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Drumroll Please…

Yesterday, I was speechless. Today, I am overwhelmed with amazement and awe of what the Lord has done. We had another terrific day at the garage sale…not as big as yesterday, but better than I expected. We only took two small loads to the Goodwill, and I have several bins of consignable items, that I’ll let rack up and collect the checks for our fund.

I have been so blessed by all of my fabulous family and friends, who have given their stuff, their time to price, sort, and sell the stuff, who came and bought the stuff, and who have just given their love to us. The garage sale was a load of work…but so well worth it!!

When we were sorting and pricing, I just kept praying, “Lord, please let all this work be worth it…so many people have given so much.” Well, he heard me.Our friends have rushed in, worked hard, kept me company, and give, give, given, and given more. I am humbled to tears.

Here’s a few fun highlights of the G-Sale…I was surprised by 3 wonderful friends the night of pricing and sorting who saved me from being up til the wee hours of the night! (Thanks Mom, Nicole, Louette, and Diana!!)

Surprised by my dear friend, Dee, who showed up 2 hours early the day of to help out…this lady KNOWS how to sell. She was organizing, and merchandising the goods all day to keep it moving (moving…right into her truck…she also knows how to SHOP). She blessed my socks off by helping all day, shopping all day, and at the end of the day, giving me the proceeds from HER Garage Sale the week before. HOLY COW. Oh…and she’s so giving, she even bought some things for a family with a baby that came through who she sensed “needed extra love”. What a beautiful heart!!

My Mom and dad…cleaned out their closets and garage and donated TONS of great stuff, and worked their tails off to help us. My mom, is such a good mom…she brought me Starbucks, Krispy Kremes, and snacks and pizza and drinks for all of us workers. AND, tonight after the sale, we celebrated all of our hard work with pedicures at the mall.

Yesterday, so many friends came by to keep us company and contribute by donating stuff and buying stuff—general support! Thanks Mere, Jen, Carina, Trish, Louette, Shayna

THEN, my 2 cousins and Aunt came by. My cousin had two little baby toys in her hand (maybe 50 cents worth) and said “is a check okay?” I said sure, and she handed me the check. FOR $450!!!! I bawled. She hugged me, said she and her hubby believed in us and God put it on their hearts to give to us. (I’m crying again! Dang.)

Then, after they left, my mom said…did you see this? My aunt had given her a check for $200!!

The sales kept rolling in all day…I was so blessed. Today was another great day…2 of my dear dear friends, Selene and Traci, came to keep me company and help all morning. (Traci kindly commenting “Thanks for supporting a great cause” before anyone had the chance to try and bargain with us…everyone payed full price, thanks to her! Except one grouchy old guy, who was afraid I was selling him a bum palm pilot) Selene fought off her nasty morning sickness to give her support!

This afternoon, after packing it all in (Thanks so much Dad, for all your tearing down help!) I sat down to tally up the cash….all in all for the last 2 days, $1,978!! Almost $2000!!!! I can not believe it!! I went out to tell Matt. Again, before I knew it, the tears were flowing. God totally confirmed that we are moving in the direction He’s called us. No doubt about it. I recovered, we decided to go celebrate God’s goodness and go out to dinner with my folks. Matt brought in the mail, and said, “Hey, look what came in the mail!”A note from a teacher buddy of his from last year, It said, “Annie and I will be praying for your adoption process!” AND, a check. FOR $400!!! I just stood there with my mouth hanging open…”ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! I about fell over, but had to laugh. God is so amazing. He will make the path for us, every step!! Have I told you my favorite verse of the moment? (this week actually) Exodus 14:14- God will fight for you. You just need to be still. UM, OK. I will. This weekend has given me so much hope and excitement. God is amazing, generous, and knows our every need. He moves His people to do what he wants to do, I LOVE THAT.

So, Grand Total for the weekend…$2,378!! Un-stinking-believeable!! My nose is stuffy from crying today…Everytime I think about God’s faithfulness through our friends and family’s generosity, My heart overflows. Thanks everyone!


PS, another fun thing, was that when people learned about WHY we were having the garage sale, they’d take their purchases to the car or their house, and then bring back more stuff for us to sell!! It was so awesome. I do have pictures, but Blogger is "too busy" for me to upload them. How rude.

speechless...

WOW. Quick update...I'm too tired! We made $1679.40 today!! There were many wonderful God stories that I will share later...God blew me away with the generosity of my friends and family. More to come...Eryn

Garage Sale Fundraiser

Oh, boy. I have some VERY generous friends! let me tell you...my garage and living room are OVERFLOWING with goods of all kinds.

Tomorrow, we launch the biggest garage sale ever. All the proceeds go to the adoption fund. Please pray that the Lord will bless our "stuff" and we'll make LOADS of money, and not have anything left to haul away to the goodwill. :)

Gotta go to bed now...

Let the Homestudy Begin!

Well, yesterday the UPS dude delivered our first big parcel from AGCI, our Homestudy packet (looks more like a textbook! My teacher hubby is going to love it's organized 3 ring binder self! He makes all of his students have a 3 ring binder for each of his classes).

It is LOADED with paperwork. Holy cow...fingerprinting cards, reference letters, budget worksheets, background checks, birthcertificate requests...I'm going to give my checkbook another workout...$18 bucks here, $12 bucks there...But it will take us to the next level in this process. I am excited for our church's MOM's ministry to start in October so my brain can start thinking about adoption stuff a little more. I am so blessed to be a part of the leadership team, but September is a BUSY planning month and basically, I have no life right now, except for diapers, laundry (and that is suffering), mac n cheese, and MOM's.

Just getting it reminded me, YES, this adoption stuff is REAL, and, although slowly, we are moving forward! My garage is filling up with garage sale goodies from friends and family! Next Friday and Saturday, we're having a fundraiser garage sale to raise more $$ for adoption expenses...Thanks to everyone who's already donated!! God continues to be faithful to us.

cute babydoll

I'm still on the quest for the perfect dark skinned baby doll. I found this one at my one of my favorite local earthmuffin baby stores, Baby Works in NW Portland. It's super soft and sweet, would be perfect for an infant. I loved the red velour one...I seriously have to hold myself back. I totally want to start stashing little things away for someday...but, I can't quite let myself go there yet. Anyhow these "Star Babies" are sweet. The have a little bell somewhere in the body, so it makes a sweet little tinkley sound when you shake it...and they do come in a light skinned baby too. I've come to realize, Target and WalMart are not going to have anything I'm looking for...dark skin pretty much only comes in Dora (which I can barely tolerate...Di-Di-Di-Dora gets stuck in my head way too easy), Bratz Dolls (who wants to encourge your daughter to be a Brat? Don't get that) and Barbies (Um, I sure don't look like that, pretty sure I should stick to squishy body types for this family to have a healthy self esteem). So, the earth muffin, cloth diaper wearing, incense burning shops (ok, that's an exaggeration) seem to be more "ethnically friendly". The sweet owner of babyworks, Paula, assured me they will carry Star Babies as long as they are made, so I have time to come back. :)

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Trusting God ...

I don't always do that well. At first I do, or at least I say I do. When he calls us to something, I get excited and brave feeling. I get on board, thoughts of, "Sure, God, I can do that" run through my head....then when thinks take longer than I think or get harder than I want them to be, my joy in the thing he's called me to, fizzles. I guess that makes it pretty evident WHO my faith was in (um, that would be ME, not HIM).

This whole adoption thing is case in point. We felt God's call. We stepped out in faith to start the journey. I'm all jazzed about the whole thing. Then, it feels like a giant "pause" button was pushed. We can't move forward without the cash to make it happen. I have been feeling pretty bummed about that, and thus, my joy in the process has faded. I've been discouraged and frusterated. With my other two kids, we decided it was time, and BAM I was pregnant, and the babies came. All falling nicely into our plan (and we believe, God's too, conveniently). This time, there is so much waiting!

I've kind of not been thinking too much about the adoption stuff, intentionally. Because, I don't want to feel bummed out.

Today, I got a big fat reminder in the mail, that my faith is in entirely the wrong place (um, that would be me again). God is the one who has called us, and it is HE who will provide the way. It's all about HIM.

In my search for adoption money, I've spent many hours on the Shaohannah's Hope website (Steven Curtis Chapman and family's adoption ministry). I ended up on the mailing list for the newsletter, and today, it really ministered to me right where my brain and heart were failing.

There was an article titled "Miracles-God Provided A Way". The family in the article could be us. Single income family, Dad is a teacher (US). They had just enough money to do the homestudy.(US). They felt called to Ethiopia (US). It quoted the scripture The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:14). It told of thier journey of patience and waiting. How God paid attention to thier needs and heard thier prayers for provision. It was a reminder that God is ENOUGH. He IS enough. He will provide enough for ME. Enough patience, enough money, enough resources, enough help, enough love, enough endurace, enough energy, enough grace.

I was reminded of that Chris Tomlin song "All of You is enough for all of me". I love that song, but I often forget the truth it holds. HE is ENOUGH. His plan is perfect, and I need to stick with him for his timing. It is perfect, and I believe the moment I hold my girl for the first time, It will flood my heart. That I would not want his timing to be any different. If it was my timing, it would not be the daughter he has chosen for us. Each little thing that seems like a hangup to me, is really his way of bringing about his perfect timing. I believe it will be like the moment you hold your baby you just gave birth to...you forget the barfing, the achy back, the frequent potty stops and all the pain. It was so worth it. I know meeting my daughter will be no different. I just forget sometimes, and I lean on myself for endurance. I, however, do NOT have ENOUGH. But, it's good that I have a direct connection with the One and Only who does have enough.