Friday, June 28, 2013

Humbled and in Awe: The Garage Sale







We are greatly humbled by the outpouring of support that we saw during the garage sale.  We saw more treasures than we could handle by ourselves, people spending hours with us to get things priced and sorted, friends and family spending the day at our house to make sure things got sold and hundreds of people coming by to make purchases or to donate more.

Awed by the weather and timing of everything, the week leading up to the garage sale was a bit of a blur. Most of the week people were dropping things off at the house.  Thankfully, Jenn was able to get a lot of pricing and sorting done beforehand so all we needed to do was keep up with what came in.  Due to the generosity of so many, even that was a challenge but a welcomed one.

Again, thanks to many friends we were able to get pretty much everything priced and moved upstairs to the main level.  Yes, we had so many treasures that at least half of it was in the basement.





God provided everything we needed that day.  On Friday, a friend made multiple trips out to houses to bring back donations but also much needed tables.  At the same time as we planned our day of staffing, at the last minute a couple people stepped up to fill crucial time slots, specifically set up.  That morning Jenn and I woke up around 5 am and before we could finish breakfast our first volunteer had arrived.  We started moving boxes and furniture out of the house and garage.


As we set up for the day, more helpers continued to arrive.  As we brought the last piece of furniture out of the garage, I looked at my watch and it was 8 am exactly.  Time to open up.  Another blessing.

We had surrounded the yard in caution tape and that worked really well.  All of the people ready to shop waited patiently outside of the tape for us to open up.


When we did finally cut the tape, one shopper commented it was like the running of the bulls.  The rest of the day was a wonderful experience.  We met many people who had an adoption story of their own. The sun shown all day and it did get a little warm but the only casualties were a few cupcakes and candles.  

All told, we took in around $3200 -- a major blessing.  Early on one of us talked about doing another sale with anything that remained.  That wont be happening. :) Purple Heart has already picked up the leftovers and we have our house back.  

There are many things about the day that I won't soon forget but this one touched me more than others.  We had created a couple donation jars for the sale.  One of the jars was on the counter in our kitchen.  Before leaving, a friend who was helping sort dropped some money in.  J saw this and quickly ran upstairs to get his bank.  He took all the money he had and put it in the jar.  I asked him about it and he said "I want to make sure we can bring our sisters home."

Here are a couple more pictures from the day.  




Friday, June 21, 2013

Yard Sale Tomorrow

Well it is almost here.  The yard sale is tomorrow from 8 am to 2 pm.  Please spread the word and plan to stop by.  We have gathered many a treasure from very generous donors.  The house is almost busting at the seams.  There is plenty of furniture, clothes, holiday decorations and more to choose from.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Out of the BLUE


As I was getting G in bed he asked "When will my sisters be home?"  (For those who don't know, the boys have both continued to say that they want sisters... We will wait and see.)  This is a hard place to be.  I want to say soon, but all I could say is "It will be awhile." I've already explained that they could be much older when their siblings come home.



Thank you for all those who have donated items for the yard sale.  It has been absolutely amazing to see so many people share so much.  One day recently a friend was dropping off a few items.  J said "That is so good.  It will help my sisters or brothers come home." (I didn't cry... but almost.)

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The gathering has commenced



The gathering of your treasures has commenced.  Many of you have already graciously donated stuff for the garage sale and we thank you for that.  Jenn has been working hard to organize it all for quick sale.  We are filling up the living room, dining room and basement rapidly.  Thanks to some friends we were able to find some more room in the garage the other night.  We continue to collect treasures and have started the pricing process.  


Saturday, June 1, 2013

How long is the wait?


We are often asked "How long will it be until the children come home?"  The answer to that question is we just don't know.  But we can tell you how long it has been since we started the process.  The answer to that is 2 cm.  As some of you know I sometimes like to be a little gimmicky so I have decided that I am not going to trim my goatee until our kids come home.  My original idea was that I would grow a beard during the wait time and then shave when we headed to pick up our kids.  That idea was quickly nixed by my wife.  She is shaking her head at the idea of this as well but is willing to go with it.  My plan is to post a picture every three months or so with an update of how long the wait has been.  So above is a picture of me at Christmas time which was about a month and a half before we first heard our agency had a spot for us.  


Above it a picture I took on May 31st, about 3 months after we started.  As you can see my goatee is about 2 cm right now. 

As I am typing this up G comes in and asks "Why is there a picture of you on the computer?"  So I explain to him what it is all about.  He informs me that it will be down at my feet when we bring the kids home.  Does anybody else have a prediction?  Feel free to leave it in the comments and we will see what happens.