It’s been an exciting summer traveling around to various home school and family conferences speaking on the topic of entrepreneurship and homeschooling. Tina and I have received a great deal of feedback and have been inspired to put together a more in-depth conference for the fall that would allow families to better implement key principles from the sessions I presented.  Right now I am busy putting together an agenda for the fall including topics such as:

• Raising Entrepreneurs – Avoiding the mindsets that hinder true prosperity
• Helping fathers to be more involved in developing the home education program
• Developing creativity, business ideas, and work ethic in the early years
• Transitioning from home education to vocation
• Biblical principles of starting new businesses
• and more…

We hope to have our first conference, November 11 – 12, Stay tuned for more details!

The Third Conference in Sacramento CA took place in July. Our parents testified that it was a delight to attend! Unfortunately, the camera stayed behind, so we don’t have pictures. However, the seven of us that stayed behind took pictures of our week, which we recently posted.

Hannah had the privilege of attending the Big Sandy ATI Conference with our parents. At the conclusion of the girls’ Journey to the Heart program she joined some staff from the IBLP Headquarters that were driving down to Big Sandy. She took these pictures throughout the week, between various sessions.

Today I baked 99 cookies…

40 Chocolate Chip, 39 Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, and 20 Oatmeal Raisin cookies, each 4-5 inches across in diameter. And of course, the bigger the cookie, the more you can sell it for.

Why? To raise money for Journey to the Heart. 

~3 things I learned in the process~

1. Phone calls are definitely more successful than brochures or emails. It places more motivation on the buyer to say yes, if you are asking them to support your cause right then and there.

2. Don’t leave messages when you are trying to sell. The customer is not likely to call you back in most cases, and you then find yourself in an awkward situation trying to actually get them on the phone without being a huge pest.  (I learned this about 4 years ago when my sister and I did a similar project.)

3. Develop an effective value proposition. What I mean by this is, make sure you have a good reason why the customer should buy from you vs. another source. You can buy a cookie at any store…but you can’t buy a fresh, home-baked, 5″ in diameter cookie at any store…and, by signing up for my product, they automatically benefit a Christian cause that helps teenagers draw closer to God, be under authority, and love their families-most of which, just about every parent favors (Christian or non-Christian!) So…make sure they know the cause and the benefits involved!

Actually, the biggest thing I learned this week (all over again) was this: God loves opportunities to show His power! I mean, of course I already “knew” this…but watching God turn my human effort into a God-sized-outcome was definitely something incredibly amazing to watch. Just sit back and let God do His stuff, because then you can look back and say “WOW! Only God could have done that…” And amazingly enough, this was my prayer from day one!

The big project turned out to be a lot of fun – partly because I love fundraisers, and mostly because baking in the kitchen is just completely my kind of thing! (Of course I couldn’t have done it all without my trusty little-big helper. ) But I was really grateful for something like this to challenge my faith in every way, as I saw God do what I deemed impossible! He far exceeded my goals in every way imaginable. I love that about God -there is no limit, no set of boundaries, no end to His infinite power!