What can a garage sale do?

This past weekend Lenski and I had our Adoption fundraiser / garage sale.  I've done plenty of garage sales in my life.  I used to have huge ones when I was the youth pastor at Frontline Community Church.  I've helped friends and family have them.  And I've had some just for myself.  But none quite compare to this one.  If you're wondering how a span of 3 days of selling other peoples unwanted items can be this significant let me share with you just what a garage sale can do...

1. It can obviously raise A LOT of money - We raised over $2,300 in just 3 days!  That's a huge chunk of our next big payment to the adoption agency.
2. It can bring the adoption community together in a unique way - We met so many people who have been touched by adoption.  There were some who shared their story of BEING adopted while others have already adopted and were starting the process for another.  Still there were some who were just getting started and were intrigued by this fundraiser idea.  We connected, we cried, we related and most importantly...we understood each other.  
3. It can bring families together - No, I'm not talking about the actual adoption.  We had family that drove a long way really early in the morning just to help us get set up.  Then they chose to stay and suffer through the blistering heat ALL DAY to help us run it.  We had other family that came from another state just to help us!  Not only did they come to help with the sale but they brought items for the sale, treated us to dinner, cooked us dinner and celebrated this journey with us.  These were meaningful days with such precious family members.  Watching teenagers give up their time to come and help is moving, really moving.
4. It can be a friends reunion - Friends we hadn't seen in awhile or don't normally get to see all dropped by to encourage and support us.  It was so good to see so many friendly faces.
5. It can bless others - Even though this sale was for our adoption we decided to give all of the remaining items to our friends so they too can have an adoption fundraiser sale at the end of the summer.  So you may not think that box of "junk" you dropped off can really do much but it is actually helping to bring 3 children to their forever families.

A garage sale can and did do a lot.  It was hard work and we were not alone.  There were so many people who came to our rescue and helped us with the sale.  We couldn't have made it without ALL of you.  And it couldn't have been such a success without lots of you dropping by to pick up a few things and leave a very BIG donation.  To all of you we humbly say thank you.

Get to know our child

As many of you are following our adoption story we thought we'd prepare you as we are being prepared by helping you get to know our future child.  Here are some things you should know.

• Our child has just been born or has been within the last 6 months.
• Our child's birthparents made a very hard and brave decision to terminate their parental rights.  They need our prayers for healing.
• Our child will be placed in a Baby Home or Dom Rebienka.  This is for children under 4 years old.
• Anyone in the region of the Baby Home will have the opportunity to adopt him/her until they are 6 months old.
• When they are older than 6 months they are placed on a list for anyone in all of Russia to adopt.
• Around the time they turn 11-12 months they will be able to be adopted by us.
• The Baby Home they live in will not have a lot of color in it to help keep all the children calm.  They may be overwhelmed by all the colors in our house...especially our red couches.
• They are under very close medical observation while in the baby home and have daily developmental activities.
• It is unlikely that our child will have any personal toys and therefore may not be used to the typical American child's toy chest.
• All their daily routines will be in a group setting with the other children in the home.  They may feel overwhelmed to come to our house where all the attention is just on them.
• They may have dark hair and dark eyes and come from a gypsy background.  Or they could have blonde hair and blue eyes.  This will vary depending on the region.
• Because there are many children in the Baby Home our child will not have a lot of one on one attention given to them and so they may have developmental, social and/or psycho social delays.  But most kids pick things up very quickly when they are in there forever homes.

These are just some of the things that we are learning about our child and we thought you might like to know them as well.  As we learn more we'll be sure to share with you.  Please be praying for our child as this is a traumatic experience in their life.  It has the potential to really scar them.  We ask that you pray for every aspect of their life.  Even thought they are little they have suffered the loss of hearing their biological mother's heartbeat and her voice.  This is the beginning of their trauma and we pray for healing.  We also want to pray for their birthparents.  We do not know the circumstances of their life but we do know that this could not have been an easy thing to do.