did a 4k...and didn't run at ALL!

what a day!

i won't hold you in suspense.
we made $4000 today!
isn't that AMAZING?!?
unreal?!?
that is HUGE!

but that is not the biggest part to me.
it was the conversations.
and stories.
and servants' hearts of SO many people.
the hours spent baking yummy treats.
and sorting clothes.
SUCH graciousness and love poured out today.
THAT was the huge part!

got up to a forecast that said 100% rain at 7 am.
so we waited a bit to set everything up.
and then, when the clouds seemed ok we just decided to go ahead and set everything up.

hannah arriving! with tulips and a diet coke and a smile :-)

we made our first sale before everything was set up.
a baseball bat (see how the sun was even shining?!?)

unloading more stuff to sell!

and the clouds got darker...

and the wind picked up...



these guys unloaded TONS of stuff from our house!
hard workers.

thankfully some of them went home and got tarps.
and we covered stuff when it rained.

for about 5 minutes.
twice.

and then it was over!

it didn't stop any shoppers.

even cute 6 year olds buying gatorade's with their own money :-)

and it certainly didn't wipe the smile off MY face!

TEAMWORK!


i never looked up from my spot at the table.
but thankfully my sister took my camera and took a lot of these great pictures!
we caused a traffic jam!

just LOOK at all those people!
it was like that nonstop from 7 am til about 1 pm!


and this cute girl used to work at the agency we are using for our adoption!
we had so many neat conversations with people throughout the day!

i have no idea what we were talking about.

my dad.
this picture is perfect because it's how he works.
right next to me.
ready to serve and do whatever is needed.

holly :-)

the grandma's!

look at that sun shining!
thanks for your prayers!!!





my sister in law and her mom and my nephew even came out!

joshua bought this chair thing for himself.
he loves it!

this is AMAZING!
{it's around 11 am...i've been standing in this spot since 7 am...}


love him.
{made my shirt yesterday afternoon. went into my closet at 2:10 pm and grabbed a shirt off a hangar. ran down to the basement and sewed on an africa and a heart. left at 2:23 pm to go pick up the kids from school :-)}

we love you, evan!

um.
LOVE this picture!!!!!!!!!

we had some signs around...with facts about Rwanda and it's children.

about 11 am we realized there was still a LOT of stuff.
so at noon we put up a big sign "fill a trash bag for $10"
it was a HUGE hit!
and got rid of a LOT of the random, little stuff.

about 1:00 the crowd was very thin.
we started bagging/boxing the rest of the stuff up.
i really didn't know how the whole clean up afterwards was going to go.
but, thanks to the MANY hands we had to help, we separated some stuff to sell at the kids' consignment sale in the fall. and put the rest of the stuff in a pile for the donation truck to pick up at 2 pm!

look at my garage!

and we were SO excited when this truck showed up!!!


a little joy ride...

and then we headed inside to sit.
and grab a drink.
and add up the total.

pat made us all guess before he told us the total.
no one guessed over $2000.

and then we got to add a little more!
the candland kids had a lemonade stand around the corner and gave some of their earnings to our sweet boys!

it was such an amazing day.
so many people gave so so much and thank you just doesn't seem to be enough.
we just pray you all feel as blessed and encouraged as we do.
to God be the Glory.