Yard Sale: Part One

I know you are all on the edge of your seats just wanting to hear how the yard sale went.  You probably had a hard time going to sleep Saturday night just for lack of closure.  (I, having woken up at 4 am, did not.)  So I’ll spare you the suspense of the whole series and say up front that it was a HUGE success.  We made over $2500.  I’d give you a more specific number, but I keep getting emails from friends saying, “Hey, I put a check for $30 in the mail to you today.”

So first and foremost, I will use this first post to thank all of the folks who made the sale a reality.  It’s insane how many peeps helped out. (And forgive me if you contributed and I forgot to list you.  I'm still pretty tired...)

The following folks contributed items for our yard sale:  my parents, Sloan’s parents, my sister, the West End Presbyterian preschool yard sale, St. Mark’s Preschool, Jason and Abbe Voigt, Trish Elsmore, Nancy Dunn, Karen Chippendale, Jenn Warren, Kristen Riley, Sarah and Max Doerfler, Jack and Dolly Carroll, Paige Hannon,  Sara Gretz, Jill and Darin Smith, Brice Bowman, Heather Jarvis, Ann and Davison Long, Ali and Bob Shenk, Ali’s mom, Ali’s friend Jill, Jessie Tucker, Becky Hartman (who I met on FB because she has two adopted girls with the same diagnosis as Charlie and the first time we met was her dropping off oodles of toys for our yard sale!), Mrs. Kain (a teacher at Henry’s preschool), Tracy Scoggins’s parents, Casey Zollinhofer, Amanda Krieger, Kristine and Steve Bakos (Kristine gets extra credit for being 39 weeks pregnant and driving stuff to my house and then being one day shy of her due date and sending her husband to the preview sale), Kate Zachry, and the adorable Henry and Gracie Phillips.

I have to give Henry and Grace props.  I told them we needed to get rid of all of the toys that lit up and made noise because they would be overwhelming to Charlie.  Henry spearheaded the round up effort bringing me noisy trains, oinking hammers, whistling flashlights, blinking car garages, and he even offered up his DS his grandparents gave him for his 5^th birthday!  I hugged my loving boy and told him that he didn’t need to give up his DS for his little brother. 

The following peeps helped me get the word out about the sale on their blogs, facebook walls, MOPS groups, and places of business:  Tracy Scoggins, Ali Shenk, Amanda Krieger, Lisa Nelson, Shannon Reppard, Biff Pusey, Christa Spencer, Abbe Voigt, Katie Greene, Melissa Newsome, Kirsten Corbett, Erin Lucero, Jenny Brock, Sarah Morin, Ali Fogarty, Katharine Schloven, Heather Jarvis, Karen Chippendale, Jessie Tucker, Sarah Doerfler, Josh Rineholtz (whom I don’t even know!), and Merry Harrison.

A shout out to the ENTIRE Fogarty family for coming to our sale and setting up a Lemonade stand which was fantastic as it was pushing 85 by noon.  Those Fogarty boys sold $35 dollars worth of lemonade.  That’s 70 cups of lemonade! 

And I also need to give some shout outs to the peeps who gave me arms on the big day:  my nephew Caleb for spending the night and watching our kids, my handsome husband who woke up at 4 am with me, Jenny Brock for showing up at 6 with coffee and donuts, Melissa Mann for showing up at 6:30 with a cooler full of soda for the volunteers to drink and to sell, Rebecca Perry and Ann Long for literally walking to help at 6am and even bringing  cookies that the lovely Katherine Schloven made for our volunteers (and perhaps Gracie ate one or two or seven), the entire Fogarty clan—Ali, EJ, Owen, Mason, and Ryan, Jenn Warren, Kaylee Ann Schwarz, Tracy Scoggins and Abbe Voigt. 

BIG FAT SHOUT OUT TO MELISSA MANN FOR STAYING THE ENTIRE FREAKING TIME!!!! Seriously, Melissa was haggling and selling like a pro.  And every time the pockets in my Yard Sale vest got fat, Melissa came and snagged it, took the money inside, counted it and made sure it was safe.  If you can snag yourself a friend like Melissa Mann, a woman who gives of herself so completely and will text back and forth with you non-stop, I highly suggest it.      

And I would be remiss if I didn’t also give a holler to Pastor Wade Runge of Mountain Movers Ministries and M3 Thrift for coming to pick up the sales’ leftovers.  The proceeds of this month’s sales at M3 Thrift will go to raise money for JB Watkins Elementary School’s new playground and Pastor Runge also wants to discuss helping us out with our adoption.  So folks, shop at M3 Thrift.  (But please don’t but the bike chariot that I saw posted on their FB page, because I’m hoping to get that to tote around my kiddos when Charlie gets here and I can’t use the gym’s childcare!) 

I’ll go into more details of the sale later this week.   It was crazy.  God is pretty much just showing off.