Once again the Lord has proven Himself faithful to us. Not surprised....so grateful.
Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know that we had a garage sale this weekend. It's probably not an ideal time for a garage sale, mainly because it's cold. We had no idea what the weather was going to be but both days turned out to be really nice - chilly, but nice, and no rain (thank you, Lord).
My sweet sister, Jenni, let us have the sale at her house because our driveway is a bit steep and we live right on a busy road so it's just not an ideal spot for it. She lives in a wonderful neighborhood only five minutes away so it was perfect.
My friend, Gina, had had a garage sale a couple months ago at her home in Brentwood and she ended up with three garages full of donations - it was awesome. They made a great amount of money for their adoption and then she generously gave me all that was left to sell at our sale. There was a lot of really good stuff left and we were very thankful. Some other friends donated, too, and we ended up with a lot of good stuff. Didn't have any idea what yesterday would look like - just not really up on garage sales and didn't know how Fridays fare - but it turned out to be a great day of sales and we made $850.
When we woke up this morning it had just started to sprinkle, but that quickly passed and we were so happy when it didn't rain on our garage sale parade. BUT, we were so surprised at how few people came out today. I thought Saturday would be really busy - but it just wasn't. A friend later told me that you should advertise the two days separately because if you do a two-day sale, people think all the good stuff is gone on the first day and they don't show up the second day. So, if I ever do another sale, I will heed that word of wisdom and see if it helps. Anyway, we only sold about $250 today. I hadn't told very many people this, but my goal was to get the Visas paid for. Each kiddo needs a Visa and they are $400 each. Then our family of four each need an $80 Visa. So the total for that is $1520. The total for the sale was $1100. However, my sister (the above mentioned, Jenni, who was already being so sweet to let us use her house - AND she made cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for us) said that she and her husband had decided to give us a little donation -- but it wasn't little. It was $300. Ok, so what you need to know here is that they are missionaries. I know they don't have extra, so for them to give so generously to us is just mind-blowing and SO greatly appreciated. With that gift our total jumped to $1400. Woo hoo -- the kiddos Visas are completely covered and ours are so close. I have three items listed on Craigslist that I know are going to sell -- and that will be that. WOO HOO!! God was so sweet to show up in such an awesome way!!
The sad news is that my sister's family is only here on furlough and will be moving back to Thailand in just a few weeks. They won't be here when our kiddos get here (and my eyes are welling up with tears even typing that). It has been amazing having them just down the street. In the 19 years that we've lived here we've never had family near us. I wish they could stay.
At the end of the sale we had enough children's clothes left over to pack up five suitcases to take to the orphanage. Yipee!!! We also had a couple riding toys and some formula that we added to the bags and they are in the basement ready to go in just TWENTY DAYS!!
I have gotten two very sweet emails from another adopting mom who was in Ethiopia a few weeks ago and got to meet our kiddos. She has emailed to tell me how sweet they are, especially Bennet. She spent a good amount of time with her and Bennet asked her to tell me that she loves me. PRECIOUS! This gal also got their handprints and sent them to us. How sweet is that!! I love nice people.
So, next week I have a cool fundraiser that I'm gonna start. Well, it's not actually anything super exciting, but somebody will win an iPad. And I'll round up a couple other gifts to give away, too.
One last note - I just can't express my gratitude enough to those of you who have made donations to us of any kind. Whether monetary or service or prayer - we appreciate all of it more than words can ever say. Blessings on you!!
OH wait -- one last word -- if you ever have a garage sale, do NOT let my brother-in-law, Tim, negotiate the sales. It's a long story, but trust me on this. LOL
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