THE YARD SALE!!

For the last month and a half we have been collecting generous donations, aka "treasures" for our yard sale.  Our house was FULL of stuff.... and we were so grateful!  In my last post I showed pictures of our basement and garage.  It only got "better" (full of more stuff) as the week went on.

Then stuff grew upstairs...

and outside...

The night before we had to keep most of this outside because it would not fit in our house!

We were sooooo tired, but still smiling... there was an end in sight!!  :D

Another HUGE reason we were still smiling and not pulling our hair out was because we were overwhelmingly (if that's a word), in a good way, blessed with SOOO MUCH HELP!!  I would definitely leave people out if I tried to name everyone, so I won't.  We had people donate "treasures" and baked goods.  People let us borrow tables and TONS of hangers.  People volunteered, almost every day the week before, to come over and organize, price, make signs, hang clothes, and even brough us food!  AND we had lots of people praying for us, and God provided more than we imagined!!  

The day before my mother-in-law and I went around and put up little signs around the area to promote the yard sale.  The next morning, just before six, Evan and I put this sign at the end of our street.

This is what we saw as we were putting the sign up.  

Great picture huh?  This sight made me cry because these were our friends showing up at 6:00 AM to help us set up... amazing!

And the day began!

my rough drawing of the "departments" for the yard sale

This was NOT everything.  This is stuff just from the garage and the clothes.  We still had to empty the basement!!

AND we had the BAKE SALE!!

my brother stood in line at Georgetown Cupcakes to bring these special cupcakes for the bake sale

and then the shoppers began to come... 

  ALL DAY LONG we had people who weathered the heat, crowds, and craziness to help our forever family!

So I refused to count the money until the final dollar was in for the day!  The total amount at the end of the day was 5,312!  There were ups and downs.  We were soo tired, but soo blessed!  God provided in a huge way.  It was more than we asked or imagined...

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...

Eph. 3:20

YARD SALE / BAKE SALE

Things have been super crazy around here lately, mainly because we have been collecting, pricing, and organizing LOTS of treasures for our yard sale / bake sale this SATURDAY!!!!

  

This is what my car look liked after I would make a trip to school or to pick up treasures from someones house!

AND HERE ARE PICTURES OF THE GROWING TREASURES IN OUR BASEMENT...these pictures were taken several days ago, believe it or not there is even more stuff now!!!

If you have treasures we are STILL :D taking them.  We will take anything and you can bring it up until Saturday.  If it comes on Saturday please bring it priced.  PLEASE come and SHOP!! We have LOTS and LOTS of great items!!

buy buy baby

This afternoon Evan and I went to buy buy baby.  We didn't get anything.  We just looked around.  It made the thought of having a little boy feel a little more real and made me a little nervous too.  Evan was excited and really helpful giving his input on crib styles and colors and bedding.  I'm going to wait on making a final decision on the bedding and doing much in the nursery until we have our court date.  I want to collect a few items from Ethiopia that I can put in the room.  It was a special little trip and fun to do it with my Large HUN-NEE!!

a full week and weekend

My husband is quite the social butterfly.  So, it struck me very funny when he told me that I had really "booked" our week.

Our week started with dealing with the car my parents are letting us borrow.  Our friends have kindly nicknamed the car "the shark" Ha!  Evan and I have had more car problems since we have been married than I feel like people should have in their entire life.  It has started to become a little humorous... but only a little. :)  
This week I went to a belated one year old birthday party, a three year old birthday party, and hosted a baby shower for a special friend.  
Because I have a lot of free time I had time to be especially creative for the shower... creative at least for me.  It was a lot of fun!

I have know Lauren's husband, Russ, since at least high school.  When Evan moved to Northern VA after college Russell was one of the first people he met. Russell introduced us at a soccer game.  But Evan and I didn't become "us" for a long time.  
Russ was one of Evan's best man/men (?). We laughed a ton during his speech! When Russ came up for our wedding he also brought Lauren, who we met for the first time!  We were super excited to meet her.  Russ was great so we knew she had to be even more wonderful.  :D

We were able spend time with Russ and Lauren over several meals.  They are a great couple and we wish the lived closer!!  We can't wait for our kids to be able to play together!














On our way home last night from catching up with the Adams, I started catching up on a little blog reading.  I started to read the Cassadas blog and saw this this...one heart at a time 
I had tears streaming down my face and Evan's eyes were definitely wet.  Anyone who goes through an adoption knows there are lots of up and down moments.  There were definitely some of those for me this weekend and then I read about the sweet Cassada kids and the most precious $10.68.  
The financial piece of adoption is HUGE, but the support, encouragement, and prayers mean just as much and possibly even more than money... if that makes sense.  We have been blessed so much, I really have very few words to express how I feel.  And I have said before, those few words don't seem like enough either.  
For all of our family, friends, and people we probably haven't meet... again... thank you, thank you, thank you!