And the total is ...

$ 3,205 

 Yes that is correct...

 We made over $ 3,000 at our garage sale fundraiser this last weekend.

Everything has been deposited into our adoption accounts. It is awesome to see such a good result of our first fundraiser.

 Thank you for all of our support! 

And keep watching... We are beginning planning for our next few events.

You can follow along on our fundraising progress by watching the thermometer to the left.
I know the goal number looks large, but we know that God's plan for our families is to adopt and therefore we trust that he will provide. It is exciting to see Him at work.

God Bless all of you!
Mandy & Chris


P.S. We plan to have breakdown of where all the money needs to go in terms of our adoptions for those of you who are interested. (once we have time to get it set up)

Last Day of the Garage Sale Fundraiser

It is Saturday ...
That means it is the last day for our first fundraiser.

 We have been truly blessed with supportive friends, generous customers, and great weather (except for the hail that caused us to close up an hour early yesterday) ... I think God knew we needed rest.

 We will have most items discounted today and there are still new items that were donated last night ....

 So stop by again or for the first time and see what you can find.

 Thank you all for your prayers and other support.

 Blessings!

It All Begins Tomorrow ...

In less than 8 hours we will be pulling things out of the garage, putting up signs and tents, and making sure all of our wonderful items are placed, looking their best, and ready to sell.

I guess I should be going to bed, but not sure if I will be able to sleep with all the excited of tomorrow and our first fundraiser.

Thank you for all the prayers and please stop by if you are in the area.

Mandy

Only One More Day.....

Until we kick off our first fundraiser!

Our Adoption Awareness/Garage Sales

Yikes!! Yay!

Scary! Excited!

We have been working on this garage sale forever since the end of May.  Wow.

We have had so much help and support from our sweet friends!

Thank you L, T, D, J, and S!!!  Y'all rock.

We have received so many donations....like a ton!!!

I have a three car garage y'all.....
And we still had to store items in my house!

We have had so much fun.

We have laughed.

We have talked.

We have priced.

We have hanged so many clothes.

We have folded so many clothes.

We have arranged and re-arranged.

Our kids have gone wild!!!!

For Real!


I feel God's hands all over this.
Our friends are learning so much about adoption.
They are telling other people about adoption.

Our neighbors are learning so much about adoption.
They are telling other people about adoption.

It  has been Mandy and my hope and intention to bring awareness about adoption and the world wide orphan crisis to our community.

Mandy and I want to inform and educate.
We want people to ask us questions.
We can not wait to share!!!

What a perfect platform God has given to us to do just that!

And so, in just one day.....

We kick off this first fundraiser.

This opportunity to tell others about adoption!

So cool!

So God!

So perfect!!!



"There is not fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear...."
1 John 4:18

Fundraising.....the Garage Sale.

This is a whole new way of thinking for me.

We did not have to fundraise for our first two adoptions.  We received unexpected money after my father died.  I believe my father would be pleased.

So now we begin this chapter.

The Fundraising chapter.

How does one begin?????

For us, we began with prayer.

Truly.

I believe God wants us to become even more dependent on Him.  He wants us to be so deeply connected to Him.  He wants us to trust Him completely.

I believe this journey to our child will glorify Him.

I believe with my whole heart that He will provide.

Then we went to our friends and asked them for support, advice, and help.
They are our team!


And let me tell you, our friends have been amazing.  This group of ladies have been incredible.  What a blessing they are to Mandy and me.

We decided for our first fundraiser that we would 'try a garage sale'.  We had a meeting.  We brainstormed.  We picked a date.  We prayed and asked for God's direction.....we prayed and hoped that we could honor God through this garage sale.  We decided that we also wanted to bring awareness about adoption to our community. We choose our theme:

Perfect Love.

We based it on 1 John 4:18.

"There is no fear in love.  But perfect love casts our fear..."

Pretty much perfect....for us.

So....

We made posters.

We ordered business cards from Vista print.

We put announcements is our church bulletin and other local churches.

We put up flyers around our city.

We asked for donations.  Boy, did we get donations.  Holy-Moly!

We have been working on this garage sale forever about three weeks.

I asked the general manager of our local Christian radio station if there was any way they could help us.

Guess what?

They are coming to our garage sale!
For real!
For one morning, they will be broadcasting, providing food, and doing some give-aways.

We are so blessed.

Our garage sale is next Thursday, June 21.

I can't wait to see God's blessings.  I can't wait to see how He provides.  I can't wait to talk about adoption.  I want to share about the world wide orphan crisis.  I want people to know they can make a difference.  I am hoping that we can inspire some one to consider growing their family through adoption.

This.Is.So.Exciting!!!!!!

Our kids. Lunch break and complete silliness.

And {our} happy baby.  Everyone needs a happy baby!!

Getting Ready

We are gearing up for our first fundraiser ... the garage sale.

Just wanted to give you a preview ...

(clothing, toys, household items)

 (furniture, furniture and more furniture)

(No, my daughter is not for sale, but obviously she thinks she is worth many stickers)

We are overwhelmed by the amount of support given to us already. We have had many people come to help us set up, as well as others from our extended community give donations to the sale. Thank you all for your support. We cannot wait to see what God has planned for this event. 

Blessings!

Mandy & Chris