Unbelievable!

I am finally posting about our adoption garage sale fundraiser. It was an AMAZING weekend and God was definitely present. In fact, I think He pretty much showed off as only He can do! Nasty weather was in the forecast for the weekend but it turned out to be incredibly beautiful for the Friday and Saturday of the sale.

I cannot begin to say thank you for all of the help we had in pulling off the sale. More than 40 families/individuals donated items for the garage sale resulting in a garage FULL of things spilling over into almost every room of our house as well. These first pictures are from the day before the sale. We had every inch of the garage packed, clothes racks lined our kitchen and dining room, and three extra couches hung out in our living room until Friday morning.

Coach and Nana were invaluable in their help preparing for and pulling off the weekend. They got up early and stayed late both days serving as our cashier/money keeper/negotiator (Nana) and errand runner/heavy lifter/stager/clean up crew (Coach). We could not have done it without them!

Speaking of invaluable help, we have some AMAZING friends as well who selflessly gave up a large part of their week and/or weekend to help us pull off the garage sale. We had awesome friends donate tables, mow our yard, pick up donated items around town, sort and price items, hang a bazillion articles of clothing, unpack our garage on Friday, set up the "thrift store" that our yard became, assist shoppers throughout the sale, negotiate when necessary, make sure all of the electronics for sale worked, watch our kids throughout the day, load up shopper's vehicles with purchases, clean up Friday night, and do it all again bright and early on Saturday morning (actually I guess it was still dark and early)! Not to mention, the precious ladies Sunday school class from church that provided a huge spread of food and drinks for everyone helping out!

Shoppers showed up early on Friday and came out of the woodworks all day. Saturday was a bit slower, but steady. I'm not sure if these pictures can capture what it was really like. We had a huge clothing department at the back of the driveway, large furniture lined the entire driveway down to the street, twenty tables were set up in our yard covered with items on top of them and under many of them, shelves full of books, an entire section of the yard dedicated to linens/bedding, "crib row" in the grass with seven cribs for sale, and an electronics department under our porch. I could not believe how much stuff we pulled out of that garage!
(Abigail found ways to occupy her time and had a ball with all of the stuff for sale!)






Friday afternoon, Abigail set up her lemonade stand to raise money for Lottie too. She was SO proud of it but seemed to enjoy sipping the lemonade herself more than selling it to others. I never saw her without a cup full of it in her hands the rest of the day! That night as I put her to bed she said, "Mommy, I LOVE pink lemonade!" By the end of the weekend, she completely understood the concept of selling the lemonade and would not even let Chad fill a cup without putting some money in her box. Over the two days, she raised $50 selling her lemonade and was so excited to be helping raise money for Lottie! (The Hello Kitty suitcase was a donated item for the sale that NEVER left her side all weekend! It was hilarious!)
The kiddos also helped out by demonstrating some of the items for sale. Abigail viewed Beauty and the Beast several times throughout the day on one of the TVs,
and Luke tested out one of the cribs to ensure shoppers it was in working condition.
Joshua stopped by on Saturday and happily tested the drum set for interested buyers.
This next picture is just one example of what awesome, hard working friends we have. They are sorting shoes by flashlight in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday helping us set everything back up for day two of the sale.

I mentioned earlier in the post that God really showed off throughout the weekend. We could not have dreamed He would bless us in the way that He did. We were able to raise $5,000 over the two days to put towards our adoption costs!!! We are overcome with gratitude and give ALL GLORY TO GOD for this blessing! Every minute of hard work and every dollar raised is brining us closer and closer to meeting sweet Lottie and bringing her home to a forever family. In addition, God will continue to bless other families through the donations to our yard sale. Gateway Rescue Mission was able to come Saturday afternoon and pick up an ENTIRE TRUCK LOAD of things that did not sell. Gateway runs shelters for homeless men, women and children in the Jackson area, feeds the homeless, operates three thrift stores to help fund the shelters, as well as provides services for those struggling with addiction trying to get back on their feet. They offer life-changing hope to their residents through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sounds to me a lot like our calling to adopt in the first place! Our God is AWESOME!

Thank you for your prayers for this fundraiser. God used it to really encourage us in our journey and prove Himself faithful yet again. We can't say it enough, TO GOD BE THE GLORY, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!