better for the children.

When I think about the things they are facing in the orphanage, it is overwhelming. I want to change everything, to make things perfect, and the feeling of being unable to make a big change can be nearly paralyzing. But I heard this quote one time:

"Don't do nothing because you can't do everything."

Although there is so much more that they need, we did something.

We did something.

Wired and waiting

Seven hundred dollars is wired, and now we're just waiting to get the authorization number to send to Sister Marida at the orphanage.

We had intended to wire the money on the 11th, but we ran into some complications.  The name of the orphanage had actually changed from La Cuidad Blanca to Hogar De Niños Corazon de la Misericordia Jesus Buen Samaritano.  (Yes, seriously.  I'm almost glad I didn't know this when we were doing the fundraiser because I could never have remembered all that, or tried to write it on things.)  Along with the name change, the email of Sister Marida, the head of the orphanage, had also changed, and that had been our only means of contacting her.  My sister, Diana, and her excellent Spanish skills came to the rescue.  She emailed the family she had stayed with while in Honduras and the mother of the family was eventually able to get us a phone number and the new email address.

We ended up doing a three day wire, because it was $20 rather than $45 for the next day wire.  Since I completed the request in the early afternoon yesterday (Tuesday), the three day wire would allow Sister Marida to pick up the money on Friday.  Then I got an email yesterday evening saying the wire wouldn't go through until I answered some questions.  I turned out the MoneyGram company was trying to protect me from fraud, because I was emailing to an individual rather than a company, so I had to make my case over the phone.  But, because it was after five, I was told that I now wouldn't get the authorization number that Sister Marida needs until Monday.

Once I get the number, I (with Spanish words from my sister) will email Sister Marida the number so she can go pick the money up!

Generous donations!

Yesterday I got the mail and one of the envelopes was from my uncle.  I said, "Kate, this is from my uncle who we made those two hats.  I bet it's a check."

When she opened it up, I said, "Oh, my goodness!  $100!  He owed us less than $50!"

Kate paused for only a moment and said, "He sent $50 extra, so we have over $500 for the orphanage!"  I could see the excitement nearly bursting from her.

Then later yesterday evening, our five-year-old neighbor came over holding money.  I called Kate in, and he handed her a $20 bill saying,  "This is from our family.  Thank you for the hard work you're doing for the kids."  Adorable.  My goodness.  Now I was ready to burst.

Tonight, I was out to dinner with some friends, one of whom had bought two hats.  The one who hadn't bought hats, took out her checkbook and wrote Kate a check for $50 for the orphanage.

I can't wait to give her that when she wakes up in the morning.  I can't wait to let her do the math, and see that we now have an even $600... on the dot!

Kate and I like to think of all the ways the orphanage could use the money.  The other day, when we had $500, it went like this.

She said, "How much does a shirt cost?"

I said, "Maybe a t-shirt is $4."

Then she said, "So, 60 t-shirts is $240.  Then they still have $260 left.  What food could they buy for that?"

"Well, I bet they could give them each a good meal for about a dollar each."

"So, $60 for everyone.  60, 120, 180, 240... so they could have four really good meals and a t-shirt."

It seemed kind of discouraging, when she put it that way, but I shook off the feeling of being small and powerless, and focused on what we did do.  I said, "That's four times they'll have nice full bellies and feel really happy because of what you did for them.  And they'll have nice new shirts.  And maybe they could buy diapers, too, so they feel nice and clean."

So, everyone of you who helped us, by sharing the sale on Facebook, by buying a hat, or by donating, you helped these kids.  You will bring them happiness!

Kate has already gotten really good at addressing envelopes, soon she'll learn about wiring money...
a strange skill for almost anyone to have in 2012, but even stranger for a six-year-old.

Still Time to Donate

We have now been blessed with orders for thirty hats, and, although we want to be able to donate as much money as possible, we're going to stop taking orders.

We have three more hats to complete for orders, and then we want to use the leftover fleece to make some hats for the vendor sale next week.

After that, we want to be able to take time to appreciate the Advent season with family activities.

We are making arrangements with the head of the orphanage in Honduras to wire the money on December 11th. There's still time to send a donation.  I will share our address on Facebook or you can email me to get it at kristalmelbye@gmail.com.

Kate and I want to sincerely thank you, each and every one of you, who either ordered a hat, shared the sale on Facebook, or are planning to make a donation to the orphanage.

Unexpected Benefit

So, who knew!?

An unexpected benefit of these fleece hats, particularly the "larger than life" ones (a term my friend Jamie used to refer to Ally's hat), is that they offer some protection to the head!

Ally somehow took a head first tumble down a set of concrete stairs at my dentist office. I saw her land right on the left side of her forehead, just a split second too soon to catch her.

When I picked her up, she had a secondary scrape on her nose and a trickle of blood where she'd bitten her lip. I removed her hat, expecting to see a huge lump, but it was just slightly pink.

So, those two bunched up layers of fleece...they're practically as good as helmet!

(This statement has not been proven by the AAP.) :)

So, how do you figure the number on the side?

When I was figuring the number of how much we've earned for La Cuidad Blanca, I had been basing it on orders we took in.  Unfortunately, orders for five of the hats didn't end up going though.  Some people would write to me telling me they wanted a hat or a couple hats, but then never follow through with the order.

So the number that is on the side right now is definite profit, based on 27 definite orders.

We have so far completed orders for 21 hats, and we are in the process of making six more.

We have spent $134.43 on fleece, a couple spools of thread, and a package of buttons, but the total due for the orders is $507.  That puts us at $372.57, but we were blessed with an "anonymous" $50 donation from someone very close to Kate who has seen her hard work, and is very proud of what his daughter is doing for the orphanage!

There's more good news!

We have another opportunity to make more money for the orphanage.

When we buy the fleece, we have to buy it 60 inches wide, even if we only need it 21 inches wide for a hat, so we have a good amount leftover.

After we complete the last six orders, we will make hats out of the leftovers.  And, a friend of mine has volunteered to take these hats to a vendor fair to sell them.   It will be more profit for the orphanage without having to spend any more money!

If you live in the Sheboygan area, consider doing some of your Christmas shopping at the vendor fair:

(Any hats left over after the vendor fair will be donated to the Joy House, a place in Milwaukee for homeless women and children.)

Made to Order!

Every one of these warm and cozy, anti-pill fleece hats 

can be made to order to exact head size 

in your choice of colors!

Style A - $22 - All profits go to charity

Style B - $18 - All profits go to charity

Style C - $22 - All profits go to charity

Just place your order in the comment section below.  

Please specify the following:

Hat style:

Head circumference:

Inside color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pattern, or giraffe print):

Outside color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pattern, or giraffe print):

Flower color (if applicable):

After commenting, please contact me via Facebook message or at kristalmelbye@gmail.com, to arrange payment and delivery.  You can pick the hat up, or we will ship it to you for the cost of shipping, which should be under $3.  All hats will be completed by December 15th.

Da Bears

Are there any Bears fans out there with cold heads?  We bought Bears fleece for a special hat order and I have enough left for two more Bears hats...

Bears fleece hats
Style A (shown) - $22 - All profits go to charity
Style B (no flower, fringe on top) - $20 - All profits go to charity

Back to work

We (gratefully) avoided any Black Friday deals in the stores today and got back to work on our hats.

Making a yellow flower to sew onto a hat.

...and then the stomach flu hit

Eleven of our hat orders were from family and we planned to deliver them tomorrow on Thanksgiving.  We only had seven of those done, but three of the others were already cut, so we figured we could complete the last four today since Kate had the afternoon off of school.

Kate charged through the first two.  She was doing awesome.  And, I only had to rethread the machine once...that's amazing!

But then she succumbed to the stomach flu that hit the twins yesterday and Anna this morning.  Not cool, stupid virus!

But, to focus on the positive, we have orders for 27 hats!  We've already finished 17 of them!  So, we're doing really well!