One note of clarification: Our soon to be son (God willing) has a real Chinese name. Jude is just the American name that the adoption agency gave him so we could basically refer to him, be able to pronounce his name, and to protect his privacy. We signed a paper that until he is ours, we will not publish his real name. Also, we are thinking about giving him his own American name in addition to his Chinese name so he can use that if he chooses. All of this to say, he has never heard of the name Jude nor will that end up being his American name.
Now, on to the post. A dear friend, Katherine from church stopped me a couple of weeks ago to say, "I am going to have an adoption yard sale for you and we are going to raise thousands of dollars to help you adopt!"
Katherine has A LOT going on. She has 5 young children, both she and her husband work full time, and did I mention they are moving out west in November! Even with ALL of this going on, they have gone ALL IN and have been accepting an amazing amount of items almost daily! They have spent countless hours, sorting these items. (Picture after a very long day of work, finally getting your 5 children to bed, spending 4 hours sorting through discarded treasures to repack.)
Did it look like this in your head?
The garage is half full of "processed boxes" meaning they have touched every item, re-categorized them, and re-packed them. Tim is very dedicated to the process (thankfully so) and they both are amazing workers! If I had seen all of the donations, I would have balled up in the fetal position in the middle of the room and cried not knowing where to start. God is definitely using Tim's systematic brain to serve us!
So every night that they sort, boxes are spread out around the house and each item is processed. Here Katherine and her neighbor Saint Ethel (who has donated hours of her time) are starting to sort (at 9PM on a Friday night!)
My dear friend, Ann and I got to participate in the sorting last night. There is still 2 WEEKS before this yard sale! The week of the sale I will be posting details on Facebook and Craig's list. Please help me spread the word, because we need SHOPPERS! Since it is hard to remember, I am telling people, "It is the Sat. before Halloween or last Sat in Oct and to look for the signs at the entrance of Smoketree across from the new North Courthouse Library".
How this sale has affected me:
I have a realistic expectation of the money we will raise. I will be thrilled with $500, but having this sale has made me feel so incredibly loved and supported! EVERY SINGLE time someone has given me things, dropped stuff off to Katherine, called me about it etc, I have felt loved! 2 great friends are moving and this was perfect timing for them to unload some quality items before they moved! Some friends just bring it to Katherine's and I never even knew they were going to. Friends of friends, Facebook friends, Aunt Martha, strangers, people from our church family that I have never met, SO MANY people have given to this. It turns out that beyond raising money to bring home our boy, it has given people an opportunity to be involved, to be a part of his story!
Ann said this yard sale was going to be my baby shower. With all the planning, and energy, and time that has been invested, it feels like it! I certainly feel supported and loved!
This is going to be a blast! Friends are bringing donuts, making baked goods to sell, coming early to set up, helping sort etc!
Please let me know if you can donate a couple hours of sorting one night or if you can help at the sale. And PLEASE COME TO THE SALE! There is SOOOO much there! And although we are raising money, there are bargain prices. We need shoppers! Everything must go. We will probably still be there well into the afternoon, so please come by!
