Boldly Believing!

Let me just say, that I have so much to say, that I don't know if I can say anything and make any sort of sense.  See there, did I just prove my point?   Deep cleansing breathe....  The yard sale.  Not only did we have an amazing space that my wonderful boss arranged for me, not only did we have over 20 families donate their goodies, not only did we have people donate heaters, tables, racks, hangers, food, work, break down, clean up.... when it was all said and done we raised $5500.00 AND we had so much stuff left that we were able to pay it forward.   Goodwill, Rescue Mission, Habitat, local community needs and again, I could go on.    B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.

We had some great pieces of furniture & house decor items that we took to a great store in Nashville off 8th Avenue called Remix Furniture.  He was wonderful and so kind, he will sell the furniture and we still get half of the profits to put toward our adoption.  The great blessing with that scenario... when a person comes to a yard sale they want to pay $2- for the fabulous print and  at his store they will pay $40 and  our adoption will still get 1/2.... Can''t wait to share the outcome on this one.

I am glad the sale is over.  It was a labor of love and I would do it again in a heartbeat but man oh man, it was alot of work.  So i am thankful to say by tomorrow evening the building will be cleaned  up and cleared out.   I however, will be at another building.  A dear family, who holds a special place in our hearts have a huge consignment sale a few times  a year.  It is HUGE!  She not only put a link about our adoption on her website, she requested I come and set up a table to sell our necklaces.  Another Blessing!  She has a lot of

traffic at her sale.  Not only will it bring awareness to the Orphan crisis in the world, with every necklace purchased it brings us one step closer to having our son in our arms.

We have some friends & family walking this journey with us and selling necklaces for us.  Our goal was to have 100 folks buy 1 necklace and sell 9 to their peeps.  That would be 1000 necklaces, that would be $10,000- towards our adoption.   I get a lump in my throat just thinking at the possibility of that.  We have had several friends buy 10 for gifts, several sell 10 and several who say they are going to...  and I have my mother n law who just got her 60th necklace today.  How amazing is that!!!! thank you Kathy from the depths of my heart!!!

As I've said before, we know we can't change the world for every orphan, but we can change the world for one.  Our son.  If your sitting there thinking "how can I possibly help their fundraising efforts?", I say you might not be able to give us $30,000- but with every necklace sold... every t-shirt bought, (every yard sale item)  the amount we have to raise gets smaller and smaller...

The PROOF... we started our fundraising kick off night on Jan. 17th... only 51 days ago.  as of today we have $10,000.00.   Thank you God!  Thank you for stirring the hearts of others to our cause, thank you to everyone who answered the call.  THANK YOU! Thank You! thank you. 

My hope.... we will sell the 1000 necklaces in the next .... I know this is BOLD... 15 days.  Why 15?  147 has so graciously given us more money for each necklace purchased in the next 2 weeks... so that $10,000 will be $15,000------  so PLEASE tell your friends about the necklace, share this site, be so BOLD you buy the 10 knowing you friends will buy them, if your a teacher-buy 1 and put it in your break room and take orders (that applies to any work site), if you attend a church share it with your ladies, daycare, if you know someone who owns a store... you get the idea. (share it on your facebook)

$25 Ugandan Magazine Necklace... one of a kind... change the life of a women in Uganda by providing an income, feed a child, and help bring our son home  AND get a beautiful piece of jewelry.... Win! Win!

I pray tomorrow night between 4:00 - 7:00 I see you... I pray you buy 10, or send 10... check out the link for the location...

SUGAR BABIES LOCATION:
250 Country Village Dr., Smyrna, TN 37167
Corner of Hazelwood & Country Village Dr.- Behind Napa Auto Care

Blessings!

http://www.sugarbabiesconsignment.com/

One man's junk is another man's treasure

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post; it has been crazy busy for us for the last several weeks.  As I am sure you know we had our Adoption Kickoff night and our Adoption Yardsale.  Whew, to even type that I am exhausted ;o)

We spent several weekends going around town picking up donations, a few setting up the stuff, a few having the sale.  So much to tell, I don't know where to start.  Well, first I had set a goal to hopefully raise $2500- for 2 weekends of yardsales.  Man did God show up and show out.  I know better than to put limitations on anything because with God all things are possible.  It is with overwhelming joy and thankfulness I tell you that we raised $3,575.00 through the yardsale.  Received $840.00 in donations from friends in the mail ~ talk about feeling the love .

I don't have the exact total of money raised from t-shirts and necklaces but I feel  comfortable saying $1500.00.  So if your keeping tally, that total comes to (d.r.u.m.-r.o.l.l. please) $ 5915.00
That's right!!!! through the sacrificial giving & generosity of others we have  raised almost $6000.00 in a month.   I am fighting the tears and the huge lump in my throat (no need for the ugly cry),  my heart is so full, I am not amazed at the goodness of people.  I know it exist, I am amazed that friends, family and complete strangers would stand up and take action to help us, reach our son.

My words could never express my gratitude.  Thank you's aren't adequate enough, hugs are Great!  but still can't convey the emotions of my heart.  So many  individuals are walking this journey with us, through us, before us  and it is a beautiful blessing!  From the tables, hangers & racks being loaned, to people helping us price and set up, helping us work the sale, posting links on their facebooks, giving donations, coming to buy goodies (funny, several almost bought their own goodies ;o)   Letting us borrow trucks, heaters and bringing more donations,  for spending a $1 and giving $60.... I could go on and on

I can't wait to tell my son how he was wanted by his birth mom, his mom, dad, sisters  and all the people who made it possible to get him to his forever family.  This is one special little man!

For those of you who have asked (I will share in another post the breakdown) our adoption cost will be in the ballpark cost of $30,000.  This includes homestudies, agency fees, Ethiopian fees, travel exp.  and much more.  That is a lot of money!!!! but so worth every penny.  I have a feeling that our lives are not the only ones being blessed by the sacrifice/giving of so much.   For the rest of my days, I will never forget the actions, the emotions, the E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

Just so you know, we have SO many goodies (just received a lot today), we will be having the sale again next weekend...  so if your kicking yourself that you didn't make it out you still have a chance :o)  tell your friends, post it at your work.... Our first set of fees we are sending in are in the range of $8,000... I feel certain we (us) can  DO IT.