(Part 2) Fundraising Effort #1 - Yard Sale

Day 3 - Saturday, June 16

To those that have been checking back in anticipation of "Part 2", I am sorry for the delay! I'm not going to be as detailed in this post (well, I am going to try not to be...).

Saturday started off better than Friday because I instantly felt less stressed due to the amount of help I had. I was still very sleep deprived, but the grogginess faded as I was filled with anticipation of what was to come. I was surrounded by such incredible people: My husband, his mom Kim, his sister Abby, my dear "little sister" Corvetta, and friends Jenn and Melissa. Jenn, Corvetta, and Melissa did a great job of organizing things, folding clothes, helping me price things, or anything else I asked of them. Kim brought lemonade, coffee, and a ton of baked goods to sell: Banana nut bread, chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins, brownies, walnut brownies, and then Abby brought a variety of cookies. The banana nut bread was a hit and sold out first. Brielle later came out and ran the bakery/ lemonade stand. Kim, known as "Kiki" to the grandkids, helped Brielle make change for people. Brielle loved being the "Baker" and cashier. Jenn made a sign that said "Brielle's Bakery" written in calligraphy that hung from the table. We all got a good laugh when someone would ask for a brownie or a muffin and Brielle would say, "Ok, that will be fifty dollars please." We tried explaining to her the difference between dollars and cents, but to her right now money is money and the value is irrelevant. :)

Regarding everyone that came early to help: Having each of them around was so moving to me... and although their talents and abilities in helping were wonderful, what had me frequently on the brink of tears was looking around and knowing they were there because they support this adoption. And I believe their support stems not solely out of love for us, but out of love for our child(ren) that they haven't yet laid eyes on. Not everyone that adopts has friends and family that agree with/ want to support their choice. To be honest, we weren't sure what type of reaction to expect from everyone but we knew God was pleased so that was enough to motivate us to go down this road. God is love. Without Him, love wouldn't exist and neither would we. This is where our "Motivated by Love" slogan comes from. Both God's love for us to adopt us into His family and His immeasurable desire to place orphans into families captivated our hearts and motivated us to take action.

I was SO HAPPY to have him with me Saturday!

Corvetta and Melissa. Both of these fabulous ladies have very special places in my heart.

KiKi, Jenn, and Brielle. Blessed to know each of them.

Below are pictures of our setup of all the stuff. Despite such a successful Friday, we still had more stuff than we could lay out! The clothing was definitely more organized due to all the help we got Friday night (see Part #1 post). Tony and Brett did a great job making a way for us to hang a lot of the clothes to make them more appealing and easier to browse through. 

We got to see many familiar faces on Saturday, which really made our day that much sweeter. Some of them picked out some items and then purposely overpaid us for them. Two of Brett's brothers in Christ came by simply to visit and donated cash. Christina, John, and Jess- three friends I talked about in the last post- came by with their families. To make things even greater, we were given a really cool offer: Sara Beth's parents are owners of an auto repair shop in a neighboring city. They offered their shop's parking lot and even their own home as locations for our next yard sale. As if that wasn't enough, they even offered to hold all of our current and future donated items in an unused storage area until then! This is such a HUGE blessing!! I feel like we cannot ever adequately express how thankful we are for everyone and everything. 

One of the consequences about waiting over a week later to finish a post I had started is that a lot of the details of the day have sorta blurred. So the following stories are in no particular order, but I wanted to share some of the day's events: 

Oops.

Remember the book Brielle got in her Chick-fil-a meal on Thursday? Well, here are two of the pages from it: 

I remember thinking as I read this part to Brielle how hard it would be to try to explain to a child that the stuffed animal she had set her heart on was not really for sale. Well, despite my efforts of scanning the entire box of stuffed animals to ensure none of Brielle's favorites were in there, one of them was. It was Valentine, her white Build-A-Bear cat wearing a pink dress that Brett and I bought her last Valentine's Day. And, at around noon, my heart dropped as I saw the little girl following her mom... holding tightly to the cat. My thoughts went about something like this: "Valentine! How did she get out here? I can't just take it away from the little girl. But this one is special, and worth so much more than the fifty cents or one dollar that we have priced all the stuffed animals at. Maybe it belonged to the girl and she's just carrying it around from yard sale to yard sale?" Maybe I over-analyzed what to do, but I just really did not want to face a brokenhearted sobbing little girl and an angry mom, chastising me for allowing the stuffed animal to make its way outside- which I felt was inevitable if I didn't handle the situation gently. Distracted by the yucky situation playing out in my head and not being 100% positive that it was Brielle's, I decided to say nothing until they came over to pay. Besides, maybe she's just playing with it until it's time to go, then she will be told to put it back. Lots of kids have done this with other toys all day... yep, that's what will happen. Problem solved.

Just as they came over to me to pay for their items, I took a harder look at the stuffed animal and felt certain it was Brielle's. And as I prepared to break the news to the mom and precious little girl, who was still tightly gripping Valentine, Brielle walked up...

It only took about half a heartbeat for her to realize what was going on. I was afraid she was going to do the same thing the boy did in the book and snatch it away... but she acted at a maturity level way beyond her age. She walked up to her and said that she was sorry but that was her kitty and asked if she could please have it back. Talk about a proud momma moment! I honestly was afraid she was going to burst into tears and be really mean about it, yanking it from the girl's grasp. The little girl just looked at Brielle, still clinging to it, as I explained to the mom what had happened. She smiled and explained to her daughter that the cat belonged to Brielle. I apologized profusely to both of them, and was relieved at the little girl's willingness to hand it over. No tears. No yelling, angry mom. Whew. I told the little girl to pick out another one and she could have it for free. Both mom and the little girl seemed happy with my offer, and I was happy that they were so understanding.

Awkward.
Contrary to what I anticipated, we only had about a handful of people that asked questions or wanted to talk about the adoption. The most awkward encounter happened Saturday. An elderly woman, probably in her sixties, walked up to Corvetta and me.
Lady: "So, you are going to adopt from Africa?"
Me: "Yes ma'am, we are in the process of it now!"
Lady: (not as enthusiastic as me) "Oh, ok." (Pointing to Corvetta) "Is she your daughter?"
Me: "No, she's my little sister."
Lady: (To me, confused yet nodding her head) "Oh, okay." (Looking at Corvetta, apparently assuming we were sisters through adoption) "So do you like it over here?"
Corvetta: (Smiling, and not wanting to embarass the woman) "Yes."
Lady: (Smiling) "Good."
Me: "Oh, she's not from Africa. She's from here."  

The woman sorta apologizes in an awkward fashion as she turns and walks away. Corvetta and I shared a good laugh about it. I wanted to explain to the woman that I call her my little sister because we are both daughters of God, therefore through our faith in Christ we are truly sisters.
(Even if she was adopted, what kind of question is, "Do you like it over here?" anyways!? *sigh*)

Another woman later asked Corvetta if we are all going to Africa. She explained that Brett and I will be going there when it's time to pick up our child(ren), but she isn't going. Again the woman left confused. Corvetta and I have adjusted to the confused looks. We hang out together a lot in town, and it seems like people try to figure out our relationship when they see a young black teenager with an almost-thirty, very white me. 

(This is for a later blog post, but through all this I can't help but think about the types of looks and potentially awkward situations we will face as a multiracial family. I've read in blogs and books about the types of things that strangers, some with good intentions and some without, commonly ask or say to multi-racial families and I have asked God already to show me how to reply using graceful words while also protecting my kids from hearing something that could hurt them.)

It all counts.

Saturday started off painfully slow. I was a little nervous at first, because I had heard that Saturdays are supposed to be busier than Fridays. Plus it was cloudy, which made the morning temperature more pleasant than the previous day. The people that were coming were buying small amounts, and I felt part of me wanting to worry that the day would flop but ultimately I just rested knowing that God's got this... He's got us, and every part of our life we surrender to Him. As Brett and I counted out the money at the end of the day, I was shocked to see that we had raised about $800. In change alone we had $30-something. These amounts shocked me. Not only did we seem slower, but the total purchases of each shopper were a lot lower. But I really felt God revealing something I already knew at a deeper level: Every dollar counts. Even every quarter. Every PENNY. A little here, a little there... it adds up, sometimes faster than we realize. 

So the weekend has been over for several days now, and it was harder than I imagined but worth every minute. Because on Monday, we headed to the bank with that $1,600 to deposit into our adoption fund. And on top of that, we still have loads of stuff left to put towards the next yard sale.

Our next yard sale will take place either in late July or the second week in August. If you or anyone you know is looking to get rid of some stuff, please let us know! We still have a large amount of clothing, but we can always use more- especially in girls and boys sizes 3T on up to young men's/ junior's sizes in girls. Furniture, home decor, DVDs, and books all also could be very helpful for us, as they were very popular items being sought after. In addition, anything not named here is also encouraged! Every little thing helps.

We are going to try to have a 3rd and final yard sale in October. The remaining stuff will either be passed on to someone else who plans on coordinating a fundraiser yard sale or it will be donated to charity. 

Next Up in Our Fundraising World: 

• T-shirts are here! (I will post pictures soon)
• I am becoming a Scentsy consultant, and will be having my first party within the next 3 weeks. 
• Cookbook order (huge thank you to Kim for this idea and collecting the recipes!)

One Final Thought:
It still feels "too good to be true"... that something I never thought would be possible which is literally life-changing for us as well as our future children is slowly unfolding right before my eyes. I feel so blessed that God chose us to walk this difficult, blessed, crazy beautiful path. Perhaps He has chosen you to do the same? If you ever have felt an inkling of desire to adopt, I want to encourage you to set aside all the "what if"s and human reasoning ("It's too expensive, we could never afford it...", etc) and seek God's will. It's not impossible, and it's not as scary as satan wants to make people believe as long as your eyes stay on Christ each step. It's gonna be worth it, I know this to be true for us and anyone else who chooses to take this path. It's worth it. 

(Part 1) Fundraising Effort #1 - Yard Sale

I have never organized a yard sale before. Well, scratch that... when we were moving from our home in Cleveland, Tennessee to Alabama in 2008 we decided at about 1 a.m. that a spontaneous yard sale in the morning would be the best way to downsize our amount of stuff. Our moving truck was almost full and we still had a lot more stuff to load. So we began putting things in the front lawn, made a sign out of cardboard and taped it over our no-longer-needed "House For Sale" sign so we could stake it into the ground by the highway, and went to sleep for a few hours. We planned on waking up at 7, but before our alarm went off we were awakened by a man ringing our doorbell telling us that he and others had been circling our house waiting for us to come out so they could shop. A few hours later, when almost all of it was gone, we gave away the remaining items to the last few shoppers and drove away. We ended up making an unexpected $400- $500 that day. 

I preface you with that to say that performing a successful yard sale on a whim like that gave me a false sense that organizing this yard sale over the course of a month would be much easier than it actually was. A yard sale is just a yard sale, right? But they were totally different in that the first yard sale was comprised of stuff we didn't really need to take with us and the money was just an added bonus to getting rid of it, whereas the success of this yard sale depended on us collecting donations of things that others didn't need (in addition to our things) and the money that could be made was the whole purpose, not an added bonus.

When we decided to do a yard sale as a fundraiser, I was fairly confident that we would be able to gather up a decent amount of item donations due to a number of friends and family that had already expressed a desire to help us in any way. I felt even better about this when, before I even posted the first request for donations, two wonderful ladies (Stacey-a thoughtful friend from church, and Tori-a friend that I haven't got to see in a while who I met at UNA) contacted me to ask if I would be having a yard sale soon and to tell me they had stuff they wanted to donate to it. Those calls happened one right after the other, and I was overwhelmed that they thought of us. "Overwhelmed" and "thankful", by the way, seems to be two words I use an awful lot lately. I'm sure many are tired of hearing me say them or put them in Facebook posts when talking about our adoption. Maybe I will switch to "speechless". Or "awestruck". There just really isn't a suitable enough way to explain what overtakes my heart when people step out in love, care, and kindness to show support for our adoption in a variety of ways.

After I announced the yard sale, many of you did not hesitate to contact me to let me know you had stuff you wanted to donate. I was so wonderfully surprised to hear from some of you, because we aren't "close" friends, related, or part of the same church. You know who you are, and I cannot tell you how much your donations meant. I honestly thought almost all of our donated items were going to come from people that fall into those three areas of relationship, but it ended up being about 50/50. To those of you that donated and we aren't close... it meant more to me than I can express. You didn't dismiss our need for donations due to the fact we don't see each other or talk. Instead, you decided to contact me, even if I hadn't had contact with you in 1, 3, or 12 years. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I can't express our gratitude enough. And to those who are close to us, our thankfulness runs just as deep. I hope you all know that, though I feel we can never show it enough.

We collected donations over the course of about six weeks as people contacted us. Some dropped by our home, others met me in town, and we drove to others' homes to pick up the things. My sister, who has a newborn, even sacrificed sleep to gather things to send with me the night before I left her house in North Carolina when I visited last month. Some gave a few items, knowing that every little bit would surely help, and others gave carloads of stuff. Every time a donation was made, we were thankful. We piled the boxes and bags and loose items into our once-empty office over the course of that time, and the room began filling up pretty fast.

The days leading up to the yard sale consisted of several last-minute donations, borrowing tables from friends and family, and lots of anticipation. On Thursday alone, we had four different friends make donations. Thursday also meant it was time to dig in and sort out the stuff. I wanted all of it to be categorized in some form or fashion. I personally would be less likely to buy stuff if I had to dig through random piles of things looking for something I could use. I'm going to use pictures to help me tell about the rest of our adventure.

Day 1 - Thursday, June 14

One of my best friends, Jana, came over Thursday morning despite the morning sickness
she's been having (12 weeks pregnant!) and the many things that were on her to-do list for that day.
Here she is with the mountain of adult clothing that she sorted out.

The bins and pile of donated baby boy clothes.

The pile of stuff that collected outside on Wednesday and Thursday because there was no more room inside.

After meeting two friends who gave the final donations at 5:00 p.m, we drove through
Chick-fil-a for a quick dinner. I couldn't help but smile to see this came in Brielle's
kid's meal. I know that was God's way of encouraging me as I stressed over the amount
of work that was left to be done. 

Organizing phase - Home decor, kitchen, and seasonal items

This is what my living room looked like after we were mostly finished categorizing.

One of my best friends, Jessica, came by after dinner and helped sort until midnight.
Having her around was so wonderful, and it put me in a really good, less-stressed mood.

Brielle was so excited about the yard sale! She wanted to help me bake cookies.

Brett came across these super cool, blinking Spiderman glasses as we put stuff outside.

I finally went to bed at about 2:00 a.m. and laid there for about 30-45 minutes, knowing that 5:30 was going to be arriving soon. Despite that knowledge, I simply don't have the gift of falling asleep instantly like my husband does. After I fell asleep, I dreamed of organizing yard sale stuff all night.

Day 2 - Friday, June 15

Brett and I hit the ground running when our alarms went off. He put the signs out and we worked fast to get things arranged and ready. Just a few minutes after 6:30 we had several people looking around and buying things. They disappeared just as fast as they arrived, then more would show up either seconds or several minutes later. Brett helped me until almost 8:00, then he had to leave for work. He was originally going to take the day off, but he found out Thursday that he needed to make a trip to Birmingham. I was a little disappointed at first, but I knew it wasn't his fault and I knew that God would be my strength.

Just as Brett was about to leave for work, a lot of people started showing up. Two of them, a woman probably in her late 40s/early 50s and her daughter who looked to be about in her mid-20s, approached me and asked about our adoption. I told them a little bit about it, and then they told me that their son/brother works in Africa. A smile spread across my face as I asked what he did. He builds wells for villages. This made me smile even bigger. As you all may already know, the lack of access to clean water is one of the reasons so many children and adults are sick- and even die- across much of Africa. They are forced to either walk many many miles to collect fresh water, if it is within walking distance. If it isn't, they have no choice but to use whatever nasty, disease-ridden water is available. What a rewarding job to have, one in which your work brings life and health and hope, impacting one village at a time.

The mom/daughter duo continued to look around as I bargained with others and bagged up their purchases. I was feeling overwhelmed at trying to help everyone, paired with the emotions of realizing that the way I envisioned the yard sale and what was actually happening were two completely different things. That usually happens with any given event in our lives, doesn't it? I envisioned that many pro-adoption people would see our posters, newspaper ads, or hear about our sale through Facebook and come flocking to show their support. It was a rude awakening to realize that most had no interest in supporting us any more than they did in supporting any other family who were having yard sales that day. I came to this conclusion after having the following conversation (or something similar to it) with shopper after shopper: 

Shopper: (picks up item) "How much for this?"
Me: "Would you like to make me an offer?"
Shopper: (staring at item, silent for a moment) "I don't know... just tell me how much you want for it."
Me: "Ok... how about three dollars? I think that is a fair price."
Shopper: (sets item down, shakes head) "No. Would you take a dollar for it?"

Depending on the item, I accepted their counter offer if it was something I felt probably wouldn't get much attention from other people over the remainder of the yard sale. But if it was something that I knew would be able to draw in the amount I asked, I tried to reach a compromise or was firm with the price I stated. I knew I needed to change my attitude, because I was finding myself slightly annoyed that nobody seemed to care that this wasn't a yard sale for us to make some extra money for ourselves. It is for our child(ren). Because always on my mind was that, even though I don't know the sex of our child(ren), their ages, or what they look like... they are right now an ocean away, living in an orphanage, and this sale is something we put together to get us a step closer to bringing them home. But a yard sale is a yard sale, and I could not let my emerging frustration take hold of me. I needed to remember that God is going to provide, no matter how circumstances seem at any given moment.

Back to the mom/daughter pair. They looked around for about ten more minutes, and then the daughter approached me with four books. I'd just had a bad bargaining experience with a woman where she talked me down on the price of every single item she had chosen because I was just too physically, emotionally, and mentally overwhelmed already and I just wanted to start bringing in some money. My vision of how the yard sale would go had already been smashed in the first 45 minutes, and now I was in survival mode. I smile at the women and look down at the books. Uncertain of a fair price for them, I asked, "How much would you like those books for?" 

"How about..." the daughter begins, as she starts to pull her hand out of her little accordion file folder that she was using as a wallet. "This?" she says with a smile. There are five $20 bills in her hand. I tried hard to control myself but there was no way. I burst into tears and asked her if she was serious. I was expecting a $5 bill or something smaller! She speaks words of encouragement, reminding me that it is a wonderful thing we are doing and telling me that she plans to adopt one day. I start thanking her through my tears and try to compose myself, only to realize that all of the shoppers have stopped looking at the tables and are staring at us. "Now you've got me crying!" one older woman says as she wipes her eyes. Another woman agrees with her, and then a third. A couple of men look at us all like we are crazy. Brett stepped out of the house just in time to witness what was going on and he, through a smile, pokes fun at me for melting into a blubbering mess and thanks the daughter for her generosity. She tells us that it is the amount God told her to give, and I speak blessing over her that may her generosity return to her one hundred fold when she is raising money for her own adoption one day. Still shocked and trying to compose myself, I apparently said something like, "Please come visit, you know where to find me!" I think Brett thinks I was just being awkward (which it was an awkward thing to say, I suppose), but I was dead serious. And my invitation to her had nothing to do with the money she gave. She listens to God's voice and she has a heart for adoption. We could easily become best friends in my book. (Besides, I have never been the shy, quiet type.)

After that awesome moment was over, I finally managed to regain my composure and continued to assist shoppers. I felt different now though; God had used the timing of all that to give me a new vision for the yard sale. He reminded me (as He graciously does often, it seems) that He is going to provide but I must trust and obey every step of the way. This weekend, trusting and obeying meant I was to do my best to just love the people sent my way and to not worry or stress over anything. I could show love for them by being kind, not judging them for not seeing my yard sale as anything special or out of the ordinary, being as fair as possible with pricing, and being genuinely friendly. 

Brielle woke up at about 10:30. Here she is writing down "how many dollars"
the totals of each purchase.

After God fixed my attitude, He also sent encouragement in the form of friends. Pictured above is our dear friend John, who stopped by to see if I needed any help. (He didn't really want to be in a picture, but he was such a good sport about it!) Things were kinda slow at this point, so he decided to help by making the display of items more appealing. All those shoes were just in one big messy pile under the table when he first arrived, and he didn't hesitate to match them up and organize them without me noticing until he was almost done. He also moved furniture items onto the driveway so people could see them from the street. It was so great to have him stop by just to see if he could help in any way. He told me to call if we needed any help at all. I was so encouraged, but I wasn't too surprised though... that's just the type of friends that he and his wife are. We love yall so much and love our friendship with you, Rainey family. 

In addition to John's surprise visit, I had two more: 

My bestie Jessica (that had helped so much Thursday night) came over and hung out with me while her daughter and Brielle played. She picked out some cookies and paid more than their worth for them. I so enjoyed having her there with me. She stayed until it was time for her to meet her husband on his lunch break... But didn't leave without first offering to bring me back some lunch! Lunch? Eating had sorta slipped my mind. I was delighted with her offer, and even more delighted that she stayed a little while longer to visit when she brought the food back.

Another good friend from church (Rachel) stopped by with her precious family. It lifted my spirits yet again to see a smiling, sweet familiar face. After picking out a few items, she also gave above and beyond the worth of the items. I got teary eyed, but managed to keep my composure this time. Again, our gratitude for the support cannot be put into words. 

At about 3:30 we brought everything into under the carport and Brett and Brielle laid down for a nap. As I was taking care of some things and getting ready to rest, my wonderful little sister Corvetta (we don't have the same parents, but we are sisters in Christ so I always call her my little sister... It confuses people, as you will hear in a story I will be telling in Part 2 about Saturday) texted to tell me that she hoped the yard sale went well and asked if I needed her help Saturday. After going a day alone due to not arranging for help Friday, I wasn't about to turn down anyone's offers! We made plans for her to just spend the night instead of waking up at 5 a.m. to go get her. 

I also received two more pleasant surprises at about the same time: 

Our dear friend Lanie offered to make dinner for her family, mine, and Corvetta and bring it over for us all to eat together. I was thrilled! What a thoughtful thing to do, and it was such a perfect ending to the first day. She is an incredible cook, and we love being around her, her husband, and their little son. After our 8 p.m. dinner, they stuck around for several more hours to help us re-organize and get things ready for the next morning. 

Another great friend Christina called me and offered to come over to help get things ready for Saturday morning. Her and her husband came over after putting their seven (yes, seven!) kids to bed. They brought with them hangers, a fence pole and rope to make a bar to hang clothes on, and two folding tables so we could display more items. We laughed and had some crazy goofy times as Christina helped me figure out ways to display things to make them more appealing to the shoppers. Many times during our 9 pm - midnight preparations I thought of how grateful I was for all of these terrific people. I thanked God for them and their desire to help us over and over.

Corvetta and I worked on hanging up adult clothes that were previously just laying in boxes

Christina working on baby boy clothes

I know this is a lot, and I still have one more day of pictures and stories! I am being so very detailed because this is my way of journaling through our adoption journey, and so many things happened that I do not want to forget. 

But before I go...

Our 2-day total was: $1,635.78

SPEECHLESS. THANKFUL. OVERWHELMED. HUMBLED. 

THANK YOU, WITH ALL WE HAVE, TO THOSE WHO DONATED AND HELPED AND SHOPPED. THANK YOU.

We're getting closer.