So Tired.. But SO Worth It!

We may be broke by the end of this competition from buying too much coffee, but at least we're having fun! :)

I (Hannah) was on the air with 97.7 The Big Dawg this morning to update our supporters up in Door County and announce our mission statement one last time. After our morning classes, Lindsay and I went and withdrew a large sum of money from the bank. It's so fun withdrawing all that money and knowing all the good it will do!

Lindsay set off on a road trip to Grand Geneva (in Lake Geneva) to set up an amazing weekend getaway to surprise John and Beth (Michael's parents). While she was doing that, Hillary, James, Jenny and I went to La Causa to meet the President and CEO of La Causa and his wife. They read books to the children in their new library! It was awesome seeing it put to good use! The overflow room is turning into quite the cozy reading room, and we couldn't be happier that we have enough books to merit an overflow room! At La Causa we also visited the computer lab that was destroyed in last summer's flooding. They recently put in new flooring, and the room is ready for the donated computers to be moved in tomorrow! We are still planning on buying them new tables as well as tons of educational computer software!

Lindsay, James, Jenny and I bought a ton of bouquets of beautiful flowers and headed over to Children's Hospital. The nurses were in a meeting on the floor we could have visited, so the receptionist took them up to the nurses to surprise them. We wrote notes of encouragement and thanks, and added our blog website on the bottom. The receptionist told us no one had ever thought to just randomly bring nurses flowers before! We love our theme of helping those who help others!

Lindsay, Derrick, Amber, El and I just got back from an amazing night at Michael's house. They are extended family to us, and even though the Challenge "ends" Thursday, we have plans for a party after Spring Break and a Brewer game, and that's just the beginning! There is no way we will allow ourselves to lose touch with this amazing family. I had been e-mailing Michael and recently asked him if there was anything at all that he still needed/wanted. Michael responded that there definitely was something he wanted, but it wasn't for him -- it was for his big brother Richard. Richard really wanted to go see the Black Eyed Peas concert on March 11th, and Michael wanted more than anything to be able to give Richard the opportunity to go. After okaying everything with Beth, we bought tickets for the whole family to attend the concert! This is even more fitting because the concert is right before Richard's birthday! We gave Richard the tickets in a birthday card and he was absolutely floored! His face was priceless! Michael's request is just another testimony to the selflessness of this family.

Then, we presented John and Beth with the gift card for Grand Geneva. The card has money on it for an amazing room, credit at the spa, and credit for a delicious dinner and brunch! Once they pick the weekend they will go, we have a few more ideas up our sleeves, too :) We told John and Beth that we all figured that hadn't had a get away with just the two of them in a long time. After much thinking, they realized they had not had a weekend alone since Richard was born-- almost 14 years ago! We are so thrilled to be able to surprise every single member of this family. They all mean the world to us!

We spent the rest of the night looking at old pictures of the kids, chatting, eating Beth's cookies and we even had a dance party up in Michael and Richard's bedroom. None of us wanted to leave, but unfortunately it's midterm week (great timing, we know! :-P), so there is much to be done.

We could write forever about all of the ways this Challenge has touched us, but we'll spare your eyes :) We hope that what Team Effect is doing is giving you all motivation to live out our mission statement and let your lights shine!