It was no ordinary Yard Sale! God showed up, more than once, not only in the faces of my sweet selfless friends, but also in the actions of complete strangers! The donations- WOW! Church Friends, Homeschool enrichment (CC) friends, old and new CC friends, Weejen’s work friends, and even several complete strangers (friends of friends) donated loads and loads of items to our sale. Thank you all SOOOO much!
My amazing husband has driven all over Orlando picking up items for our sales and we are still not finished. He made me cry Saturday as I followed him home from the back breaking job of lifting and moving the furniture that didn’t sell last weekend. I took his picture at a stop light
as I said to myself, “this is the man who said, ‘Are you insane?!’ when I suggested adoption back in 2005. This is the man who heard clearly from God in 2010 that we needed to do this and through his obedience to carry it out has had a change of heart. He prays nightly for our sweet V., that we would get him home soon! He has driven all over the place, sweated and toiled, on top of his 80 hour work week, to get this weekend accomplished. He is my hero.
I pondered how adoption is known as a “paper pregnancy”. Rather than morning sickness, I have had loads and loads of paperwork, intrusive questions and a home study to complete. Rather than back pain from carrying a baby around inside, I had back pain from lifting furniture. Rather than lack of sleep due to discomfort, I have had lack of sleep due to stress and uncertainty. But the poor adoptive Dads….their load is MUCH greater than birth Dads, in my opinion, especially if there are fundraisers involved. Adoptive Dad’s are suffering though the paper pregnancy right alongside of adoptive Moms….sometimes even more. Thank you Adoptive Dads everywhere- you ROCK!
That just reminded me of the ultimate Adoptive Father, our Father God. “….when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into Your hearts, crying out, “Abba Father! Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:4 That puts our lifting , toiling and sweating into perspective.
Hard Stuff: As I told the kids when we started down this path, I can’t think of a single instance where God has called someone to something and added, “Oh, (Moses, Joseph, Paul, Peter….) this will be GREAT….palm trees, white sand, aquamarine water, lawn chairs, refreshing drinks….you’ll love it.” Actually, everyone I can think of you was called by God was called to a very difficult task, but I don’t think any of them would have traded their hard experiences for a fleeting resort stay (not there’s anything wrong with that, says the lady whose husband works for a resort;) There is much blessing in “Doing Hard Things” for God!
Friends beyond compare. This was a difficult weekend. Several friends from our home school group WORKED HARD to help us. It was hours and 3 days of hot, difficult and occasionally stressful work. They went WAY above and beyond the “call of duty” and I cannot begin to express my gratitude. I chose to send them a separate thank you to them and to leave the LONG list out of this blog post so as not to read like an Oscar speech for those of you that don’t know these amazing women and even a husband of one! I was amazed, over and over, how my friends came to my aid. I absolutely couldn’t have done it without them!
The Kindness of Strangers: In addition to amazing friends showing up, I met many, many people who were moved by our story and rounded up their payment to further contribute to our cause. I hope some of you awesome people are reading this now! It was a blessing to meet so many people who care!
I especially remember a lady named Donna who couldn’t stop crying as I told her our story and V’s story. It was so moving to see a complete stranger so touched by our adoption adventure. Hello Donna! Please tell your daughter to contact me!
Watching God work:
1.) Ms. Stoney, a neighbor of a friend, and a complete stranger to us, pulled up in her truck loaded with huge boxes which she set up, zip tied, got the kids to paint a beautiful rainbow on it, cut out windows and assembled an ICEE stand!! She had heard our story from her neighbor, my friend Suzanne and said God told her to come help us by selling ICEEs for us! She was there all day Friday and Saturday helping us! Amazing!!!!!
2.) Saturday morning, woke up at 4 am STRESSING OUT about being short staffed. Prayed fervently for help…couldn’t sleep most of the night. Asked God specifically for someone with the gift of service and administration as well as being knowledgeable regarding Yard Sales. Sent out a plea for help to my CC – WG friends, our Church’s Ladies ministry and two of my CC-SC friends. It was TOTALLY last minute, so didn’t expect to find anyone available, but thought I’d try. So here we were on Sat am, just Rebecca and Veronica Q. and myself….majorly sleep deprived, short staffed, worried sick, getting a late start, & couldn’t find my coffee maker and here comes a car pulling up slowly just as we are starting to pull stuff out of the garage. OH, no, a shopper already! YIKES! The three of us looked over and all said, “She’s waving at us”. Hmmmm…. Out steps Melissa A., a friend from way back! Surprising to us, but not to God, she is a mutual friend of all three of us! She was a great friend at our very first Home school group, but I hadn’t seen her in at least 4 years. She was on my list of people who I invited to attend the Yard sale, but I hadn’t asked her for help….how did she know?!? She said, “God has been impressing on me all week to come help you on Saturday!” Wow!!!! I told her she just dropped down out of Heaven! God not only answered my fervent 4 am specific prayer, but reminded me that He knew I’d have that need WAY before I knew! We know that God is all-knowing, all-powerful and timeless, but to see Him demonstrate it at a Garage sale- WOW! It was amazing. Never have I seen God answer a prayer so quickly, so specifically, or so perfectly. Thank you Melissa for answering God’s call- you were His gift to me that day! In addition, another sweet friend from our newest Home school group, Michelle A., changed her plans for the day in spite of a flat tire that morning and came out to help us ALL day. It was hot and hard work, but the blessings far outweighed the difficulties.
3.) Sweet 10 year old Jorden, who lives across the street from my friend’s house and was also a complete stranger to us, offered to take the Icee stand after the yard sale and continue to make money for our adoption by selling lemonade from it!!! Before we were even finished loading all of the leftovers to transport to our next Yard Sale location she had already recruited two of her neighborhood friends and set up her lemonade stand!! When we came back for a second load, there they were selling lemonade and had already made some money for us!
This weekend was one of the hardest weekends of my life, It was HOT, it was draining, it was stressful, it was very overwhelming at times, but so worth it to bring V. home. Much more remarkable, however, was the generosity and sacrifice of so many people. They came alongside us to live out God’s command to, “Defend the poor and fatherless; Do Justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy…” Psalm 82:3-4a. I pray for God’s richest blessings on all of them.
