Garage Sale Success

On Tuesday of last week, I felt like the weekend would never come and the garage sale that we had been waiting on for 2 months was never going to happen. I felt like the week would continue at a snail’s pace only to have Thursday and Monday collaborate and skip the weekend all together.

Later that day, Mom called saying that she and my dad decided to come a day early to help us get set up for the garage sale. This now meant that they would be here all day Friday. A couple of light bulbs went off, Tim and I had a quick conversation, and I started advertising that the garage sale would happen both Friday & Saturday. This made Tuesday seem a little more bearable.

Just to make the week that much more interesting, the second portion of our home study was Wednesday afternoon. Our house was clean and un-cluttered while our case workers spent part of Wednesday afternoon with us, and by the time I went to bed Wednesday night the garage sale was beginning to take over our house.

Our garage during the home study. The clothes block the enormity of all the things.

Another view...those clothes...still blocking the true picture.

Our house after the home study.

Friends helped set up Thursday night and showed up Friday morning to help carry tables loaded down with items out onto our drive-way. We had 10 shoppers before we even had half the tables out. It was one of those good/bad overwhelming moments. I was stressed because we were still trying to figure out our system, but I was so thankful that at least 1 person showed up!

So much...so much!

The first sell of the day brought a haggler asking for us to sell a $10 item for $2. He then insulted the item when we only bartered down to $8. Tim just about lost it on the first sale of the day. But by Saturday afternoon, we were giving away bags full of items for $1.

It was such a fun weekend. We had family from all over the state come to help, and to just be in each other’s presence. We had friends who came to eat muffins and do a little shopping. We had strangers who donated their extra change to our cause, and we had friends and family members who wrote such big checks that it landed us in tears every time.

My dad took pictures all day. I was appreciative of him taking the pictures but didn’t think much of it until he gathered Tim, Luke, and me together. He said, “I want a picture of the 3 of you that we can show the baby someday.” It donned on me then that we were all in the waiting room, waiting the arrival of our sweet baby.

If any of us get to be at the hospital when our baby is born, it will only be me and Tim. Our family who is praying for this child will not get to be there with us. This weekend was the weekend for us all to gather together and wait.

And boy, was it glorious. 2 sets of great-grandparents, 2 sets of grandparents, 2 sets of great-aunts and uncles, an aunt and uncle, the big brother, and the proud parents.

Early morning set up.

The picture of the 3 of us...Luke wasn't interested...sorry Baby.

Grandmomma and Aunt Kate helping set out the 1 million items.

MeMom pricing some last minute items while Luke was guarding his beloved blue stool.

He was very sad when it sold during nap time.

Those look like some super contented faces after a long day of haggling.

So…how did we do?

The Lord answered our prayers and showered us with more than we could have ever expected. We met our goal of $3000 with the sells from the garage sale. In addition, the generous donations from friends and family members helped us raise another $1600. These sells + Ditto sells + t-shirt sells (thus far) = our “marketing fee”. This means that when our home study is completed sometime in November, our information will be ready to go on the website and our packet will be shown to potential birth mothers.

Tim and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. This has seemed like the biggest financial obstacle and we have been carried over it. Thank you. Thank you…these words feel so inadequate but are sprinkled with tears of the most sincere gratitude.

If you would still like to donate {we still have $12k to raise ;) }, we would love for you to buy one of our shirts which can be purchased at the website below.

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/kennedy-adoption-fund

Photos courtesy of Poppa (or Daddy to me) and Yours Truly.