Check it Out!

The management of our apartment complex held a porch decorating contest last week.

The prizes:
1st place $500 off of January's rent
2nd place $300 off

3rd place $150 off

Honorable mention: $50 off

We really need the money so we pulled out all the stops. We borrowed some of my mom's decor and we went crazy with it. (By the way-- you could fund a small school in Africa by selling all Christmas stuff as she has). Alan put our TV in the window with a screen saver of a fire place on it! And he recorded himself singing in the shower as if he were Santa. We played the recording of it in the water heater closet as if that was the bathroom and Santa was showering in there. Alan also spent 6 hours putting up the wrapping paper on the walls, and I worked on the planning and everything else a little each day for about 2 weeks.

And it paid off because we WON First Place!!! That's right!!! $500!!!

The judges said they loved the detail and thought put into it. I did a little kissing up, too, as I put the names of all the staff members on "Santa's Nice List." We were pretty stoked to win because there were about 20 other participants and some really cute porches. The Lord has blessed us. He gave us the tools and said GO and DO! I'm not a competitive person but man I wanted this!