Yes, the scholarship is still a go

With all the craziness that has came with the pregnancy, I feel I have thrown one important thing to the side; Jennifer's scholarship.

Last year, over $6,000 was raised. That's all good but I still have to raise $19,000 more and I need $5,000 of that this year. So I have to get motivated to get back on track.

We had two fundraisers last year; a yard sale and a chicken plate sale. Both went well but they were both a lot of work and it seems like Allen, my dad and myself were stuck doing most of the work. We had some help and I'm very thankful for all the help I got but at the same time, there were some people who committed to helping and who I counted on to be there but they only half showed up. I guess you always have those type of people at stuff like this. I don't mind doing the work anyway. In fact, I'm one of those people that believes in the phrase, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." So instead of counting on others to do certain important jobs, I like to do them myself to be sure they get done. This is too important to me to get messed up. But still, all fundraisers need help. Luckily, Jennifer's family and friends have always stepped up but a the end of the day, there's still a lot of work left up to me to do. And this year, there's going to be one thing that hinders me from doing as much as I usually do. Yeah, I'm pregnant.

Last year, during the yard sale, we started setting up before the sun even came out. It was me, my dad and Allen at first and then a little later, others came to help set up but we ended up behind schedule on getting started. My dad, Allen and I stayed the whole entire day. I don't think anyone else did, which is fine, because it's a long day and when you're dealing with volunteers, you take what you can get but I learned an important lesson. You have to give people a schedule instead of just telling them to show up when they feel like it. At the end of the day, we had lost a lot of our key volunteers. So when it was time to clean up, there was my dad, Allen and I left and maybe one or two more. We were left to clean up a lot too. And we had been there since like 5 in the morning. It was hot and we were all tired. I actually made myself sick from trying to do too much. So this year, I'm going to have to make sure we have people that come specifically to help clean up and people that come to help set up and then people in between.

I know I can count on my dad and Allen again and I don't know what I'd do without them supporting me in this adventure. But this year, I'm going to have to make sure things are more organized so we have more help. And I need to make sure we meet our goal of raising $5,000. So, I need to get on the ball.

I still miss Jennifer terribly and this scholarship has been the one way I've been able to hold on to her while doing something that has meant a lot to her family. It's helped me grieve more productively and it's allowed me to do something to keep Jennifer alive for her family. This scholarship means a lot to them and it means even more to me. So I have to make sure it continues to be successful for Jennifer's family and for myself.