Gratitude and Grand Totals!!

Gratitude overflows from our hearts when we reflect over the past few weeks of yard sale preparation.  Many helping hands were there to make the job possible, and many came without even being asked!  Those who anticipate the needs of others and tackle whatever they can have a God-given gift of kindness.  We know none of them look for appreciation or recognition, but they deserve it!  Quite frankly, we can all learn a lesson from their actions.  Multiple hands packing boxes in and out of church so we might take loads home to price.  Three people showing up on very short notice to help us carry a trailer full of boxes into the church.  Mom and Dad pricing a spectacular amount of items in the midst of surgeries and healing times.  Loyal women spending hours on their feet to help organize, despite the fact that they are tired, achy, and have plenty of important events occurring in their own lives to keep them busy.  Almost total strangers giving hours of their time to help sort.  Last minute clothing racks collected and built to make all the items easier to view (one rack built in about 10 minutes by my 12-year-old nephew)!  Our pastor going the extra mile to advertise our fundraiser on the church sign, and continually being on the look-out for items we could sell.  Facebook posts made and shared to spread the news.  Incredible thoughtfulness of friends in bringing us food for lunch and dinner, because we were too busy to take a break.  The Hawkins' stepping-in to care for our three sweetie pies so they were not lost or ignored amidst the chaos, going so far as to take them on outings and give them their baths!  Folks getting up way too early to "man the crowds" by our side.  Friends staying with us all day to help in any way they were needed. 

*Cathy and Roger Carpenter           *Linda Ford                *Allean Ward
*Tracy Monarch and her mother-in-law, who helped almost total strangers for HOURS!
*The Carpenters                                 *The Sapps                 *The Hookers
*Trish and Steve Hawkins                *Gordon Wilkerson 
*Kim Hunt                                           *Chris, Mary, and Cooper Williams
*Bryce Carpenter                                *Mara Hubbard
(If I have missed a name, please let me know.  My brain is a little fried right now from lack of sleep!)

The donations were tremendous!!  We don't even know all the names of those who donated countless items.  There were things that individuals could have easily sold on their own and made quite a profit, but chose to give them to assist our family.  We were totally overwhelmed - look at this photo from Thursday night when all the items were laid out.

So many familiar faces from our church, homeschool group, and family took time out to support the event, often over-paying for the items they were buying, in honor of our little man.  Texts and emails were sent to cheer us on and give us encouragement.  And the clean-up crew!  We thought we would be cleaning up until late tonight, but we were done within two hours because of these fabulous friends!!  The phrase "many hands make light work" was never so true as today.  Here's a picture of almost everyone on clean-up duty:

 

This little boy is so loved.  Our family and friends are literally bringing our boy home!  I know some day when he looks through his "baby" album with memories recorded from this time in our life, he is going to be able to see the evidence of the effort made to bring him to his family.  I can picture his little heart now, knowing and feeling how important he is to so many people.

We ended all the hard work with some fun.  Everyone made a guess on the amount raised.  We wrote them on slips of paper.  When read aloud, they ranged from $300 to $1100.  Paul Sapp had counted the cashbox for us, wrote down the amount, and handed Jon and I the slip of paper.  Okay, drumroll please!!  The grand total raised from our massive indoor "yard" sale . . . .

$1500!!!

Jon and I cried like babies!  We could not even speak the total aloud to everyone else waiting to hear!  Gordon Wilkerson snapped photos of our reaction:

 



 

 

The good news keeps coming - there were enough items remaining to donate to three other worthy causes:  St. Benedicts Mens Shelter, another local church, and a mission trip fundraiser.

 

Final note:  the grant we received this week was a matching grant, which means we had to raise $1500 in order to receive $1500.  Hmmm . . . could God's hand in all this be any clearer?  See what God can do?!!