What a day!!

On Saturday morning, we hosted our second fundraiser yard sale. If we thought our earlier yard sale was big, we were WRONG! This time we had received donations from no less than 12 households. Our driveway was FULL! So we got up early (really early), set up and opened for business just before 7:00 am. Thankfully, we had good help. My parents came in Friday night from Georgia with my 94 year old grandmother. Our precious friends who live just a few houses up were there at 5:30 am. Another dear friend came to help at about 6:30. The very responsible daughter of a couple from our church was dropped off around 7:30 to help with the sale, and she stayed ALL DAY! My cousins who live relatively close by came to visit with my grandmother and shop and help. And the shoppers came... and came... and came... until 2:00. For seven consecutive hours there was always someone shopping.

A friend, who stopped by about two weeks ago to drop off some donations, told me she was praying for a $1,000 sale. As ambitious as that sounded, I have learned not to question such things because I have been wrong for too often. And as I looked at the sheer abundance of things to sell $1,000 didn't seem unreasonable. We also had a donation jar on our payment table which we figured wold boost our bottom line. All of our advertising billed it at a fundraiser sale, so people were fully aware of what we were doing. As many people made their selections and paid for their purchases we were encouraged to "Keep the change." I also received an overly generous "paper handshake" from a friend late in the day.

I thought I was prepared for a big day and to handle a large amount of money. And as things were going along throughout the day I didn't give too much thought to the total. That being said, once we finished and packed up the leftovers, I sat down to get a rough count. That first count was over $1100. Then some more friends dropped by and left a generous donation. Then we sold another item or two yesterday. I am still working on the final, official total, but it's going to be close to $1300 if not a little more. Just when I think I have been utterly and completely humbled by what God has done through people on our behalf, God outdoes Himself, AGAIN.

In other news, our photo shoot fundraiser, which took place just over a week ago, was another huge success! We received $500 from that effort and the few preview images we've seen are more precious than we could have ever imagined. When our photographer posts about it on her blog we'll be sure to post a link.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers as we walk through this process.

Rolling Along

As we get a little deeper into the month of June, there isn't too much new to report. We are still waiting to hear that our references have gone out and come back. Then our home study can begin. Funding continues to come in steadily. We say it to each other every time a donation arrives, but it is so humbling to see and feel the support of our friends.

Our fundraising efforts continue to press along. We currently have a Tastefully Simple fundraiser in progress which will run throughout the month. And this weekend our photo shoot fundraiser will take place. I know those who have booked sessions will be greatly blessed by our friends' skill and effort. And, on our end, we are grateful for the support it will generate.

God continues to take us deeper into this process each day. And we are actually growing in excitement. Yes, there are a lot of details. Yes, there is a lot of information to take in. Yes, there is SO MUCH hurry up and wait. But, in the end, what a great reward!

Month of May Recap

The month of May saw the launch of multiple fundraising efforts toward our adoption. The first of these efforts was a fundraiser featuring DOVE CHOCOLATE!! Who doesn't love chocolate, right? And when it's DOVE, well that just puts it right over the top. Thanks to a great friend, who also happens to be a Dove Chocolate Discoveries consultant, we were able to make a sweet addition to our fund AND enjoy some delicious Dove Chocolate in the process.

May also brought about numerous personal donations. It goes without saying that these are humbling. The generosity of our friends has overwhelmed us and shown us a beautiful picture of God's provision. Our YouCaring page has proven to be a perfect gateway for people to get involved with our process. And the good old US mail has been faithful to deliver a number of surprises over the past month,

I also landed a part time job in May to help with fundraising on our end. I am making deliveries for our local Honeybaked Ham cafe. It's an "on call" position which I am thoroughly enjoying. It allows me to see areas of our community that are new to me, even after 17 years. I've even seen a full scale 3D printed R2-D2 while making a delivery. What can I say? Life is good!

As we have now reached the month of June, we have a whole line of fundraisers active or waiting in the wings. We'll talk more about them in another post.