(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.