Yard Sale Wrap Up

This past weekend we had another yard sale, this time it was at our house. Alya and I woke up at 5am to start setting up, to say that we were exhausted at the end of the day would be an understatement. But we are very thankful for the donations that we received that day ... just takes us one more step closer to reaching our goal.

Here are some pictures of the set up.









I think that this is probably our last yard sale for awhile. It's a great way to raise some money but there is sooooooo much work involved and it just takes a toll on your body after awhile! We raised $247.19 this past weekend plus have hopes to sell two more beds later on in the week which would be an additional $500. Between the past two yard sales that we have had and other donations throughout the week we have raised $690 so far. We need $4110 to reach our goal. We're getting there ... slowly but surely.

Yard Sale # 1,567,999

So yard sales are a great fundraiser ... they bring in decent money usually, and there's no money involved which = free and one happy adoptive momma. However, yard sales are A LOT of work! Especially the type of yard sales the Cotton's have. We had another round of donations to sort through (thank you, thank you!) and a glorious AIR CONDITIONED building to have another yard sale in. We are so super blessed to have great friends help us with the set up, all day sale, AND clean up. We've had to do some of our other yard sales all by ourselves, and it's super hard work! I feel so bad for my hubby having to lift all those heavy items by himself. So I was super thankful for another strong guy to help him last weekend. Along with all the donations we also did a little raffle ... an awesome friend of ours made a necklace, we also had gift cards for a pedicure and a dinner at a local restaurant were the items that we raffled off. And get this ... the SAME woman won all THREE raffles and we even had a different kid pick the ticket from each bucket. So, so weird! But I am really glad that she won the prizes ... we just met her that day, but she shared with us that her and her husband had tried to adopt and it fell through. Broke my heart ... and can totally relate ... so I'm glad that she got to win something from our special fundraiser for Josiah :0) Unfortunately our little town decided that having yard sale signs displayed was not okay and they took them all down. :0( So we didn't have customers past 1:00 ... major boo! We were still able to raise $373.93 plus a sweet friend gave us a $100 check later that evening. So we packed it all up and came back home. Here are a few pics of the day ...


Here we go again ... packing up the car!


Alya tying down the trailer with tarps because it decided to RAIN!


Where's Josiah??


Oh there he is! Fast asleep :0)


Here's the room with tons and tons of items for sale!





Josiah was so amazing! We are so blessed to have such a good baby.



We are planning on having another yard sale this Saturday to try and sell more of the items that we have ... (because there are still tons!) Hoping for a great day of raising money for our sweet boys adoption!

Update

Summer break has finally arrived and I am l.o.v.i.n.g. every single second of it! I am so happy to finally be able to be a stay at home mommy of my adorable son. *even if it's just for the summer* My heart completely melts every time his face lights up when I go into his nursery to get him up in the morning. He is the happiest baby I've ever met and he brings such joy to my life. I really have never been happier in all my life ... my heart feels so full. :0)

So far summer hasn't been super busy ... mostly just lazy days snuggling and playing with my boy. He is four months old now and growing like a weed every day! He weighed 17lbs 5oz at his last doctors visit last week. (how about he gained 3lbs in 3 weeks lol) and is 25 1/2 inches long. He's my little chunk and I love it!





Alya experienced his first father's day this past Sunday, which also happened to be the same day that Josiah was dedicated at church. Here are a few family pics of that special day.









Josiah is smiling all the time now and has even started to giggle. It seriously is the. cutest. thing. ever. to hear! His daddy sure can get him giggling and it makes me fall more in love with them every time I watch them play. Alya is such a good daddy and I'm so thankful for him. Josiah is rolling over and has started to grab his toys. He has discovered his hands and how good they must taste because they are always in his mouth! His current favorite toy is his exersaucer and will stay in there for long periods of time playing his life away.













We are getting ready to head up to Ohio next week. I am beyond excited to see my family and finally be home again. I am also super stoked about my family finally meeting Josiah for the very first time. I wish we were leaving now ... so so so ready!

Waves

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:6-7,NLT

Adoption is no joke. There will be waves of doubt. Waves of frustration. Waves of the unknown and constant waiting. Waves that take your breath away. Waves of sorrow. Waves of excitement and joy. Waves of hope. Our journey has been far from easy. It's been at times a never ending roller coaster ride. There were times when I thought the tears would never fade. Times where I felt like my heart would never feel whole again. Times when I felt like all of the joy had been sucked from my life. But then there were also times where I met the most incredible families. Families that I would never had met had we not taken the plunge and trusted God to take us down this journey to adoption. There were moments that took my breath away as I watched miracles happen right before my eyes. One of those miracles being our very own Josiah. My life has been so deeply touched by this journey. No, it has been far from easy. The journey itself had more dark times than happy it seemed. But the end result ... is priceless. The moment I held Josiah in my arms in that hospital room I knew that I could finally breath again. I knew that all the waiting was over. I was finally his momma ... and all the hoops we had to jump through, all the tears that fell from my eyes, all the times my heart had been broken were all worth it for his little life. Something I've learned along this journey is that if God has laid adoption on your heart your life will never again be the same. Quitting will never be an option. You will find a strength in you that you never knew you had. And in the end, no matter how long this journey may take you ... you will experience a love so powerful it will blow you away. My fight was so worth it ... and I can't wait for the next journey to another little miracle to begin.

Even though we have our little bundle of joy, our first adoption journey is not yet over. We still have $4800 to raise in about a month. The verse at the beginning of this post is one that I'm holding onto right now. I've seen God show up in crazy ways along this adoption journey of ours ... and I know he will do it again. That doesn't mean that I'm not human and stress out now and again. There are times that I still feel overwhelmed and try and try to plan ideas to come up with the money. There are still times where I feel hurt and even sometimes bitterness towards the big fundraiser event for us that was cancelled. And I'm working on trying to forgive ... but some days it's hard when you feel like you are the only one that cares about this little life and all the fighting you've already had to endure. And I know that's not true ... we have so many people praying and supporting us ... but sometimes that's just how I feel. To be honest ... I don't know how we are going to come up with the rest.... and it scares me. So, I'm just trying to pray through it .... trying to give all those negative thoughts and feelings over to God ... trying to be real, but holding on to faith all at the same time. Trust is always something that I've struggled with ... especially when I'm not in control. Trying to cling to that trust every day ... and believing that another miracle will happen.