Ordinary Heroes!! Here, There, and Everywhere!

Can you just say I have sooooo gotten behind on my blogging? 

Life is busy! Whew!! 

BUT

I LOVE that in the middle of life's crazy schedule people are still taking time to bless someone in need and be that Ordinary Hero that can truly make a difference. 

I want to share some pics and such of some Ordinary Heroes and different things that have been going on lately. 

FIRST, We just went to the CREATED 4 CARE CONFERENCE in Atlanta this past weekend. 

What an amazing retreat!! It is totally meant to bless adoptive mommas with a much needed get away to get their tanks filled in many ways. 

There were over 400 women at this amazing retreat!

Look how beautiful! My room overlooked the water. 

This can surely get you to relax! It was awesome!

Alongside me for the weekend were Gina, our awesome fundraising coach, and Jenene, who has risen to the top of her own circumstances and is learning what it means to help others. 

We had our product table where we loved meeting everyone that would stop by! You will see us sporting our new tanks. No they are not in the online store yet, but coming soon :-) I LOVE them!

Our table was busy, busy!

I ran into my fellow adoption advocate Momma, and friend, Gwen from 147 Million Orphans. 

She is an amazing Ordinary Hero, herself! 

I loved meeting new friends at this retreat! Many who follow what we do and are Ordinary Heroes themselves in many ways. 

I also loved meeting some of our past Grant winners, Product Partners, and Fundraising Affiliates! 

So neat to see where they are all from and where they are in their adoption journey. Kim Adams, from North Dakota, was one of our previous big winners!!

Moving on from the conference, I want to show you some folks who are stepping out to make blessing bags!

Below, Whitney is one of our leaders traveling to ET in June. Her friend, Stacey and her fiance', Brandon, from Birmingham, had their small groups collect almost 100 Blessing Bags in honor of Whitney's Birthday, and surprised her with them. How awesome!

Below, Kelley and Jeff Williams had their small group collect and pack Blessing Bags to be taken to Ethiopia. Kelley traveled with us last summer to Ethiopia and is now in the middle of an adoption. 

Next we have Blessing Bags that were made from Alle's Birthday party. Christine sent me these pics below of her daughter Alle, and her friends, Kailey and Kelsey who chose to make BB's in honor of Alle's Bday. How awesome is that?!! Way to bless children across the world, girls!!

Speaking of Blessing Bags......

We will have new, Jute, Blessing Bag Totes available in the OH store real soon!

What is the purpose of these Blessing Bags? 

We want you to think outside the box!

WHO CAN YOU BLESS?

What can you put in these Blessing Bags to be a surprise blessing to someone? 

Do you know a young mom who needs baby clothes, diapers, formula?

Do you know someone who needs groceries? 

Do your kids have too many toys?

Do you know someone who could use a pick me up in some way?

You can be an Ordinary Hero by being a big Blessing to someone in need.  

Get creative and fill these Blessing Bags and give them away to someone who really needs it. 

Don't stop there! Encourage that person to pay it forward. Show the person that was in need that they can be a blessing. Encourage them to think of someone and pass the bag along to be a blessing themselves. 

We are Blessed to be a Blessing! 

BLESSING BAGS COMING SOON TO THE OH STORE!!

Now finally I want to show you some OH Sightings. These are awesome Ordinary Heroes sporting our OH gear! And don't forget about the next generation that we are training to CHANGE THE WORLD!

Evie sent me some pics of her fam sporting our gear with this note...

Our good friends, the Webbs  (they were one of the first 7 families to receive the OH matching grants -$890) just PASSED COURT yesterday in Addis!!! And in honor of this, many of us wore our OH shirts and posted them on HIS NEW PARENTS facebook walls!!! God is so good!

The Miller Family

 Bev came up with the idea :-)

Aaron and Erin

Evie

 Elisabeth

little Helen

Adoptive Momma, Kayla, from Fort Wayne, IN sent me this cute pic! One world changer, raising up another! I love it! This was before they brought home her little brother. 

Meggan sent us this of her little man. How adorable!!

 Erin from Portland, OR sent us this pic of her adorable cutie!!

 Tammy from CA has three adorable little world changers!!

Too Cute!!

Cindy sent us pics of her little Danny stating that he is gonna be a world changer, from Arlington Heights, IL. So cute!

Lastly we have the Archie family who just brought home their son Getu from Ethiopia. Getu was one of the older children that OH advocated for, for a long time. He proudly has a new family and we are so thrilled!! 

TAKE A MINUTE AND WATCH THIS VIDEO AND BE BLESSED BY THEIR STORY. 

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU ORDINARY HEROES OUT THERE!! 

LIVES ARE BEING FOREVER CHANGED!

If you are serving as an Ordinary Hero, send us your pics to Kelly@Ordinaryhero.org.

March Grant Contest Winners!!!!

Each month Ordinary Hero holds a Grant Contest where our affilaites sell products and donations in our OH STORE over a specified time period. Our top 3 sellers in that given time period are awarded a $500 Grant in addition to their 40% commissions that they earn off of each order. Our affilaites can fundrasise with us at ANY time, but a lot of people compete for that Grant money each month! It's FUN!!! and it is a great way to earn some FAST CASH for your Adoption or Mission Trip!

If you are in the Adoption process or are going on a Mission trip and would like some extra cash, we would LOVE to have you fundraise along side of us! (If you know someone adopting or going on missions trip PLEASE tell them about our Affilaite Program!) It is FREE to sign up, Go here.

In a few weeks we will be in full swing with our April Grant Contest and we will be giving away $1500 again in Grant money! Our winning affiliates earn between $2500 and $1000 on average during a Grant contest! That could be YOU-- and you could make this much in 7 days! Who doesn't love FASTCASH? (and you CAN compete MULTIPLE times!- We have had many affilaites WIN more than once!)

Ok, so let's announce our
MARCH GRANT CONTEST WINNERS!!!!!!

It was a tight race for our #3 spot!!! It was so close, it was hard for me to watch! Y'all make me so nervous!!!

#1 Winner of the $500 Grant is Heidi Ballard from Torrance, Californina! Heidi is going on a Misson Trip this summer with Visiting Orphans to Ethiopia! Heidi sold a whopping $2145 in product merchandise and donations over the last 8 days! She earned $858 in commissions and by adding that $500 Grant, she is walking away with $1358 from Ordinary Hero! That will make a nice dent in your mission trip cost! She heard about OH through one of our Grant winners last month! Thanks Paige Alleca for letting Heidi know about this fundraising opportunity!!!

#2 Winner of the $500 Grant is Tayler Dennis!!
Tayler is a student at the University of Tennessee and will also be going on one of the Ordinary Hero trips this Summer! She sold $1762 in product and donations and made 706$ in commissions and tacking on that $500 Grant she won, brings her 8 day fundraising total to $1306! Congrats Tayler!

#3 Winner of the $500 Grant is Ladonna Powell from Hopkinsville, KY. She is going on one of our 4 Ordinary Hero Mission Trips this Summer to Ethiopia! Ladonna has been an affilaite for a while and has competed NUMEROUS times! She always gets sooo close! Happy to see you pulled off a Grant Win this time girl! In the past she was close, but walked away with an Honorable Mention reward! So glad you tried again and it paid off for you! Ladonna sold $1413 worth of product and donations in the OHStore for this Grant. She earned $565 in comissions! Adding on her Grant win her total fundraised total for THIS month is $1065! Congrats Girl! (Ladonna has raised a total of $1100 in commissions with OH and adding in her $500 Grant this month, she has now total fundraised amount of $1600!!!)

Honorable Mention Awards goes to:

Sara Gruber $1359.76
Jessica Curley 936.99
Crystal Gengerich $910.90

These ladies worked soo hard! I wish we could give EVERYONE a Grant! You all did so well and have so many Extra- Ordinary Hero's to thank!!! Our Honorable Mention recepients receive a

 $50 Ordinary Hero Gift Certificate to the OH Store! We hope you will consider selling again (like Ladonna) and next time YOU are the Winner of that Grant money!




OH would also like to send out a HUGE

to ALL of our March Product Partners!!! Our Product Partners generously donate items to our Store to help offer aVariety of goods for our Fundraising Families to Sell! In turn, we would like to ask you to stop by there blogs and etsy stores and check out what all they make and see if there is something you would like to buy! Thank them for supporting our afffilaites and for being EXTRA- Special Ordinary Heros! I pray they are all BLESSED by particpating in this opportunity to help our affilaites!

Our Product Partners this month were:

Megan Chaffe from Indiana, designed all those precious, hand made note cards- she sent us Africa and China thank you cards and they were a BIG hit! Thanks girl! Check out her Etsy Store Here.

Amy Ruston from Wisconsin, sent us all those adorable custom made boutique clothes. Liked her duds but needed a different size? Her stuff is ADORABLE! Go to Beautiful Brown Eyed Girl Boutique HERE.

Next we want to thank Shelley Brown at Grafted Together. She has a heart for those supporting Orphans and has an etsy store with several friends who make things and 100% of what they sell goes to Orphans. Shelley, has sent us MANY Product Parnters our way and we hope they are all blessed through this experience! Check out her Store HERE! Thanks Shelley!

Diana Kramel also donated those fabulous John 14:18 Red Adoption shirts to us this month! She is hoping to sell 500 of these shirts to complete her adoption goal! Contact her to order shirts or you can go on her BLOG HERE and order directly! They are the SOFTEST tee's ever! You will not want to take them off!

Thanks again Product Partners for BLESSING OH with your donations! Thanks again for blesssing our fundraising families! If you would like more info on how to become a Product Partner with OH, contact Gina at gina@ordinaryhero.org - we would love to parnter with you and showcase you items in the OH STORE!

Ok, so when is the April Grant?

Mark you calendars for 7 days of fundraising FUN which will start on Sunday April 15th through Saturday April 21st! (contest as usual will close at midnight!)

SAVE THE DATE!! Saturday, April 28, 2012

What an awesome day we have planned!! 

First, Do you like to Run or Walk for a GREAT cause??

How about RUN 4 ONE? One child who can't speak up for themselves, one child who needs a home, one child who needs a HERO...

Join us on the morning of April 28 for the Country Music Marathon. Join Team OH and help raise funds and awareness for children in need through this marathon. 

I (Kelly) will be leading the Team OH walkers in the mini marathon (2.6 miles)  :-). We can get some chit chat in and the time will fly by! Besides, you DO NOT want to see this Momma run. It is not a pretty sight, ha! I do love to walk fast though :-)

My hubby, Shane, will be leading the runners in the Half Marathon.  He is super excited and ready to get his Half marathon team ready.

Our friend, Bert Thomson, will be leading the Full Marathon runners. God Bless y'all!! Whew! He is what I like to call an expert marathoner. He runs in just about all of them that he can. He is ready to get his team motivated and up and running. 

Visit our RUN 4 ONE Team Ordinary Hero page for more info and the ability to create YOUR OWN fundraising page to help spread the word and raise funds for children in need. 

So don't delay. Get signed up for the marathon and come join us on April 28 for some walking or running fun for OH!

SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT NIGHT?

How about joining us for our Third Annual 

CHANGE THE WORLD FOR ONE banquet dinner?

April 28 at the Vanderbilt Marriott, reception starting at 6pm.

For any of you marathoners who might be coming in from out of town to run and then stay for the banquet, the Marriott is just steps out the front door to the start of the race. We have a limited number of rooms held so let us know if you need one asap. Stacie@Ordinaryhero.org

FYI..Raise $50 in support through the marathon and get a free OH athletic marathon shirt. Raise $200 in support and get a free athletic shirt and ticket to the banquet dinner. Raise $1000 in marathon support and get a free athletic shirt, ticket to banquet and free hotel room if needed. 

Not participating in marathon but still want to support in some way? You can donate at our page or create your own page and get donations for OH, and also earn a ticket to the banquet!

Shout out to Team Scullen!

They are taking the Team Ordinary Hero fundraising lead so far! Go Team Scullen!

SO WHAT ABOUT THIS BENEFIT DINNER?

This benefit dinner is going to be a night FULL of inspiration! Chuck and Carrie Cecil are the chairs for this event. Chuck just joined the St Louis Rams as their new Defensive Coach.  I (Kelly) will be introducing you to some amazing Ordinary Heroes who have brought home some amazing waiting children through adoption (and you will get to meet the kids)  and others who have helped some amazing children locally. One of our precious older children who we advocated for for at least 2 years and was adopted this past year is actually coming in to run the half marathon and then joining us that night for the banquet with her family. You will get to meet Fasika, as well as her friend, Getu who resided in that same orphanage with her, among others. These kids are sure to inspire you. This benefit will also be good if you have a mate on the fence about adoption, as it is sure to inspire. Hee hee! 

There will also be a GREAT silent auction. If you have any silent auction items you would like to donate to our event please contact Colleen@Ordinaryhero.org.

To purchase your tickets or find out more about this event 

CLICK HERE. 

There are still sponsorship opportunities available. 

We want to say a BIG THANK YOU 

to our current sponsors for this event. YOU GUYS ROCK! 

GOLD SPONSOR

CELEBRATE CHILDREN

SILVER SPONSOR

ZAGG

BRONZE SPONSOR

HERO SPONSOR

LIFESTRENGTH

VISITING ORPHANS