We Yard Sold

We had our first yard sale on Saturday.  I'm not the yard sale type.  But as I stood outside Saturday morning getting an irregular sunburn with strangers in my driveway perusing mine and others' pre-loved goods, I thought that I might could be a yard sale type.  Because I think that being an adoption type is requiring that I should be a yard sale type.  I mean, people were coming to my house to take away stuff no one else wants, and they were paying me for it.  Really.

We knew we'd have to have a yard sale soon.  On the list of ways to raise adoption cash fast, yard selling (saleing?) is high up.  So when we received an email from our neighborhood association on Tuesday of last week that they were advertising for a huge neighborhood-wide yard sale, Curt and I decided via IM that we'd host a yard sale four days later.  Incidentally, this was perfect for me, because I'm the last-minute sort anyway, and any advance time would have been spent agonizing that I wasn't doing anything to prepare.  Because I do have a few other things on my plate.

So, the word went out on Tuesday afternoon.  And y'all gave!  By my count, 16 families donated their wares for our yard sale in a few short days.  And the Lord worked in those few days to encourage us that we are on the right track and have not yet thwarted His plan for our lives.  (I know.  We can't do that.)

But when our list of family woes grew exponentially in number and severity in the months since we decided to adopt, I confess that it has given me pause sometimes.  That's exactly what the Enemy of adoption and the author of fatherlessness wants.  But last week, our Champion showed Himself faithful to our family through the encouragement of our friends, the blessing of family, the gifts of generous folks who don't even know us and a joy that comes from obedience.

My mom swooped in unsolicited to help out for a few days and came bearing groceries and diapers, bless her heart!  Strangers called offering their yard sale donations.  Friends brought pizza and fed and watched our boys while we spent our date night making yard sale pick-ups.  We were offered items to auction off and sell (news of this in coming posts).  My dear friend Dana and her family came to our rescue, and Dana walked me through the yard sale.  She was here for everything.  She was at my house before 7am after staying late the night before.  That's a friend.  She also educated me about the book on Cake Wrecks.  I laughed so hard I cried.  She's also doing a half marathon next weekend.  Seriously.

The yard sale itself was even an encouragement to me.  We had been given quite a few large items by my dear friend Eli who wears amazing earrings.  Among her donations, a darling crib.  The crib caught the eye of another Summitteer preparing to open her home to our city's fatherless.  Do you see the sweet circle of blessings here?  One friend gives a fine piece of no longer needed furniture to another (me) who sells it at a great price to yet another opening her home to children in need.  And I loved that I had friends there supporting us.  Bless your hearts, friends!

And all this while our T-shirt sales continue.  We've got some crew L and XL and youth M & L left, by the way.

So, there's the update.  We decided on a moment's notice to have a yard sale.  People gave generously, and we raised just over $600.  Not bad for a few days' work.  Thanks folks!  We're that much closer to submitting a mountain of paperwork to our adoption agency.  We'd love to be able to do that at the end of six weeks, when our passports are expected to arrive.  At that point, it would be great if we had the money ready, so that we can turn in the next set of paperwork.  We're needing and expecting big things from the Lord in the next few weeks.

Please join us in praying for the completion of our application process, so that we can move on to the home study without delay.  Thanks folks for coming back here and for following our story.

~Katie