Thursday, June 12, 2008

Our First LemonAID stand!

This week, my kids and I decided to do our first ever LemonAID stand! This month, it's LemonAID for Liberia to raise money for mosquito nets as a part of KidsLake (check it out and join us!)!

My kids got SO into this! Brayden kept saying, "When are we going to celebrate lemonade?" (not sure why the celebrate part?) and he knew that we were raising money for kids in Liberia for nets that will protect them from the mean bugs. . 'cuz these kids don't have moms and dads and the houses they live in don't have good windows and roofs. It is so sweet to hear Brayden describe it! We spent all afternoon making our posters and cookies and lemonade. . .

Then. . .the thunder began. . .uh oh! There were big storms moving through Orlando. I told Brayden that we just needed to pray that God either moved the storm really fast or kept it from coming to our neighborhood. I wish I had been able to video him, sitting at the table feverishly making his poster and talking out loud to the Lord. . "God, can you please not let it rain? We really want to have our lemonade stand. We want to raise money and we made our posters. Can you please make the rain just go away or go real quick?" It was absolutely precious! He said it in the most conversational tone and it just made this Mama's heart thrill to hear her boy talk to Jesus like that!!!

If you know our God at all, you will not be surprised by what I'm going to say next. . .NO STORM!!! We had a few drizzles, but not one person complained! The other thing we prayed for was customers! We are not in a high traffic area at all!! I wondered if anyone would come!

PS: not sure why Brayden doesn't look happy. .he was so excited that he was continuously hopping!! Bummed I didn't get a great shot. .but here it is!

Guess what? They did! It ended up being a blast of an evening hanging out in the driveway and getting to know our neighbors. Super bonus because I have been convicted lately about getting to know our neighbors and making a difference in our home community! Everytime someone drove by, my kids stood behind their table and waved like their lives depended on it. When people came up, the kids hopped around smiling and waving and saying "Thank you" (the little ones) and "Welcome to LemonAID for Liberia" (Brayden. .although sometimes it came out as "Welcome to Liberia!). What a fun evening. . .

Final total? $87!!!!!!

That's 12.5 nets, which at 4 kids each, will cover 48 children!!!!

This was a blast and I TOTALLY recommend it to other families who want to make a difference in their neighborhood and in Africa TOO!

15 comments:

Cassie - Homeschooling Four said...

What a fun thing to do with your kids! It's totally the time of year for that too (besides the everyday rain). I can't believe you raised that much! How much did you charge for a cup of lemonade?!

Jman's momma said...

Great idea! I over-think and get it in my head that things won't work. So I think I will take the Nike mantra on this and

Just Do It!!

Jman will LOVE it - he has seen the Curious George episode about selling lemonaid so many times!!

Angel said...

Did y'all save me a cup? How much do I owe you? :o)

Laura said...

I love everything about this!

Anonymous said...

What a faith grower for Brayden to see that God does answer prayers! Boy if we could all pray as innocently and earnestly as the kids!
Great job,
Julie L

Anonymous said...

What a great outreach to your neighborhood, as well as making people stop to think about Africa for a minute while they're at your stand. That picture is so adorable!!!

Taylor said...

oh I miss y'all!!!!!!
$87????? Oh My Word!
That was such a great idea!
Tell the kids I said hi :)

Luv ya,
Tay

Jen said...

How fun! I can't believe you made that much money! Jen

Anonymous said...

That is awesome!!! God is so good!
Way to go Brayden, Davis and Gracie!
That's such a cute picture! Brayden looks like he's looking for that next customer. :)

Cindy

Melinda said...

What a great turn out Brandi! We are going to do a lemonade stand on June 21st. There is a company that is sending 100 cans of lemonade plus a kit to make your own stand. They are doing this for kids to raise money for their favorite charity. http://www.drinkcrayons.com/pinklemonadebrigade/ We are raising money for Children's HopeChest. Praying we do as well. Our goal is $150.
Melinda

mama becca said...

That's awesome Brandi! Great idea... I think we'll do that, too :).
becca

Karin said...

oh, how fun!
I can't pass up a lemonade stand~ not many kids do that in our neighborhood which is sad! I'm so glad they had such a blast for such a good cause!

A Family said...

My kids LOVE doing lemonade stands. I have to control how many they do as they would do one every weekend if I let them.

I am a huge supporter of mosquito nets and we did a big money drive at Skylar's school for Nothing But Nets...so kudos to you.

Okay, I know I am so lucky to have kiddos that sleep in - don't hate me too much! We are going up to a friend's cabin in the mountains this weekend and I know their kids do not sleep in, so my kids are going to be so miserable being woken up...does that make you feel any better?

Love,
Chris

Wendi said...

Loving this idea...I think my girls would totally get into this...just today they were asking me, "Mommy, when are WE going to Africa?" I assured them we needed to ask God about that...only he knows, but they already have been stirred over the crisis there and want to help. Thanks for making me giggle - I love "Welcome to Liberia!" - so funny!

Joyful Living said...

How fun!!! We are planning on doing a similar thing during our garage sale in mid July. It's so cool to see God work through things like a lemonAID stand!