the year in review

A little over a year ago, I had an idea to start a blog and make a difference. 2011 has been an incredible year of LOVE for me, and I owe that to you. I am amazed at the outcomes of each individual month, and even more amazed at all of you who have stepped up to the plate. 

I started this blog not really knowing what was going to happen, or if the idea would even catch at all. Some months I was so proud and excited about the outcome. Other months I felt let down. I've faced stepping outside of my box and challenging myself. I've felt inspired, sad, excited, helpless, strong and small throughout a year of making it up as I go. And yet now here we are, twelve months later, and this is what you and I have done:

We collected 138 lbs of food for Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, 80 lbs of dog and cat food for Harbor Humane Society, 130 cans of food for Holland Rescue Mission, $716 (equal to one water purification system) for Clean Water for the World, made 4 care packages for troops through Any Soldier, convinced 3 new people to be a bone marrow donor and 1 really great sister to donate her umbilical cord blood for the Matthew and Andrew Akin Foundation, collected 1,869 items for Kids' Food Basket, 4,476 school items for Stuff The Bus, 1.5 lbs of pop tabs AND $67 for Ronald McDonald House, $146.12 (including lids!) for Susan G. Komen, 47 items for In The Image and 26 toys for Toys for Tots! Whew! That is A LOT.

Again, this began as an idea...an idea that I would lose sleep over because I simply could not wait to get started. I know God has brought me here for a lot of reasons, and this project was one of them. I plan to continue to write about ways to save the world, and I do hope that you will continue on this journey with me. After all, I could not have made this idea a reality without all of you. God bless you and yours throughout the holiday season and 2012, and from the bottom of my heart...thank you.