This past weekend we had our yard sale fundraiser for our adoption. It was so much work and it was so much fun. I don’t think I have felt this encouraged and hopeful since losing Lucy. Josh and I had been saving things we didn’t need for a few months, but it only amounted to a few boxes of items to sell. We asked our friends if they wanted to donate anything to our yard sale and we were OVERWHELMED with donations. Boxes and bags of donations piled up all around us. Every single donation felt like a little message from God, “I love you, I am providing for you, your baby is coming.” I am still in shock. A couple days before the yard sale, a woman from our church told us that she had been saving up her extra things to have her own yard sale, but decided she didn’t have time to do it. That day she brought over a trailer FULL of donations.

The first day of our sale, a friend texted me and asked if I wanted some more donations. She was moving and was going to have her own yard sale as well, but decided to just give us everything. She donated truck loads of the most beautiful furniture, tools, clothes, etc. They were all sold within an hour of being unloaded.

Just some of the clothes we had for sale

Not only were we extremely blessed by the people donating items to sell, but we were so blessed by the people who came to our yard sale. I would guess, 90% of the people who came didn’t know us. We only priced a couple of the really large items like a roll top desk and table and chairs. Nothing else was priced. We told everyone that they could donate whatever they wanted to our adoption in exchange for the items they wanted to take. Not once did we tell someone that their price was too low. In fact, the majority of the people absolutely amazed us with their generosity. Several people came and didn’t find anything they wanted, but still donated to our adoption. One couple got several toys and come kid’s clothes and gave us $300. I cried, my Mom cried, we could not believe the generosity.

I put a sign up at the sale mentioning our stillbirth and miscarriages in 2013 and our adoption in progress. SO many people came up to me and told me about their own losses. One couple had also lost three babies, another woman told me she had 5 boys, but her one baby girl had been stillborn. Another woman said she lost her son and he should be 41 years old today. Story after story of babies lost, and in the sharing of the heartache there was great peace and healing. It helps to know you are not alone in your suffering.

On our yard sale signs (made by a sweet family who just adopted last year) it said “Adoption Yard Sale.” SO many people came by and told us their story of adoption. Some had been adopted themselves, others had adopted children, some were in the process of adopting. Many of them stopped just because the sign had said “adoption” and they wanted to support someone else’s adoption. All of their stories were hopeful and encouraging. I think it is a testament to how wonderful adoption really is. Many of the people who have supported us the most have been people who have experienced adoption in some way themselves. Once you see what a beautiful thing adoption really is, you want to promote it and support it any way you can. We feel so blessed to be able to adopt and hopefully support others in their adoption journey in the future.

Another sweet thing about the yard sale was that it felt like a tangible sacrifice we all could make for our baby girl who is on her way. When I was pregnant with my first three kids I suffered greatly during pregnancy. It was excruciating, and my all day sickness was so intense. The pain of childbirth was nothing compared to the pain and sickness of the first half of the pregnancy. But it felt very natural to be able to suffer for my babies, to work hard for them and know that they were worth it all. With this baby, some other amazing woman is doing the suffering and I can’t take it from her, even though I would in a heartbeat if I could. I feel like I’m not doing enough. But throughout the yard sale, I kept having this wonderful realization that all of this sacrifice (hours and hours of backbreaking work and sleepless nights and my kids being ignored and people giving pieces of themselves) was for HER. I know it is still not much of a sacrifice, but it was nice to be able to at least do SOMETHING. All of this was for her, and she is worth it all. One day I will tell her about this past weekend, how Grandbarry, Grandmama, Auntie Jessica, Shelly and Mommy and Daddy all worked so hard for her. How so many people donated their own things and their own time for her. How strangers gave their own money for her, even though they didn’t know who any of us were. She is going to know how special and loved she is, and that God has a beautiful plan for her life.

Thank you, to all of you who donated your storage space, your things, your time and your money. Thank you to everyone who prayed for our sale and for our family. We made over $3,000 in only two days (one day was rained out.) We hope that because of your generosity, God will prosper you and refresh you. You have certainly refreshed our souls this weekend.

Proverbs 11:24,25

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.