The garage sale was beyond anything we had ever imagined possible.
Let me share a few examples of how we were blessed...
1. We were blessed by many friends taking the time to swing by and many who were at work that kept texting to check on us. We appreciated your support! It was good to see their faces and have their support. Thank you to those of you that drank Addison's lemonade or ate a muffin she made.
2. We were blessed by friends who donated items for the sale. There was SO much stuff (and this was going to be my small garage sale)! I felt the need to let people know it wasn't all from our house. Someone said to me, "Wow, you guys sure had a lot of desks in your house." HA HA! We had 6 desks at the sale along with tons of other furniture (none were ours).
3. We were blessed by my mom and dad. My mom came to take care of Addison and Xavier each day so we could focus on the garage sale and the people who came to hear our story. She takes our children multiple times throughout each week for fun stuff so this isn't uncommon, but it was a blessing. Dad came with his truck after the sale to help clear out the little things that were left and bought a cookie from Addison.
4. We were blessed by many people dropping money into the donation jar or stopping by to shop because they also have an adoption story that affects their life. Adoption is a special connection for people and we're glad to be a part of it.
5. We were blessed by a sweet lady who pulled up in her car, walked up the driveway, handed me some money and said, "I just wanted to give this to you for your adoption" with tears in her eyes. She walked back to her car as I said "thank you" several times. A few minutes later, I noticed she had placed a $100 bill in my hand. I was overwhelmed by her generosity and a little sad I don't have a way to show her the end result of this journey because we don't know her. It also made me very excited to be able to someday return that blessing to other families on the adoption journey.
6. We were blessed by another lady who stopped at the end of the day, not to shop but to hear our story. She had adopted her son years ago and saw our adoption fundraiser sign. She listened to our story of how God brought us to adopt and shared a little of her own journey 12+ years ago. What a blessing!!! We laughed and cried together at God's faithfulness throughout the journey. She proceeded to hand me some money and said it was all the cash she had in her purse. I was overwhelmed and felt very blessed just being able to meet and connect with her.
7. We were blessed by meeting another very special adoptive family. A lady walked up to the sale with a bio son on her hip and 2 beautiful twin African children in tow. She asked us where we were adopting from and I told her the DRC. She smiled and informed me that her two adopted children were from the DRC. WOW! We only knew of one other family in this area who had adopted an older child from the DRC. We connected immediately and tears were shed again in just discussing the country and the children. We also learned of several other families in the process adopting from the DRC in this area.
8. God also blessed us above and beyond what we thought was even possible in regards to the money that was given. At final count we are at $2,107! WOW! We were worried no one would even show up Thursday morning - it's rather laughable now! God provided in an amazing way that only He could do!
What a blessing the garage sale was! Sure, we raised $2,107 which is beyond helpful but I think if you asked either of us, the people were the biggest blessing to us for the past 3 days. Thank you to those of you who helped, gave or prayed in any way for us throughout this garage sale process!
Kristen
Here are a few pictures of our sale...
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