In case you missed it...

This video pretty much sums up how the night of the dinner went for me.  It was a complete blur!  Don't get me wrong, though... it was a glorious blur!!  The dinner was so much more than we anticipated it would be, and the week following the dinner has been equally amazing.  I have had the opportunity to talk to so many people who are interested in getting involved in giving children in Haiti a hope for the future and improving their lives.  It has been so exciting to talk to people and friends who have felt led to do more but they just weren't sure what to do or where to start.  No Longer is an answer to their prayers.

I've heard a lot of people ask what they can do for No Longer now.  Blake mentioned a quote from a pastor who said, "If prayer isn't necessary to accomplish your vision, then you aren't thinking big enough."  And, simply put, there is nothing greater we can do for the children we will reach than to pray for them.  So, the answer to the question of what can be done now is PRAYER!  Here is a short list of specific prayer needs this week:

• Pray for Global Orphan Project as they are finding and vetting a local church to be in partnership with No Longer.  Pray for wisdom as they meet with church members and get to know the surrounding community.
• Pray for the pastor who will be "our pastor" on the ground involved in the daily care of the orphans.  Pray for him to have the strength and perseverance needed to lead his church and to provide love and care for the kids in difficult circumstances.
• Pray for hearts and lives to be changed through the partnership between No Longer and Global Orphan, both lives here in the United States and lives in Haiti.  

Thank you for following this journey on the blog and thank you for the continued prayers!    

The Founding Dinner

WOW!!!  It has taken a few days to process this whole wild ride.  Looking back, it seems like an eternity ago we started planning for a dinner to launch No Longer.  We didn't know what to expect or what to plan for or where to start.  Seriously, about a month ago we only half joked there would be a handful of people at the dinner...including us!  We just couldn't imagine how it would all go.  But, somehow 175 people felt led to come to our founding dinner... a dinner where we poured our hearts and souls out.  ...a dinner where the vision was laid out for others to see and join.  Not simply a vision for the nine of us, but a vision for all of us!  A vision to care for "the least of these".  Thank you so much to all of you who gave up your time to come out and hear our heart.

At the end of the night we were all blown away.  Blown away that people came, they gave of their time & money and listenened to our heart.  Over $10,000 was raised Thursday night!!!  $10,200 to be exact!!!!!  WOW!!!  Only God could show up and show out like this!

A big thank you to everyone at Mathews Manor.  What an amazing group of people!  The entire Mathews family is so self-less and humble, and each one gave us encouraging words all along the way.  They went out of their way to help us pull the dinner off and make it something truly special.  If you need facilities for any type of event...they are definitely the ones to go see!!!

Several other people made the dinner a huge success.  Dan James of James Advertising was a tremendous help getting our shirts made and ready in time.  They look great!  We have a limited amount of shirts ($20) still available.  Send an email to info@no-longer.com if you are interested in making a purchase.  We would also like to thank our accountant Shea Mitchell of Infinite Accounting for his work in helping us incorporate and register for 501c3 status.  It's kind of impossible to be a non-profit organization without all of the paperwork!  And, lastly, a big thank you to all of our families for their patience and unending support as we get No Longer off the ground.  We are all truly blessed!   

This is just the beginning!  Get ready.  This is going to be a wild and crazy ride!!

The easiest way to get involved?

Liking our page on Facebook and following us on Twitter can make an enormous impact in the lives of orphans in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  Anytime you like our Facebook page, comment on our posts, share our pictures and videos, or retweet our tweets, you share the vision we have for giving hope to the orphaned and abandoned children in Hispaniola.  We hope you will join us in this adventure and help spread the word to your circles of friends!  It is possible to make a huge difference in the lives of orphans if we all work together!  So, if you haven't already, go like our page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Coming Together

I can't believe the dinner is tonight after all the months of planning!  In October, the 9 of us came together and began praying about how God would use us to make a difference.  We didn't know what He was calling us to do, but we knew that we all felt called to do more with our lives.  Little did we know that 7 months later we would be hosting a dinner to share the vision God has given us with some of our friends! 
 

We could not be more excited about the possibilities that lie ahead!  God has blessed our progress these past few months, and we can honestly say that God has directed our path each step along the way.  I have never been more confident that what I am doing is pleasing to God than helping build a village in Haiti or the Dominican Republic.  Honestly, God doesn't need us to accomplish his plans, but how exciting and humbling it is to know he gives us the privilege of being a part of his plan by serving and loving others.

After tonight, No Longer will be about so much more than the 9 of us who have decided to do more for the least of these in our world.  Our hope is that No Longer will now include hundreds of other people who are coming together to say, “We will no longer sit by and simply feel sorry for the 147 million orphans in the world.”  It is time that we turn our sympathy into a movement and start using the blessings that God has given us to make a difference! 

It’s going to be a fun ride and we hope that you will join with us!