Monday, September 23, 2013

"Adopt a Ducky" Duck Race is Done!

On Saturday, we finally had the big day of our "Adopt a Ducky" Rubber Duck Race, at Lititz Springs Park!  It was so much fun!

 
On Friday though, we weren't too sure how things were going to turn out!  If you see my posts on Facebook, you know that we thought the first box of duckies we ordered was stolen off our front porch.  So, I ordered more duckies.  They were set to arrive just in time either Thursday or Friday.  But Thursday night, when Aaron checked the tracking, something strange seemed to be going on.  They reached our post office, but didn't ever get delivered.  Friday morning, Aaron checked the order information and realized that I had put the wrong street address... on BOTH orders!  So they were never stolen; they were just sent to a non-existent address, and on Friday both boxes were on their way back to the company.  Panic!  I was in tears.  I made a dumb mistake and now we had no duckies!  Thankfully, Shreiber Pediatric in Lancaster had mercy on us.  They do a big ducky race fundraiser every year, and when we called them and explained our situation, they were very happy to let us borrow some of their ducks.  It ended up better in the long run, because we didn't have to pay for duckies (just for the shipping on the ones I tried to order)!
 
The other thing that made us nervous was the weather.  They had been forecasting rain all day Saturday, starting in the morning.  But Praise God!  When we got up Saturday morning, the forecast had changed, saying the rain would only start after 3pm.  We had GREAT weather, as you can see!
 
 

It's such a pretty park too!  Here are some of the "adopted" duckies before the race, and some kids choosing their ducks.

 
We also had face painting and a peanut/candy scramble:
 

 

And finally, the ducky race!  Here they come, slightly freaking out the real ducks!
Who's going to win?



 
Here they are, crossing the finish line!
 
Unfortunately, I didn't think of getting pictures of the winners, but they were three sweet kiddos!  Congratulations to these winners!
1st place:  Brooke B.
2nd place:  Yana B.
3rd place:  MacKenzie R.

And a big thank you to these businesses for donating prizes:
Weavers Store, Inc.
Stauffers of Kissel Hill
Wilbur Chocolate!

I have to add here that one of the coolest things about the race (for us) was that we met a man who grew up in the VERY TOWN where Camden's orphanage is!  This is totally amazing, because it is not the capital or even a large city in that country.  It's just a little dot on the map.  And here, in little Lititz, we meet someone from there.  We talked for quite a while, and he said he would be happy to connect us with his friends and family there, and also with a church there (his son-in-law's brother is the pastor)!  It will be so great if we can have a little network of people willing to help us out while we are there!  It was so "random," that this guy just happened to be at the park with his grandson.  So much so that it is obviously NOT random, but totally arranged by the Lord.  Praise the Lord!

I posted on Facebook that we raised a little over $300 for the adoption, but some more donations have come in since then, so it looks more like $550!  Praise God for that, too!  Every bit helps to bring our Camden home!  Thank you so much to everyone who gave, helped out, let us borrow things, or donated food to sell!  You are all a blessing!

 

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