Yard Sale #2 SUCCESS!!!

Wow!  So....here's a quick rundown.

Yard Sale number 2 happened yesterday.  We still had some things left over and friends/family members donated some additional items.  My goal was simple...$500 for the day.  Although we made much more from yard sale #1, I figured $500 was adequate as I knew I wouldn't be able to put as much time into marketing/advertising and many of our family members/friends had already been to sale #1.  Now the two things I did do was place it on Craigslist and hire the same young man to hold our sign on the main street for a few hours.

So our total funds raised for the day.....$1081.36!!!!  God truly blew me away!  As I came back from a quick errand during the yard sale, I asked God....I know I had a smaller goal of $500 but if You would help us hit the $1,000 mark, that would be truly awesome!  Simply appreciative of His awesomeness!

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and words of encouragement!  Your girl is pooped but it's 6:45am and I've got to get to work this morning!  The first service starts at 8:30am.  I'm looking forward to an awesome time of worship with our church family.  See ya and thanks for stopping by!

Yard Sale #2

Numero Dos.  Yep, we're heading for Yard Sale #2 in an effort to getting steps closer to bringing Selah home!  To get things moving, prices will be extra low and I can't wait.  We're not putting as much into marketing it as we did before.  Our goal for this one is to make $500.

I hope to post some preview pics for our early shoppers.  Here we go!!!!!

Pooped & Busy but Excited About A Great Opportunity to Bless Others

So...what's happening over here in adoption land???  Lots!  We are busy little bees lately as we enter fundraising central.  Who ever thought fundraising was such hard work and time-consuming?  Well it is but it is so worth it!  I'll say that time and time again because I believe it. 

Sometimes I get a bit weary because there are lots of long nights and early mornings.  We are coming down to the wire with our Both Hands project.  This project is founded on the principle in James 1:27 where God challenges believers to take care of the widow and the orphan.  It's really amazing!  We select a widow within the community and just have an opportunity to shower her with blessings in the form of home repairs.  As we hit the home stretch, we'll be focusing hard on getting the necessary supplies to repair a widow's home.  We are busy looking for businesses who will donate things like paint, bathroom fixtures, a vanity, and a host of other supplies.  In total, we'd love to make around $3,000 - $4,000 in repairs to her home.  We have a crew of A++ contractors lined up who have generously agreed to donate their time.  It's a big feat but we're excited about what God will do.  Stay tuned to see what God does....this is all really so unbelievable!

Here's a quick view of the Valdez family working on a widow's home.  I love these stories.  There will be more to come and guess what....in the coming weeks, you'll be able to see ours!

Clean House: Ethiopia Adoption Style! (Yard Sale Results)

Yesterday was simply amazing to say the least!  In total, we raised a little over $2600 and are waiting for confirmation of a possible ATV 4-wheeler sale!  God totally showed us much favor and grace throughout the day.  There were so many times that we saw the hand of God.  Despite the fact that the signs were removed from the road that led to our main street, the people still miraculously showed up.  Simply amazing!  Then, what about the gracious woman who while walking her dog asked if she could bring back some donations for us.  In the midst of receiving our donations, she left us with a truly AWESOME financial blessing.  Then, what about the young person from our church, Devaughn, that agreed for a few hours to wear a Mr. Incredible costume to attract traffic from the main street to our side streets.  His sign read 'Incredible Yard Sale'.

We had so many things left, so much more to put out, and more people that would like to donate and volunteer their time.  Because of this, we will have part 2 of this Yard Sale event.  A friend reminded me that this was truly like the show Clean House....in fact, we raised what some of those families average in sale.  The only thing we missed was Niecy Nash's matching amount of $2000!  Any takers???? smile.  If so, here's the link on how to donate!  *smile*  http://lifeabitsweeter.blogspot.com/p/donate_21.html

In the meantime, check out an overview of our great day as well as our awesome volunteers and shoppers!






If you'd like to purchase one of the necklaces or soft, comfy unisex t-shirts featured in the video, simply click here to shop!  Necklaces are handmade by me and t-shirts are sold through us for fundraising courtesy of an amazing organization called Mocha Club. 

If you liked the designs of our face painter, Mikal, you can get more information about her services by contacting her at belovedrhf@gmail.com or 202.437.4567.

Thanks for your prayers, words of encouragement, and donations.  What is happening in our lives is truly beyond anything we could ever ask or think!  (Ephesian 3:20)

Yard Sale Preview Items: Very Small Sampling

What Time Is It? YARD SALE TIME!

Tony and I having a little fun sharing about this Saturday's Yard Sale....



Preview of yard sale items will be uploaded a little later today!

Spread the word please!  Love ya!

When God Goes BEYOND BEYOND!

This past weekend, I had an amazing opportunity to have a vendor table at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden's Women's Conference.  AMAZING!  My cousin, Shelly and her husband, Rodney truly knocked my socks off when they offered to sponsor a table for us.  Okay,WOW!  What a generous offer!

I decided that I wanted to create something special for the conference in an effort to raise funds for our adoption.  For the entire year, the church's theme is "Beyond, Beyond" based on Ephesians 3:20.  In keeping with our theme of glass tile necklaces, here's the final product:

 We also focused on our upcoming Both Hands project for those who may want to receive a tax deduction for their contribution.  This time around, no takers for contributions for the Both Hands project BUT we were definitely blessed with straight out contributions.  WOW!  Take a look at the videos below, sharing Day 1 and Day 2 of the conference!





....and this wouldn't be complete without saying BIG, BIG THANKS to Shelly and my Zion co-worker and friend, Cynde.  These ladies worked their butts off for Selah - sharing the vision and asking for purchases and donations.  Thanks also to my FBCG friends who walked through the conference sharing what we were doing.  You all are amazing!

In case you were wondering, our grand total sales and donations from the conference was $842.47!!!!  Guess what? We also have a few additional sales and donations expected in the next few days or so!  So...our fundraising thermometer on the left side of our blog just did some major movement!

If you missed us at the conference and would like to order a necklace, pop on over to our Etsy store and pick one or more up!  These necklaces are also perfect for gifts and evangelistic opportunities.  Someone is bound to compliment you on it which opens the door for you to explain what it means.  Gotta love that!  If they no longer appear on the site, shoot me an e-mail (michelle365@me.com) as they may be sold out and I just have to upload more for purchase.

BEYOND!  BEYOND!  Only you God!  Nobody greater!  Thank you Lord for such an amazing gift and creative fundraising to bring your jewel, Selah home to her forever family!

(Note:  The videos shown at our table can be viewed at the author's Vimeo site.  Ordinary Hero: A Day in the Trash Dump (http://vimeo.com/13948413) and Tim/Carrie's Both Hands project (http://vimeo.com/7278767)