May 18, 2003 How on earth do we thank you all!? There have been so many who have prayed for us, supported us, cheered for us, sacrificed time, energy, vacation days, and STUFF, for us and our Adoption Rummage Sale Endeavor. We have some really great people in our lives. We thank God for you all.

WE MADE $1,515 this weekend!!!!!! (Actual sales for the weekend were $1,450, but if we include the $10 here, $15 there, etc. from people in the days before the sale who gave us money for the Fund, I think we can easily say we made $1,500 altogether. (My uncle even gave me his change jar to cash in!)  We had beautiful weather, loads of shoppers, loads of helpers, and great stuff that sold, sold, sold!! We couldn't believe how much we got rid of, and how quickly.

Highlights of the weekend:

  • Thursday night when we were setting up, a lady stopped by and said her mother had had a stroke that day, and since she also had been planning on having her own rummage sale this weekend, that she wanted to give us the stuff she was going to sell, since it was for a good cause and since she couldn't have her sale any longer. She also quickly scanned the stuff we were putting out and snapped up two bookshelves, and a few other things that totaled a whopping 53 bucks... before we even officially "opened!" Unbelievable!


  • Though there were some REALLY NICE things donated for the sale, there were a few "conversation pieces" too... One of them was a *really* ugly sweater. (I'm talking UGLY). My brother John had fun trying to sell the sweater this weekend. I told him if he could sell it, he was the King of salesmen. Since he's always up for a challenge, he tried Everything to sell the thing, including telling people they could buy a "nice sweater for 50 bucks and he'd throw in a refrigerator!" My brother (and that sweater!) had us chuckling all weekend.


  • Which brings me to the third highlight of the weekend. There was a guy at the sale who heard about our determination to sell The Sweater, and he BOUGHT IT! Not only that, but he and his wife bought several other things. As he paid, he dropped 16 bucks in our donation jar! There are some really, really neat people in the world! (We got a picture of the guy and everything!)


  • Mom Fisher made and sold a bunch of "Patriotic Angel Pins" at the sale. I had noticed one on her blouse a while back and she said she had been making and selling them for our adoption fund. How very, very sweet of her. (She's sold a bundle of them too!)


  • The weather was perfect (Thanks to the Lord!) Sunny with a cool breeze. It had rained all last week! (Thanks everyone for praying!)


  • Some other really thoughtful things that happened were that a friend from church took a vacation day to help with the rummage sale. (Nancy, you are WONDERFUL! Love you!!!!)


  • My brother John and his wife Gina were also a "highlight." John is a very natural people-person, so he was wandering around selling all kinds of things for us. He's a jokester, (as you could guess from my sweater story!), and he kept things lively and fun; shoppers and us. He really made the weekend memorable for us, and for the whole neighborhood! Not only did he sell literally hundreds of dollars worth of stuff for us, but he also helped us haul and load and set up and take down. His Poor Back!!! Gina also came over with food for us Thursday (set-up day), Friday, and Saturday. She is the BEST cook in the entire world, and I'm NOT just saying that! Thank you Gina!!! Others also brought food, but she really went all-out for us and literally spent hours in the kitchen for us.


  • Another highlight was just watching the tables empty out. When we started, we had 16 banquet tables that we had filled, and we had put more stuff underneath each one. As time went on, we started getting rid of boxes under the tables, and also tables themselves. It was amazing to see things dwindle down.


  • Tonight as we closed down, we dragged some "unsellable" items to the boulevard like an old gas grill. It works, but it is a heavy, ugly beast. Our neighbor came over and bought it from our junk pile for 5 bucks. Sounds good to me!


  • When we had put our ad in the paper, we put it in the "Holmen" section of the rummage sale ads. Our address is technically Holmen, but we really live between Holmen and Onalaska. Since our mobile home park was having a park-wide sale, our neighbors across the street put an ad in the "Onalaska" section with a nice lengthy description of their goodies. I'm sure that had a huge impact on how many people made it to Janet Lane this weekend since we were able to draw people in from two directions.


  • We're DONE!!!! And the leftovers all fit in the shed and my friend's garage. No more stepping over things in the livingroom! :O)

    • Hopefully, we can get the ball rolling soon with this adoption. In the meantime, our "next" project is Strawberry Pies. We're planning on making a bunch of pies to sell in June... Looks like I have to quickly round up the energy! This really took a lot out of me, let me tell ya. But, strawberries are ripe in June, so whaddaya do?! *I think I can, I think I can...* (At least I'll still be able to walk through my livingroom!) We almost can't stop now. We are only $2,600 away from the point where we can push the start button on the adoption process. Still a big chunk of change, but those numbers are shrinking all the time! What we thought would take a few years has taken only a few months.

    God is obviously working everything out for us, and that has been really exciting to see.

    Love you all!

    John and Shelly