Garage Sale

We have spent the last few months collecting bags and boxes and stuff from lots of friends for the big garage sale, it is over. Thankfully! It was a great success but it was consuming and a bit overwhelming but really cool at the same time. I wanted to share with you a few things that happened in the last few days.. Weds night I had a few people over to help me unpack and organize and we felt like we didn't even make any difference, however we hung over 300 items on hangers and sorted things into piles of where we could put them. The girls left about at 1030 and I sat in a packed garage with garage sale signs to color, the garage door open and rain pouring down and just simply prayed over the items we had and the impact it was going to have for our family and mostly for the amazing friends that have graciously given us their "junk".

At the sale here are a few standout moments:
 1. A mother and daughter stopped by early on Friday afternoon and decided to buy an over sized chair and ottoman we had. They couldn't figure out how to get it around the corner home, so we offered to load it in a minivan we had. Later that day they came back and dropped off some baby items and a huge bag of tween clothes and simply said they wanted to donate these things to us to help us on our journey.
 2. Had another adoptive family come by with their little guy they adopted from Taiwan last summer, I had met his mom before at another event and I followed their adoption story last year through some mutual friends, but it was so cool to have them come by and share their story with our friends and just simply support us.
 3. I met an adoptive mother of 21 years and she shared her journey of having 1 biological son and adopting her 2nd son and how much that journey changed her life and that she sometimes forgets she adopted him because he is loved just the same as her biological son.
4. I chatted with a man that was adopted, along with his father and how he is from an adoptive family and that he shares the same love for adoption that we do.
5. we had a couple of families from our church that saw on facebook we were using the donations toward our adoption and they came to find something to buy to help, one sweet couple simple bought two bottles of water and gave us a $10 to help us out.
 6. At roughly 10 on Saturday we had several of our friends all randomly show up to the sale just to support us...it was really cool. I asked if they all planned to be there at the same time and they said NO, I don't care either way but if they all just happened to show up at the same time...I think God had a reminder message for me that he is in charge and will find a way to make this happen.
7. We were packing up and a family drove up and asked about a coffee table we had that was out and I told them they could have it for $5, because I was sending it to the donation center if not and the husband got out to load it and told his wife to give us $15 because we were trying to adopt from Russia....I helped him with the table and he asked what part we were adopting from, and I told him and he smiled and told me his best friend had adopted his kids from Russia 5 years ago....His wife gave us a $20 and told us to keep the change.
8. I met a few Nurses that were awesome! I wasn't planning on selling my scrubs but she was interested in the few I had out and I told her I had a a whole tote full that I haven't worn in at least a year because I don't need to wear them anymore and I would be happy to let her look through them. She took me up on the offer and she ended up buying most of them, it created an opportunity to talk about our adoption and then her children wanted to help...They each chose something from the sale to buy and donate to their church but knew it was helping bring our baby home, they asked if they could come see the baby once we get him or her hom? It melted my heart.
9. I had a moment to stand out in the driveway and watch my friends swindle with the customers and I looked around at all the donations and hard work and dedication from our friends that helped make this work...it was an amazing site...and feeling to know how much support we have to make this happen. It brought a tear to my eyes!
10. J & I had a semi-formal event that we got tickets too and we had several friends offer to stay and keep the sale open. We also had some other friends that had a date night planned and they showed up to the sale to see what they could help do and they took cookie dough home from my freezer and baked cookies for us to sale on Sat. What a date night.

All together the sale a was a success, we made close to our goal and and we had a great opportunity to give away the remaining items, a local church that came to our neighborhood and picked up any leftovers. So it was a win win for everyone. Thank you to all of you that donated items, baked goods or your time for this, we really could not have done this without you! We feel so blessed to have you guys as friends and mostly supporting our journey to Russia!