The Garage Sale of the Century!

Yesterday was The Big Day - our huge, church-wide yard sale benefitting our adoption.  We had been collecting donations from people at church and friends of friends for a few weeks and storing it in our garage and basement (which were both packed!).  I did three runs with our minivan (sans seats) to the house of the boss of a woman from church, and packed the van full two of the three times.  People dropped stuff by our house, and brought it to church.  Jeremy did some furniture runs with our van a few times, and with a borrowed truck and trailer. 

On Thursday and Friday, all day long both days, we sorted and priced stuff in our driveway.  Some people from church (thankfully) showed up to help - there was SO MUCH STUFF.  I have no idea how it even fit in our garage/basement.  It was incredible.  This isn't even half of it:

The boys had fun both days playing with all the donated toys!

And some of their own:

Then at six in the morning on Saturday, a few dedicated souls braved the chilly, damp weather and helped us load it all up in a truck, a big trailer, and two SUVs.  Even with all that room, it took about four trips to get it all to the site of the sale.  We had the use of a big parking lot on the corner of two pretty big roads - a prime location, and we were so thankful for it!  Setting up was so chaotic: trying to sort and move things and set it all up and price the last few things... all the while people were shopping early.  One lady arrived before it was light and stayed for hours, until the last load was brought over from a storage unit.  She just piled up her purchases next to my van until she was done!

We grilled hot dogs and sold lemonade and cookies/brownies, too.  We had people there constantly, almost always at least five to ten people, sometimes many more, at one time.  People from church helped with manning the sale, too, which was so wonderful.  

We had our share of strange or rude people, but so many more that were excited about what we were doing.  Lots of people told us to keep the change, and a few people gave donations over the cost of their purchases.  Two families didn't buy a thing, but gave us money anyway!

When we finally decided to shut down the sale (despite a few people still shopping), it was four pm.  By the time we had gotten everything packed up and back to our house, it was after five.  After a long, exhausting, but fun day, we totaled up the money.  Thanks to the generosity and help of friends, and most of all the blessings of the Lord, we made $2000!  Every penny of it will go toward bringing our little girl home.  Thanks everyone for helping, for giving your stuff and your time, and for praying!  We're one step closer today!