What a weekend, but oh what a weekend! I knew what was going to happen for Friday and Saturday, but then there was added excitement for Thursday. Tuesday, I had received an email stating a baby was possibly coming home to his family on Thursday, we were just waiting for approval from the state of Nebraska for entry for the baby. At 5:01pm, I received the email stating the baby got approval, he will be coming home!
The best part of this baby coming home to his family, Molly Holt would be escorting him to Omaha! Oh, how special for this little boy and his family, what an honor! Molly was coming to Omaha to be our special guest for our annual Holt auction, so why not bring a baby along!
Thursday was spent checking on the flights to see if everything was still on schedule. As the day progressed, things appeared to be fine...but then the call came. The flight in San Francisco was delayed for three hours...let the scrambling begin! I had to contact all the people that were going to meet at the airport and tell them not to go since the flight would be late. Come to find out, Molly and baby would be staying overnight in San Francisco and would be flying into Omaha the next evening. The next evening??? Gosh darn it! That meant I wasn't going to be able to meet the flight!! But this wasn't about me.
I called the family, they were already at the airport, they had driven up from Lincoln. I felt so bad for them, but things like this happen. Now they had to wait a whole 'nother day! At least they only live 50 minutes away.
Friday comes along and my schedule is crazy trying to clean house, prepare for dinner guests and especially Molly Holt, what an honor! I had to arrange for someone to pick up Molly from the airport to get her to my house and be prepared to feed 18 people. I think I was on my phone either talking to people or texting people to get them to my house correctly...it was kind of comical.
Once everyone arrived at my house, we all had a fabulous time sharing food and fellowship. I truly love to host at my house, I feel it is so much more intimate than trying to talk to people at a restaurant. What a great group of people to host that have the same passion as I do for the mission at Holt. I feel so blessed to know I am working side by side with people with a true love for what we do.
Then came Saturday. My son had his first soccer game of the season in the morning so I couldn't' fit in helping with set up for the auction. Saturday evening came with preparing to go to the Holt auction and dinner, but first my son was getting ready for his first prom! All of his friends wanted to have pictures taken at our house so we had to make sure they all arrived at 5:00 since my event started at 5:30(I could be a little late).
Once again, I had a house full of people! Including my son, there were three couples and all their families came over to take pictures too. It was fun seeing all the kids dressed up so nicely. Still seems odd to me that my son is old enough to go to his first prom! I know, I know, I have a 20 year old!
Once pictures were done, we had to drop off our youngest daughter to her friend's birthday party on the way to our event. Always something huh?
Once we got to the Holt auction, I felt like I could finally enjoy myself and have fun, which I totally did! What a great turn out, 350 guests! We were all thrilled to have this great turn out. I didn't have time to look at any of the silent auction items, there were too many people I had to talk to or people would stop me and say hi, but it was wonderful to see so many people there.
Our favorite part of the auction? The Dessert Dash! My family loves to be the winning table so we can be the first to pick out the dessert. This was the first year in three years that my hubby and I were at the same table. The past two years, we both bid against each other and of course, one year he outbid me and the other year, I outbid him, we are so competitive!
So this year, with our determination to keep our winning streak alive, we made sure to put down the amount we knew would win...oh, how wrong we were...when the announcement came for the top bid, the entire crowd was in shock...the winning bid was $6,300.00!!! WHAT?? Wow!! That was crazy!!! Talk about an all time winning bid! For ONE dessert!! That's the way we do it in Omaha! This was in huge part thanks to a fellow board member at the winning table...I told you I work alongside a great group!!
The rest of the evening was wonderful and we reached an all time record for raising funds. I am so happy for the outcome, the fellowship, the shared passion with our Holt families, and for those that were new to the event and told me how much they loved it and would be coming back again next year. That's what it's all about for me, to get people involved in this wonderful event and them wanting to come back.
What a blessing for me to be able to see so many families that have been touched by Holt and how they all want to give back. God is Good!!
It was a crazy, busy weekend, but it was a crazy good weekend!
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