Garage Sale/Bake Sale/Raffle

Our sale was a HUGE success. It was a bit overwhelming, but all in all, it was fun. We had started bringing stuff from our storage unit over to our house the week before and tried to get everything organized as we went, unfortunately though, I got really sick the Wednesday night before and went to the doctor on Thursday and I had a double ear infection - we were pretty worried at that point because I couldn't help very much, but Brandon really worked hard and by Friday night, he had pretty much done everything that we could up to that point. We had so much stuff to sell that we didn't have enough tables!

On Saturday the sale was to begin at 7 a.m., so we got up at 5 to start putting all the stuff out. I wasn't feeling that great, but I tried my hardest to push through it and my great friend, Katie, was a big help and came over early to help set up. By 6:30, people were already there trying to buy stuff and we didn't even have half of it set-up (we were using the inside of our garage and two drive-ways). It was all very overwhelming. Luckily, one of the first people there bought a TON of stuff and it helped us clear the way to set up more tables and get the rest of the stuff out. There were SO many people there, we couldn't believe it! We stayed fairly busy most of the day and sold a large majority of what we had. We were so impressed with the generosity of people. There were quite a few people that didn't even know us that donated items for the garage sale and donated money. I had made a sign that said "Adoption Fundraiser - Thank you for your support" and hung it up over where we were sitting taking the money. It was a great conversation started and a lot of people talked with us about the process and we met so many great people that were adopted or had adopted. It really does help you to not feel so alone. It's truly humbling to be surrounded by such amazing and unselfish people. We are grateful for all of you that donated your time, energy and those that gave us their kind words of encouragement. So many friends and family showed up to show their support and we truly appreciated it.

These 4 Young Women from church were helping practically the whole time - they really brought an energy to the sale and helped us out TREMENDOUSLY! Thank You Girls!

One of the Young Women (we'll call her M) and her mom made some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast - M helped us well after the sale was over and we enjoyed chatting with her and her mom afterwards, they are such wonderful people. We are trying to work out some arrangement to have M live with us and cook for us every day!

Our raffle was another RAGING success! Most everyone knows who my friend Katie is by now, but she is just amazing. A third of the money we made from the garage sale was from the raffle and it wouldn't have been possible without her. It was so cold in the morning and she was out there right in the cold wind - thank you!

In total, we DOUBLED what we already had in our adoption fund from this event, and we couldn't have done it without everyone's help. So again, a big THANK YOU!