We skipped church 3rd week of August!

It really wasn't our fault. The high school called us and told us we could not use their facilities for that week because they were doing some moving of major trailers and stuff, so they said the electricity would be shut off. It would've been nice if they told us BEFORE the Friday immediately before! So, dh sent out a mass email and, we met in the parking lot that Sunday morning. Then, a few of us went to a neighborhood and did a prayer walk.

It was so nice to have church service the next week! We had 49, which also felt back to normal. It's amazing how quickly certain things about church become a norm, and all you want is to go to that norm. Human nature, I guess. For the months of July and August, we dropped down to 40, 39, 37, 42, 30something, and 29 (our all-time low).

We were able to give our local elementary school 30 backpacks full of school supplies. It cost a little more than $900! We were going to make as many as people donated for that cause, and someone gave a lot! So, we met our goals and were able to bless our community, this month!

I had the list for each grade from the school. I combined all the lists. Then, I bought half the stuff from Staples online. I was glad to see that Staples had stuff on sale. What they didn't have on sale, I bought from Walmart. I had one person from the church help me with the shopping. We did fine, just the two of us. Putting the backpacks together was harder. I had another lady from church, my oldest son help, plus 2 neighbors that are middle school age. It would've been easier with just 3 adults, I think. Kids don't check the lists as meticulously as adults do...*some* adults do! Our family of 5 brought the packpacks to the school. We got quite a workout! Now, if there are some kids who go to school without any supplies, the teacher can just hand the backpack to the student.

What will I do differently, next year? I'll contact Staples, Walmart, and our local Rite Aid to see if any of them can contribute. We know the Walmart manager and he said that if we give them a letter and a month, they would probably be able to do something. Our local Rite Aid gave us the sale price on one item we bought 35 in quantity. So, maybe they would be willing to do more, next year. Also, I'd like to promote this project at the END of next school year, rather than the beginning. Everyone was still on vacation, doing last minute things - no one was able to help except 2 other adults from our church. The school gets their lists before June, so I could have the project done by the second week of June (before vacations, lol). And lastly, instead of buying the $5 backpacks, I'd like to get at least the $10 ones, lol! The $5 ones were just too small to hold everything. I feel bad if those students have a lot of homework, one day! If I can get the businesses to contribute, we'll be able to spend more on the backpacks, then. Yeah, that sounds good.