Rummage Sale - because Rummage is fun to say

4:28am Monday morning - Brain turns on. Eyes pop open. Inner dialogue begins.

"There's a lot to do in the next few months. I'm exhausted. I need to sleep. Come on brain, let me sleep."

 "But how are you going to get it all done? There's so much. A huge yard sale. Have you seen how much is in your basement? That's going to be a lot of work. And what if you can't have it at the museum? Then what? What if you get it all to the museum and no one shows up to buy anything?

And you still have so much money to raise. Like $17000. You need to think of more fundraisers. Don't go back to sleep. We need to think about this."

"It'll all work out. Just trust God. He knows what he's doing. He knows I can't do it alone. So He's going to help.  'I lift my eyes up to the mountains- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth.'  See, He's going to help."

"But there's so much to do and you're so tired."

"Yes so let's go to sleep."

"But how about a fundraiser in November? Like a home based business show like for Silas' adoption? And you need to hurry up and get things organized for the auction. You still need to make more things to sell in the auction and you need to ask people for auction donations again. And you need to take pictures of all the auction stuff. We should go do that now. Come on let's get up. And don't forget about the fact that you could very well be traveling yet this year for trip one. How is that going to go? What if you plan a fundraiser and end up traveling during that time? It's too much. You're going to wear out."

"Hush, hush.  Just trust. It's going to be okay. 'I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.'  I can do alllll things through Christ. Even hard things like this. God created me to do hard things. This is my hard thing. It's going to be okay!"

"But all that stuff in the basement....and you need to advertise."

"Lord, I'm worried I won't be able to do this well. Please help me to do this in a way that glorifies You. Help me show people that I am not amazing but that what they see is your awesome power shining through me, enabling me to carry on through the hard things. I know I can't do this without You, Lord. Thank you for using me. Thank you for giving me such a blessing for a son and please be with my other little boy on the other side of the world and keep him safe. Amen."

7am - The alarm goes off.  I'm still awake. Getting up is going to be very hard. But a little boy stirs in the next room. And then I hear it.
"Grrrrrrrr. Hehehehehehe. Grrrrrrrr hehehehehe. Grrrrrr hehehehehe". 
My little man has discovered how funny it is to make growling sounds. And I got to wake up to the sweetest little giggle in the world. Getting up wasn't hard at all after that! He is such a blessing.

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Fundraising Update

Things are falling into place for the rummage sale. It will be held on Oct 3rd at the Swan Valley Museum. Just one day only, from 9-4.

Ways you can help (and I REALLY need your help)

1.) Donate items to sell.

2.) Come help me price things in my basement or come play with Silas while I price things.

3.) Come on Friday evening (Oct 2nd) to help take everything from my basement to the museum and help set it up.

4.) Come on Saturday and hang out with me and help run the sale. The more helpers the better!

5.) Come at 4pm on Saturday and help pack the leftover stuff up.

6.) Tell everyone you know about the sale. It's going to be epic! I have well over 20 tables worth of things to sell. And it's priced to sell! I want everyone to walk away with a deal or ten. ;o)

7.)Bake something for the bake sale. I figure I should make the most of this event and location and run a bake sale at the same time. Any donations of baked items would be appreciated! Let me know ahead of time if you're planning on doing this so I know what I'll be looking at as far as how many bake sale items there will be.

This is going to be one of my major fundraisers. I'm trusting that the reason my basement flooded and I couldn't have the sale in August is because God knew that having it indoors at a different location would make it more successful.

 

Fall is upon us

 

Time is flying! Summer is over and the weather is getting cooler. The adoption process is whizzing along. It's time for a blog update!

Silas

Silas had a busy September long weekend and then he had surgery on the 8th.  We traveled 5 hrs to the city in order to have our pre-admit appointment on the 4th (Friday) because Monday was a holiday. So we got to be in the city for the whole long weekend. I love all the friends and family that I have there but the city itself is not my favourite place. Too many people, too much traffic, too much construction and too much everything really.  I much prefer my small town life!

After his appointment on Friday morning we went back to my brother's house and by the evening Silas had developed a cold. Ugh! I was so worried that all the travel and time off work would be for nothing because they would cancel the surgery if he was too sick. He really needed those ear tubes.  I was using essential oils on him and praying and I had a group of friends praying too.  The interesting thing is with this illness everyone else who got it developed a bad cough.  A cough or fever = no surgery.   Silas never got much of a cough! He didn't really cough until the day after his surgery and even then it wasn't nearly as bad as the rest of us.  I caught it too and I've been coughing my head off for a week now. 

So all those prayers and essential oils worked and Silas got tubes put in his ears and all that nasty fluid that had been sitting there for a long time (years probably) was all drained out! Yay!

He wasn't a happy camper when he first woke up from the anesthesia but he calmed down once I was able to hold him and cuddle him.  Once we went back upstairs to the recovery room he drank lots of water and ate FOUR apple sauces! He was a hungry boy. 

We had to stay one more night in the city and then we headed home the next morning. I'm very thankful that we were so well taken care of at my brother and sister in law's house.  From amazing meals that my sister in law seems to whip up effortlessly to the cold meds my brother was able to get me.  And we got to spend some great time with my nieces and nephew and also celebrate my sister Sara's birthday.

Thanks to those ear tubes an amazing thing happened this weekend. I told Silas to walk through the gate while I pushed the bike. He walked through the gate and then kept on trucking down the driveway. I called him to come back......and he heard me! And he turned around and came back!! As far as I can remember he's never responded to me calling him from that far away before. God is so good!

Here Silas, I'll show ya how to work it.

Auntie Sara turns 25!

Adoption Progress

Things are moving along so smoothly for this adoption. It's so much more relaxing the second time around because I know the process and what to expect this time.


Right now my dossier is in Bulgaria being translated. Once that is done then it will be logged in with the Minister of Justice and I wait for a referral. It could be just a couple months before I find out who my next little boy will be!

Yes, that's right, in two months I could have pictures of my little boy! He won't be a mystery anymore!


 Fundraising

Despite sickness in July and basement flooding in August.....and more sickness and surgery in Sept my little red thermometer keeps on climbing! It's been amazing to watch God move people's hearts and be inspired by watching what He's doing with the adoption. I think having Silas here as evidence that adoption changes lives has helped too! There's still a long ways to go in not a very long time but God is faithful and he will provide! I've estimated that there is a minimum of 8 mths left to go but that depends on many variables.

 

I will be holding another yard sale (possibly indoors) later this month. I can now accept donations of yard sale items again. The fixing up of the basement after the flood will wait until after the sale. So if you'd like to donate anything just let me know. I can pick it up or you can drop it off, whichever is easiest for you!

A friend, Litia, is going to be organizing a Jamberry fundraiser for me the first week of October!

After the Jamberry fundraiser I'm going to be doing another auction on facebook. I've been busy sewing and gathering items for that. If you have anything to donate to the auction it would be very much appreciated! The last auction raised over $3000. Maybe I should aim for $5000 this time??  ;o)  There will be many great items in it that will help you cross some things off your Christmas gift shopping I'm sure.

Other things I've been doing to raise money are picking up extra shifts at my weekend job (a huge thank you to mom for watching Silas for those extra hours), taking on evening childcare and doing my best to stick to a budget. I'm also working hard on several more fundraising ideas.

 

On Thursday I was interviewed by a reporter at the local newspaper. They heard that I am adopting again and wanted to talk about it. I figured some good PR couldn't hurt! lol I tried to focus on Christ being the reason for adopting and talked about how God has provided for Silas' adoption and this adoption. I'm not sure how long the article will be but look for it in this weeks paper!  It's a good thing it wasn't a radio interview because I was having coughing fits the whole time. lol  Talking for 20 mins straight with a cold will do that I guess!

Mr. Serious

Mr. Silly

I hope you enjoyed seeing these pictures. Most of them were taken by my sister in law when we were down for Silas' surgery. Thanks again Carla!