I hope your day is going well. Don't you love to see how simple activities can open a door to something better than you ever expected.
This weekend was a great example of that for us, the ladies of SHE Degree. You know we are hosting our Christmas market in November, so I am always (always!!) messaging folks, thinking of who we can invite that would be successful and unique and of course fun... trying to find the best vendors for our event. It is a running joke among the group that I will reach out to anyone that might have a business I think would work well at our market. Apparently, I invited a very sweet lady from New Mexico to participate, she politely declined. So of course when we were invited to a local church craft fair we decided to try it out. We didn't have any "crafts" to sell there, but we did have our cookbook and it would be a chance to explain SHE Degree to others and an opportunity for a few of us to hang out together. No pressure on our part, just show up and do what we love to do ~ socialize.
This event was not widely publicized, the local county fair was going on and a little football was being played in Knoxville.... Knowing these things, we didn't anticipate an overwhelming turnout of people, but it was a very small fee to participate so what the heck. Let's do it!
Worst case scenario we might sell a cookbook and hopefully invite some people to the Christmas market. Knowing too, that if there wasn't a lot of traffic, it would give us a chance to work on market details, planning our sweet Riley's bridal shower and of course just visit with each other. So we knew we would have a fun day regardless. Saturday gets here, we set up and people start strolling through.... And while there was not an abundance of people, it was the most awesome selection of people. As we were just hanging out discussing details about the Christmas market that we still needed to work out ~ a couple walked up to our booth. Turns out they are connected to Toys for Tots and would love to help facilitate getting the toys collected at the market to our local Toys for Tots. (You know you can bring a new, unwrapped toy to the market for free admission). The detail of how to get the toys collected to Toys for Tots had been discussed not 5 minutes earlier. They had been at breakfast earlier that morning and just happened to over hear about the craft fair and decided to stop by.... Wow!
Throughout the day, we visited off and on with the couple next to us. They are from Georgia and make all types of beautiful cutting boards. As we are visiting, they mention that they have LOTS of "vendor" friends who would be perfect additions to our Christmas market. They recommended a wooden toy maker... the need for some children's toy vendors had also been a subject of discussion. Wow again right?
By not being overwhelmed, we were able to speak with everyone who walked through the church gym doors and they now know ALL about SHE Degree. Mission accomplished ~ that is fabulous. But wait.... it gets better! They loved our cookbook, they want to come to the market, they signed up for our emails~ Tweet, Tweet and best of all they loved the concept of SHE Degree!
At the end of the day, Lisa and I were packing our booth away and both commented on how great the day turned out. We had both prayed that the Lord would put the right people there today. Wow! Isn't it cool to see how God just open doors for us when we give him the chance. Who knew what doors he was opening when Lisa invited us all to her home for dinner for the first time. What an amazing year we have had ~ God has truly blessed us all.
Have a great week friends ~ watch for those doors to open!!
Amy
Post a Comment