The day of the lemonade stand I had the thought that we might need to try and do an adoption fundraising garage sale. Even though I hate garage sales with all the work they are, the repetitive question of, "will you take less?" (drives me nuts!) and what to do with all the left overs is just overwhelmingly stressful to me. I also was not sure if we even had enough stuff to host a sale. I had given a bunch of unneeded kitchen items, clothes, etc. to families who lost everything in one of the horrible wildfires we had. So I had to do the other thing I hate doing: asking people for help. I shamelessly asked friends and family for donated items for us to sell and then let us keep the money. Ugh. It was not an easy thing to ask for. But, I had hopes that some people are like me and don't want the money for it, they just want it gone.
Lo and behold, people did want to get rid of stuff and before I knew it, I had more than enough. So it was official...we were having a garage sale. I just have to tell you how completely overwhelmed I am by the generosity of this people. They were not giving us junky trinkets, we were given really good items that were going to bring us some good money. I started sorting, organizing and pricing on Monday, and then spent 5-6 hours daily pricing and didn't finish until Thursday night. I planned a two day sale hoping that it would give shoppers a chance to shop in the mornings before the heat got too unbearable.
Bright and early Friday morning we opened and let the selling begin! We noticed pretty quickly that people were not trying to go down on prices. Either because I had advertised what the sale was for or because my prices were just that reasonable. Ha! Anyway, Friday turned to Saturday and by Saturday afternoon, our merchandise had dwindled by more than half and we were ready to start boxing up the leftovers. There are so many cool stories from this weekend that I'd love to share with you but they will have to come in separate posts. But I will tell you one.
I had talked with our new neighbors from down the street and they had decided to have a sale the same time as us to draw a bigger crowd. But Friday night, they came down and said after talking, they wanted to donate all their stuff to us to sell! Awesome!! Their things added back some bigger items that really helped draw people in. They haven't even known us a month and were willing to help us out like this. Truly blessed!
So long story made longer, we finished the sale, and boxed everything up. Most of it is going to a local women's shelter but the baby/kids clothes that didn't sell we are going to try to send to the orphanages in Ethiopia. The whole sale seems to be a win-win for all. We made some awesome money ($1500!!!) which helps get us closer to our referral fee goal and people are being helped at the same time. After all the dreading of having a garage sale, it ended up being a very good weekend!! God provided a thought, people to help, money to get us closer to our child, and then clothes and supplies to people who need it most. He deserves all the glory for this and I am truly overwhelmed and grateful for all He blessed us with this weekend. Although we are completely undeserving, He provided a way and then poured out His blessing in ways we could not imagine. Saying that God is good does not even begin to give Him the recognition He deserves.
"...'Stand up and praise the Lord your God, for he lives from everlasting to everlasting!' Then they prayed: 'May your glorious name be praised! May it be exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord. You made the skies and the heavens and all the stars. You made the earth and the seas and everything in them. You preserve them all, and the angels of heaven worship you.' " Nehemiah 9: 5-6 NLT
I am so glad it went so well!! -K
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