Haiti Day 6

November 3, 2016

As I sit here typing under my mosquito net I am listening to the most beautiful songbird outside of our window. There aren't true windows here like what we are used to in the States. Here its a screen with these clear blinds that somewhat cover the window. Our room is right in front of the guest house and one window is directly next to the common eating area (which also doubles as our lounge area, game playing area, etc). We get all sorts of noises that come through the windows each day.

I just cannot believe we have been gone for a week as of today and we are on our 6th day in Haiti. I honestly thought I would be struggling and missing home being in such an unfamiliar place, but that's not the case. Instead it quickly felt like home here. I don't know if it's the people or the fact that our daughter was born here, but I fell in love with this country almost immediately. Things are so different here. It's not everyday that you are surrounded by a giant wall with barbed wire and sharp rebar. And I am certainly not used to having a guard with a giant gun just walking around at all times. But, somehow, all of these things started to just feel normal. We came hardly speaking the language, and while we still have the language skills of a one year old, we are slowly soaking in the words and becoming more familiar with the pronunciation.

We've had a couple of trips outside of our usual walk from the guest house to the orphanage and back. It was a great opportunity to see more of Haiti and I was so thankful for that. There are goats wandering the streets, people selling things on every corner, trash littering your way, large houses amongst the smaller ones, the rockiest and bumpiest roads I've ever witnessed, bright colors all around you, Tap Tap's whizzing by on the streets filled with so many people, dogs lazily resting underneath the shade of a tree, motorcycles darting in front of the car, and people everywhere. This is not a country where you stay inside of your home. People are always outside here. They may be chatting while sitting on a crumbled wall or walking to the market, but there's always so much activity here.

We have 8 days left to soak in the sights and sounds and smells of this beautiful place. Which also means 8 more days getting to know every bit of our daughter before we have to say goodbye. I don't want to miss a smile, a laugh, a cry, or the silly words she makes up just to see if I will say them. I love how we spent so much time trying to figure out what, "ga-gi-o" meant only to find out that it means nothing. She will say it until I repeat it and then fall over in a fit of laughter. We figured out that if we change the pitch in which we say it or the volume that she will laugh hysterically. We may not understand every word she says (and she says A LOT), but we have found ways to work around that and we have a good rhythm going.

I did want to share about our answer to prayer. Previously in Haiti adoptions, IBESR (social services) would do referrals in batches so multiple families would go on their bonding trip together. That changed very recently and when the other family, whose file had been with ours the whole time, received their referral and we didn't, we realized we wouldn't have anyone else here to share in the emotions of all of this. We really didn't think it was possible to be here with anyone else, but I had multiple friends remind me to just pray about it. A few weeks later our friends from our tiny town received their referral. We had started the process together, but our timelines had gone in different directions so we couldn't believe that our referral's came so close together. While their child is at a different orphanage, that orphanage uses our orphanage's guest house. They inquired about when they could travel (we had about a month and a half before we could travel due to Josh's job) and it happened that they would overlap us by one week. I can honestly say I don't know what we would have done without them here. They kept us from ever feeling homesick because we had a piece of home right here. They were able to tell us what to expect for various things. We were able to go on a couple of adventures together. And, of course, there were game nights and ridiculous jokes and it was so much fun. They headed home in the wee hours of the morning, but we are so thankful for the time we had.

I wish I was able to share pictures with you of all that we have seen, but they will just have to wait until we return back to the States. It may mean a few posts of just photos coming your way soon. In the meantime, I have been posting photos to my instagram if you want to check those out. We still will be unable to share photos of our girl until we receive her adoption decree (the official document that shows that she now shares our last name). Once that happens we can flood the internet with photos.

Time to get ready for another day with our daughter! Good morning from Haiti!

Haiti Day 4

October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween! It's crazy to think that 2 years ago today, Josh was on his way to Haiti for the first time and here we are again. We are kind of surprised at how fast time has gone already. However, today was the first day where we both woke up and were just feeling so tired. But, by the time we got to the orphanage we got past that because the kids keep you BUSY. 

When we arrived Selah* was headed outside with all of the other toddlers to the balcony to do some art and music. The second the kids saw us they started shouting at her to tell her we were there and she immediately started looking for us. Today she decided she wanted to go sit at a separate table so we did that for a bit, but the second she heard the rest of the kids singing girl was outta there. Next came a whole lot of dancing and singing. After that they all colored pictures which was fun to see. We actually were given a huge folder full of her previous drawings and art projects which meant so much to us. The best gift I could ask for. 

The rest of the day was just alternating between spending time with the rest of the group and then off by ourselves when she needed a break. Today she was favoring me again, so any time that she let her daddy help her with something I would step back so she wouldn't rely on me for everything and it worked wonders. It seems like she needs special time with me when we arrive and then eventually warms up to daddy. We just take it day by day. 

We did get to spend a good portion of time in the yard and she was not interested in the swing but wanted to play on the slide. Then one of the other kids who loves to follow her around came over and we had a little girl bonding time up on the play structure. Seriously, all of the kids are so amazing and I am so thankful that we know so many of their parents. We love that we can keep her connected with them even after all of the kids are living with their families. What a glorious day that will be when we get to have a reunion! 

Now it's time to rest a bit before we head back over to play. We've been fed all sorts of good food. Also, if you haven't tried breadfruit before you are missing out. It's so versatile and tastes amazing! I wish we could grow a breadfruit tree in Oregon...


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We went back this afternoon and have another enjoyable time with our daughter, but this time was different. Her attitude had started to change when we would arrive...as soon as she would hear that we were there she would starting fussing slightly until she saw us. This is a good sign that she needs us and for that we are grateful. Then, when we went to leave we said, "na we demen!" (see you tomorrow) and this time she didn't just say bye bye. This time she cried and said, "no!" She did not want us to leave. We are so torn because we are so thankful that she has bonded with us so well, but it breaks our heart to know that we will be leaving her soon and when we do we won't be back for many months. Nothing about this process is easy, but we know that it will be so worth it in the end. We really are truly grateful for every bit of this opportunity to spend these couple of weeks with her and watching her daily life. She amazes us every single day. If you would, please pray for her heart...we know saying goodbye the last time is going to be so painful for all of us.

Thus ends another night in Haiti...

Haiti Day 3

October 30, 2016

One thing I want to make sure to remember are the sights and sounds of Haiti. Everyone spends their day outside so there is ALWAYS noise. 

The guards walkie talkie 

Loudspeaker shouting something in creole 

Horns honking

People shouting

The squeaks of the gecko that lives outside

Dishes in the sink

Children laughing

Voices singing in church

Haitian music on the radio

We headed to the orphanage at 8:30 am like we always do. This time we got there right as they were finishing worship so we just hung back until they were done.  I spotted our girl right away and they had dressed her up in the cutest shirt and skirt. The three of us attempted to hang out with the rest of the group in the main room, but her nanny quickly shooed us out because us being there is just a huge distraction for the kids (they all want to bring us things and talk to us which can frustrate our girl).

*Selah (not her real name) was her usual joyful self and she loved the rainmaker toy that we handed her. During that time she tried so hard to tell us something and we were just not understanding. We could tell it was frustrating to her so we just kept apologizing for not understanding and then tried to distract her with a book. That lasted one minute before we again tried to tell us something. That part is really hard...she happens to know a LOT of words and is so talkative. She is usually content with us just repeating whatever she is saying, but not this time. Suddenly she was over it and decided she wanted to play with the "machin" (a walker that used to be hers) and have papa walk her around with it. They would shout, "BEEP BOOP!" and she would imitate him making car sounds...so funny and cute! Her nanny had the other kids come out to color and do a craft project (it was super cute) and Selah decided she wanted to color as well.

 We did that for a bit and then her nanny had us take her into her room and we listened to music on her little piano and played with blocks. Josh turned on "Divine Romance" which happened to be one of the songs that was played at our wedding and he had Selah stand on his feet and they slow danced to the song. I sat recording it and was just in tears (I tried to hold back because I am sure the nannies would have been so confused). It was probably the most beautiful moment I have ever experienced. A moment we have waited 2 years for. She loves her daddy.

 Just after that the kids ate snack and we headed outside to the yard to play. All the kids were swinging (they LOVE to swing) and then Selah and 3 of the other girls sat on the ledge of the sandbox and filled up their strainers full of sand so they could feel it falling through the holes. I love watching her play with them. Sadly, as we were beginning to leave our baby girl started to say she wasn't feeling well so we sent her with her nanny and left. We are hopeful that she will be feeling better once we return for the afternoon. 

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This afternoon ended up being wonderful. Selah was feeling better and we were so thankful it didn't end up being anything too severe. We immediately were sent to the balcony by the nannies and played with the rain maker toy some more as well as a matching puzzle. Then she just kept yelling, "papa! machin!" (meaning she wanted daddy to push her with the walker again). So they did a few laps and then traded with me. It's exhausting! She was so busy today and had lots of ideas of where we should go. After awhile she was ready to find her nanny and the rest of the group so we headed outside to the play yard. She went straight for the swing as usual. We pulled out the bubbles and the kids had fun blowing them with us and, of course, Selah couldn't be left out. After that she wandered off with Josh and played on the slide while I stayed back to let them have some time together. She initially went for her daddy first, but today she started to favor me a bit more so I was trying to let her bond with daddy a bit more. Eventually she yelled, "mama! vini!" (mama, come) so I headed over to sit with her on the slide. After a little while it was time to be escorted back to the guest house so we said our goodbyes and left. 

We are constantly amazed at how well this has gone. That isn't always the case and we do expect there to be some hard days (we are only 3 days in out of 15) but we are thankful for the days that are good. Our friends get back tonight and will be here until Thursday so we are going to soak up that time with them before they leave. I should also add that our kids have done so well. Our biggest concern and anxiety over this trip was leaving them for so long. But they have truly amazed us! We are so thankful for each experience we have had so far, Haiti really is an amazing place full of immense beauty and wonderful people and I am so glad that we are getting to experience our daughter's birth country. 

Goodnight from Haiti! 

*We cannot share photos of our daughter until we receive her adoption decree which is when she legally shares her last name. 

Haiti Day 1 and 2

October 27, 2016

The day we headed to the airport to fly to Haiti! It's so crazy to me how long we waited and then suddenly, the day was here. Previously I had been harboring so much anxiety surrounding this trip. I was worried about leaving Eden and Israel behind. Safety while we were in Haiti. Mosquitoes. Hurricanes. You know...normal things (some sarcasm there). But, honestly, once we got up to the day I felt so much peace. It was incredibly hard saying goodbye to the kids. I held it together until we walked into the airport and then it came crashing down. But, I had to get on that plane so I got over it and moved on. We flew from Portland to Dallas that first night and stayed in a hotel since we had a 12 hour layover. It was SO nice and exactly what we needed. Josh has been basically non-existent lately due to work so having a time where we could just sit and talk and eat take out and have zero responsibilities was so wonderful. 

October 28, 2016

We had to get up at 4 am to catch our next flight to Ft. Lauderdale.  Truth be told I hardly slept anyway so it didn't make much of a difference. We said goodbye to Dallas and flew off to get one step closer to Haiti. Each one of our flights was only around 3 hours and then we had a 2 hour layover in Florida. We grabbed some lunch and then waited to head to Haiti. There were so many emotions running through us at that point, but we were just so ready to get there. 

Our next flight was so different than the others because suddenly it was us surrounded by a bunch of Haitians and not much was said in English. I loved it. Stepping off that plane was so surreal. And I was extra thankful that Josh had been here before because he at least knew where to go and what to do. We grabbed our bags and headed out into the sunshine and found our driver right away. It's so interesting stepping into a culture that is just so different from ours and it certainly makes it even more interesting when you can't speak the language, but we have managed. I really wish we knew more creole. I practiced a lot of toddler words, but I would love to be able to communicate with more people. In the car was our orphanage director and she helped give us the lay of the land as we drove to our location. 

We didn't think we would meet our daughter until the next day so it took us by surprise when she said we were heading there. It ended up being a really good way to just slowly introduce ourselves as to not completely overwhelm her. We mostly just watched her interact with her friends and her nanny and didn't interact with her much on our own. We felt it was important to take it really slow. We then said our goodbyes and headed to the guest house where we would be staying for 15 days. As soon as we walked in our friends were standing there. They had received their referral just after us and it ended up that not only did they overlap us by 1 week, but they were also staying at our guest house. Stacey and Tyler are from our tiny little town and we started this process together, never even imagining it was possible that we would be here at the same time and staying together. Having them here has been a huge blessing. They keep us busy and sane so we don't have to get too homesick. We are beyond thankful we get to have this time together. The rest of the night was for unpacking, getting settled, eating spaghetti with eggplant marinara, and playing lots of Uno. By the end of the night we were so exhausted and so ready for some sleep. 

October 29, 2016

Today was a full day with our girl! We woke up and ate some breakfast and then headed straight over to the orphanage. When we got there they were doing preschool so we just sat off to the side and talked to the orphanage director some more. The kids sang lots of songs and our girl couldn't stop dancing the whole time. We got to watch the kids eat snack and head back out for some more school. By the time they were done it was time for us to leave. The nanny didn't realize that and handed her to us, but we had to tell her we had to go. We saw our girl get sad and that broke our hearts, but we knew we would return after their naps. 

After our goodbyes, we were escorted back to the guest house (we had a sweet lady who walks us to and from the orphanage every time) and ate the most delicious rice and beans I have ever tasted. The cook and the guest house manager have been so wonderful about accommodating our food needs and have been cooking fully plant based for us and doing an amazing job of it! Our friends were headed out on a trip overnight with yet another friend of ours that is in Haiti so we said goodbye to them and then we headed back to the orphanage after a quick break. When we arrived most of the kids were still napping so we just hung out out of the way and then as soon as they woke up it was snack time. The kids were all half asleep at the table. Our daughter (we will call her Selah since we can't share her real name) was so quiet and just not interested in eating or interacting at all. I thought the rest of the day may not go so well, but eventually she perked up and was in the best mood. She seriously lights up a room with her smile and her giggles. I could listen to her laugh all day long. Josh and I had a lot more one-on-one time with her this afternoon which helped us get an even greater sense of her personality. Selah LOVES music so we brought her a shaker egg (its a plastic egg shape with little beads in it that makes sounds) and she enjoyed shaking it and singing along. It was fun interacting with all of the other kids as well. We know many of the families that are also adopting from the same orphanage so seeing their kids, the ones we have prayed over for so long, was just an incredible experience. They are all just so fun and amazing! Today really was a great day. Now I am ending it with swollen feet from the ridiculous amount of mosquito bites that I have, but it's so worth it. I am loving it here! 

Hopefully I will be able to upload photos to future posts, but the internet here is not so great so I am not sure that it would even work...hopefully it will at least let me upload this post! Thank you to everyone who has shared in this journey with us. We have been so grateful for every prayer and for each one of you that has encouraged us. There's still a long way to go until Selah is home, but we are thankful for this time. Goodnight from Haiti! 

BEST.DAY.EVER.

I cannot believe I am finally typing these words after so long, but we received our REFERRAL yesterday! I remember so many people saying, "just wait until you see God's perfect timing" and "it WILL happen" and "God's timing is perfect." And some days I loved those words and some days they just STUNG. But, guess what? Our God is SO COOL. He did some amazing things with the timing of this referral (even though we are scratching our head on a few) and you know I am totally going to share all the details with you.

I want to back up to September 5th. Our youngest daughter's THIRD birthday. The third birthday she celebrated without us. One year closer to not being in her toddler years anymore. I spent the day before her birthday feeling sad, but the moment I woke up on her birthday I chose to celebrate her and not dwell on the fact that she wasn't with us. We talked about her constantly and prayed for her throughout the day. We headed up to Portland for the day so that we could visit a Haitian food truck that had recently opened up. It was so worth the drive. The place was called, "Jouk Li Jou" and was owned by the most amazing Haitian woman, Mathilde. She cooks the BEST Haitian food (I really had nothing to compare it to, but I'm confident in this) and even let us practice our creole on her. We've been practicing as much as we can to prepare to meet our girl, but it makes a big difference to speak it with someone who actually KNOWS the language. 

Following our delicious meal, we spent time picking out the perfect outfit to bring on the bonding trip we knew we would have SOMEDAY. A sparkly gray tulle skirt and a sweet little tank top with ballerinas basically jumped out of us (after a ridiculous amount of time searching) and we knew it was the perfect outfit for her. We hear she LOVES to dance. Of course, we pulled out some ice cream bars to finish off her celebration. But, we truly had no idea what was coming when we woke up the next morning.

Fast forward to Tuesday. I woke up with some anxiety so I spent some time reading Psalms and my devotional (Streams in the Desert - LOVE). Then I followed that up with a workout and was feeling so much more peaceful. We had decided last minute to start school today, instead of tomorrow, because it was raining and I needed to go to Costco and I don't "do" rain. Ironic from the girl who lives in Oregon, but it's just a fact of life. 

I walked by my phone and happened to look down at it. I saw that a friend that is also adopting from Haiti had texted and said that she had received her long awaited referral!! I was so busy reading it that I didn't even realize that there was a missed called from Lifeline (our agency). The second I saw the missed call I knew. I started screaming and jumping up and down. This was IT. I immediately called Josh to tell him to "turn that car back around." Actually I think it went more like this, "Do you have a meeting? Please tell me you don't have a meeting? You don't have a meeting right? [insert screaming and hyperventilating] Car. Turn around. Now. Get home. I need you. [more screaming and jumping]." Thankfully he was able to interpret my freak out and got himself home in record time. 

So, we called Morgan (the amazing woman who handles all of our adoption stuff) and we literally get Lifeline's voicemail. We have NEVER had that happen. We stop and pray. I call again and get someone and ask for Morgan. We get her voicemail. I mean it's like a cruel joke at this point. I finally have had enough waiting and call yet again and as I'm calling, Morgan is also calling me. Funny stuff. We finally connect and we basically can't even concentrate on any words but we hear the confirmation that she is ours. After 2 years of praying for her, we finally had that confirmation. But you guys. Here is the most amazing and crazy part. The referral was actually issued on Monday, which as you might remember was her BIRTHDAY. He is SO in the details! 

We still have a LONG road ahead. Our next step will be to go on a 2 week socialization trip where we spend time bonding with our daughter. We will even meet with a social worker while we are there who will evaluate us as future parents to our girl.  After that there a myriad of steps that need to be completed before she can come home. The timeline is pretty varied, but will likely be around 12-18 months. It's painful to think about, but we also know that she WILL be home. God is faithful. And He has been protecting her from the start. Plus, she's at the most amazing orphanage and we feel so confident that they are taking great care of her. We specifically wanted to adopt from Three Angels Haiti and every single day we are so thankful that God made it possible. He knew our baby girl would be there.   

I wanted to end by saying THANK YOU to each person who has prayed for us, checked in on us, and most importantly prayed for us. We have a long road ahead. But we are so thankful by the amazing community that has surrounded us throughout this process. 

**We cannot show her face or share details until she officially shares our last name. Once that happens we will definitely share her beautiful face with you all! 

Can't Get You Off My Mind

I haven't been the best at updates. I know. Some days it feels easier to not update because I just don't have a lot to say right now. We are SO close to our referral, we can feel it. We were given an approximate timeline for our referral to come, but we also know that timelines are loose, so we just wait patiently (okay some days we are very IMpatient).

In the last couple of months of waiting our girl turned TWO! We had friends there during her birthday and we were told she was very well celebrated. We made rice and beans just like the typical meal of Haiti and decorated and just celebrated her as best as we could. Those days are the hardest. The birthdays. The holidays. You just don't want to spend yet another day 3,000 miles from your child. It just doesn't feel good.

Her birthday gifts

 

But, we know that some day this will be a distant memory. And we really are thankful for these painful days. Because it reminds us how much we truly love her. She isn't growing in my belly the way the other two did, but you can bet that our love is growing SO deeply during this time. As a family we are learning to just cling to one another and pray continually for our baby who is so far away.

I'm finding that instead of burying myself in tasks I need to take a step back and be okay with not doing much of anything. I am having to say no to a lot. Some days are better and some days I am just so overwhelmed. And I am going to admit openly that I was letting fear keep me frozen. The fear kept me from feeling the real pain of having my baby so far away. It kept me from being honest about how scared I was about meeting her because then I would KNOW what she feels like and then I have to leave her. That hurts so much.

I was recently blessed with the opportunity to attend the Called to Love retreat. It is for adoptive/foster mama's. I didn't want to go at first because I didn't want to be vulnerable to my emotions. I wanted to bury them deep. Going there was where I finally allowed myself to admit that I was allowing fear to keep me from feeling. So, it was there that I let it go. I asked God to take it away. And He did. And I hurt. And I cried. But, it has been SO good. He also gave me the greatest gift of getting to hug two amazing women, who are also Haiti mama's, during the conference. One of those sweet mama's brought home two kids from the same orphanage that our daughter is living at. She has SEEN our girl. Those two days were a true treasure. Memories that will be with me for life.

So, for now, we just wait for "the call." We know that the families that were ahead of us got their call and will be heading to meet their little ones SO SOON. So, we remain hopeful that our call is coming. We have been working so hard to raise the rest of the money to bring her home. I've seen God work miracles for our family so many times. He took us from not having a penny to our name to being blessed with more jobs than we can handle (literally. Josh has 4 of them to try to make as much money as we can to get our girl home). We are HALFWAY to fully funded. God just keeps bringing in the money. Many people ask what our next need is, and that is the money for the referral/travel. We have $2,000 more to go. Although some days I start to fret over that money, I truly do believe God will provide it just at the right time. There are times I wish we were already fully funded so we didn't have to worry about it, but maybe this is a gift. It gives us something to focus on in our wait. It makes us rely solely on Him. It requires us to humble ourselves and ask for help.

So, for those that were asking about a way to give that would be tax deductible, we went ahead and set up a Pure Charity fundraiser page. All the money that is donated through that link goes directly to our agency, who will then use the money for our adoption expenses. Each dollar counts. Truly. And we are so thankful to all of the people who have prayed for us. Who have set up fundraisers for us. Who have purchased from our fundraisers. Who have handed us a check just because. We are truly thankful for our village. If you would like to donate, just look to the right of the blog and you'll see our fundraising page...just click on it! THANK YOU!!

Think of the Happiest Things {Fundraiser}

We have another fundraiser that we have just launched!!! We are awaiting our referral call at any time so we knew we needed to get moving in order to raise the last $3500 we need in order to accept our referral and travel to hold our baby girl for 2 weeks.

The words, "think of the happiest things," are lyrics from Peter Pan. I haven't stopped singing the song since designing it! In our home, when we are stressed or scared, we always say to pray and think of happy things. Plus, we are a bit Disney obsessed in our home, so designing something that encompasses that love just made sense. We know our girl is going to be dealing with a lot of grief as she transitions into our home, so we love to think of ways to fill our home with reminders of JOY amidst the sadness. We hope you love the reminder to think of happy things!

So, in light of Christmas coming up...we thought it would be fun to design t-shirts that would make perfect gifts (or just buy for yourself...I won't tell). Our shirts are available for purchase from now until Monday, November 30th. Once it ends, shirts will arrive within 14 days which gives you the perfect amount of time to wrap them and place them under the tree. We have unisex, ladies, youth, long-sleeve, and hooded sweatshirts available! Every single purchase gets us so much closer to our baby girl. We would LOVE if you would also share about our fundraiser...the more we sell the closer we get to our goal! Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Our family is so grateful for all of the love and support we have received during this process!

I've Waited Three Months to Announce This....

This is a post I have waited THREE months to write. And now I sit here and have no idea how to tell you all the amazing blessings God given to us during what could be a very dark time for us (another blog post on that coming soon). Basically, we have spent 9.5 weeks with two very sick children and one sick mama (that's me). With NO answers. And it has been downright terrifying at times. And Satan has attacked in every way he knows how. And our bank accounts are at ZERO. I wish I was kidding. Thanks to some very unexpected car issues and a whole lot of medical expenses every penny was taken away. But even through all of that, our adoption account has GROWN. Even though we couldn't contribute the amount we do each month, we have been blessed by so much generosity. As I write this, we have the most amazing auction going on over at my instagram (@mallory_crain) thanks to the Adopt Shoppe doing a fundraiser for us. Blessed. So very blessed.

Okay, here we go.

Remember when I posted about the two big boys that we had pursued so hard for 6 months and how even though the Lord made it clear we needed to let go that He also had something amazing planned for us?

I mean, AMAZING.

Well, I will let this picture speak for us....

IT'S A GIRL!!!

There is SO much more we want to say. SO VERY MUCH MORE. But, for now we still have to stay pretty quiet about the details. Basically, our agency and our baby girl's orphanage have pre-matched us to her. That means that they are recommending to the Haitian government that our family is a good fit for her. And we just pray every day that they will agree. So, when we announced that on August 18, 2015 our dossier entered IBESR (Haitian social services) we were rejoicing and crying for an even bigger reason. Because that was one HUGE step closer to our baby girl.

And you know how awesome God is? She is at the very orphanage that brought us to our beloved agency, Lifeline Children's Services. She is living at Three Angels and we couldn't ask for a better place for her to be while we wait to be able to have her in our arms. Oh what a glorious day that will be!

I know many of you are wondering what happened to wanting TWO kids. Well, we have truly felt that God has asked us to be open to 1 OR 2 children and to special needs. We didn't want to put limitations on our adoption. We truly believed that God would lead us to our child(ren) no matter what we said on paper. We are so happy with the child we believe He has planned for our family and due to the significant needs of our little one we believe He planned this perfectly. And our whole family is ready for MANY more to join our tribe in His timing. And you want to hear one neat little detail? We have always felt that twins would be in our family at some point. We really thought we would have twins in this adoption. Well, our girl's birthday is almost exactly 6 months before Israel's. Many call this "irish twins." It was always twins, just not the way we expected! He is in every detail.

So, for now, since we can't share details of our BEAUTIFUL girl, which includes her name, we will be calling her Selah. If you have been following our journey you know we use the hashtag #journeytosandj on our posts. And awhile back I explained why we referenced our future children as Judah and Selah. Our sweet Selah girl has been prayed for for so many years.

And the news gets even sweeter. We got an update that paperwork is FLYING through the process which makes us hopeful that we may be receiving our referral (that will be Haiti's invitation for us to come spend 2 weeks bonding with our girl) much sooner than expected. The "average" timeline (we use timelines very loosely in international adoptions) is 6-12 months for a referral, so we are PRAYING to be on the earlier side of that. No matter what we truly believe it will be in HIS timing. Because He is good. Even when we don't understand.

So, that is what I have been holding onto since May 12th. You guys, we are going to have a DAUGHTER!!


Never once did you leave us. You are faithful.

One Year.

It was exactly one year ago today that we submitted our application to our agency. I try so hard to remember what I felt that day, but this past year has been such a blur. I remember feelings of excitement, fear, and lots of nervousness. I remember thinking, "but what if they say no?" We had already had an amazing call with our Haiti coordinator, Meredith, which solidified everything we believed...this was our agency. This was the one that we wanted advocating for us. For our children. We had zero doubts that they would be the best fit for us. For all that God had laid on our hearts in orphan care.

Speaking of orphan care, I wanted to share a little bit about what has been laid on our hearts. We knew when we started our adoption that we didn't want to take away someone's child. That's hard to understand here in the U.S., but in international adoption, especially in third world countries, there are so many children that aren't true orphans. Meaning, they have living family that WANT them, but they are just unable to care for them so they do what they feel is best and bring them to an orphanage where they know they will be fed and sheltered. I love that orphanages can provide a safe place for families, but I don't love that many people feel that this means the children need homes. Because they don't. They have a home. We have become so passionate about finding programs and organizations that work to reunify families. They teach the parents skills so that they can find jobs and then are able to care for their own families. Anyway, all this to say, we are just so thankful for our agency and how they have walked with us each step of the way this past year. Through lots of excitement, but an awful lot of tears.

So, here we are. One year later. Do you want to hear our exciting update???

June 30, 2015

Our Home Study was finally in our hands!!!
And then we turned around and shipped it off to immigration!

Home Study!!! 

Paperwork sent to immigration with these two 

We have had all of our paperwork ready to go, we just couldn't move forward AT ALL until we had our Home Study. You can imagine the celebrating that followed when it arrived. With it, we were able to apply for immigration and can now go get our paperwork authenticated and sent with our dossier. And we can also begin to apply for grants!

"Ice cream" to celebrate

Haitian inspired red beans and rice for our celebration dinner

July 1, 2015

All of our documents for our dossier are IN. We had dreams of being able to send everything today, but had a pretty big setback with one of the required documents. But, PRAISE THE LORD, everything was done TODAY. So, we will be getting all of our documents authenticated tomorrow and then shipped off to our agency! They will begin to do all of their part of the work with translating and legalizing and all of that and then our dossier should be in Haiti so very soon.

I wish there was an expression to show just how over the moon excited we are right now. We have gone through so much heartache and setbacks and things are finally moving at rapid pace and we are so thankful for that. My heart is soaring!


As far as fundraising, another PRAISE THE LORD, we raised enough to send our dossier right on time! We started off needing SO much and then the Lord provided all of it.

I will update again soon!

WE ARE COMING FOR YOU LITTLE ONE!!! 

FUNDRAISER: Garage Sale!

Our 3rd adoption fundraiser garage sale is happening this weekend! If you are local, come check it out and see what treasures you can find! 

FUNDRAISER: The Apparent Project

Hi all! Wanted to check in and let you know about our newest fundraiser. One we love VERY MUCH. Let me introduce you to the Apparent Project. Basically they take discarded materials and upcycle them into beautiful jewelry. The artisans who create the bracelets are able to earn money in order to care for their families. These bracelets bring so much HOPE.

So, where do we fit in? The Apparent Project has a double cause fundraiser option where you can sell their bracelets to raise funds for your cause and in turn you are also helping to pay the artisans. This is amazing!

Here's the thing. We know we were called to adopt. But, our biggest prayer is that adoption wouldn't even be necessary. We pray that parents will be empowered enough to be able to continue to care for their children instead of feeling that they must resort to adoption because it is their only adoption. Children belong in their families. There are times where this is not possible, and then, that is where adoption should be an option. This is why we love organizations like AP. We are so thankful we get to be a part of this!

THE BRACELETS

Each bracelet is beautifully handcrafted IN Haiti! Our child's birth country. I cannot even begin to tell you just how beautiful they are. I love every single one of them. Each bracelet is $10. Five dollars of that will go to our adoption, and the other five dollars will go back to the Apparent Project. If you need your bracelets shipped, we are charging a flat fee of $3, no matter how many bracelets you order.  If you are local to Salem, Oregon you can waive the shipping fee and just pick up your bracelet. Remember these make perfect gifts as well! Think of family members, friends, teachers...it's a gift that gives back!

Send payments via Paypal to: ourheartsinhaiti@gmail.com

*Please note if you use the option to send money to friends/family PayPal will not take a percentage of the money. In the notes section, please indicate how many bracelets you want. Feel free to mention if you are hoping for a certain color scheme (this cannot be guaranteed). Don't forget to include your mailing address!

We are about $2700 away from having enough money to send our dossier. This is the VERY LARGE stack of papers that will be sent to Haiti and is how they learn about our family and approve us and match us with our child. We are hopeful to be able to send it within the next couple weeks. But, we can't do it without the money. We need this to happen quickly so we will continue to raise every bit of money we can. Once we have our Home Study in our hands (we pray that this is early next week) we can begin to apply for grants. So much rides on this elusive Home Study!

So very excited that things are moving so quickly now! Believing that the Lord will provide the funds!

The Cost

Confession: I thought the money aspect of adoption wouldn't be hard at all. I mean, sure, it is a HUGE number, but I have watched countless adoptions that have been fully funded, no matter how many times that family came in with $0 in the bank. We came in with a portion of money already in savings so I thought, hey, we've got this. Notice, I say WE not HE.

To be honest, I have caught myself doubting. I'm watching others adoptions become fully funded all around me, while we are fundraising our hearts out and saving every penny and I feel like we still have SO far to go. But, I know He is faithful. He is asking us to work hard for a reason. He is refining us.

There was a time where we didn't have money in the bank. Not even a penny. But, He still provided. I have never had to rely on Him so much in my whole life. We knew we couldn't do it on our own. He helped us find buyers for all of our furniture (if it wasn't nailed down, we sold it). He brought us people who gave us groceries and donated gift cards. It was one of the hardest times of our lives, but was also the best. We learned to fully rely on Him and nothing else.

So, here I am again. Looking at a number that seems impossible, but choosing to believe that He will fund this adoption. It has nothing to do with me and what I do.

Right now we need $26,900 to be fully funded. We are choosing to look at each step at a time so as of right this minute, we need  $3250 in order to send our dossier. We have been chipping away at that number slowly, but surely.

We have been so thankful for all who have been fundraising for us or who have purchased things from our fundraisers. We need you to know that we can't do this without YOU. Truly. Fundraising is so hard and so humbling. To be honest, I wanted to pay for this entire adoption alone. I didn't want to ask for money. But, what I've realized is that if we didn't fundraise, we wouldn't be giving all of you a chance to be a tangible part of our adoption. Not every single person is called to adopt, but we are each called to care for the orphan. So, we are thankful that God made it possible for us to open up an opportunity for others to be a part of this journey with us.

What are we doing right now? Glad you asked.

Josh is currently plugging away at multiple jobs. His main income is what we live off of. His other two jobs, real estate and coaching, go right into the adoption account. Every house sold or bought helps to fund our adoption. That's been pretty awesome. And, if you know me, you know I am the world's cheapest person. Not frugal. Cheap. If I can DIY it, I will, in order to not spend money. So, you can be assured that we are being good stewards of our money in order to save every extra penny for our adoption.

I have been having bracelet sales on Instagram (my shop page is @joyfulmangoshop) which have been going really well. I'm hoping to have a large sale soon! 

We are getting ready to do a HUGE garage sale fundraiser. We are praying that this year's is much more successful than last year.

We will be starting a NEW fundraiser very soon...so keep an eye out for it!

And, how can you help?

• If you are local, chat with Josh about your real estate needs ;) 
• Buy a bracelet
• Check out our YouCaring page (you can find this on the right sidebar)
• Locals can donate items or come to our garage sale June 19-20 (more info to come)
• Check out The Rustic Orange who is donating a portion of her sales to us (her items are AMAZING)!
• Pray! 

You can also check out our fundraising page up above (which I am working on updating) just to see where we are at!

Seriously, we are so thankful for each and every one of you. As you can see, we cannot do it alone. And we have a serious need to get this money raised so we can send our dossier the second it is ready to go. We NEED this to move fast (and oh how I wish I could share more....SOON!).

We will continue to do our best to keep you updated on our process and how you can help. Love to you all!

Letting Go

Sorry about the switch up yet again from wordpress to blogger. I tried so hard to make it work, but it just wasn't the right platform for me. I had issue after issue with trying to do certain things on there and in the end I needed to come back to blogger. Thanks to the change, we are now able to have our YouCaring site right on the right sidebar and we will also be able to add other fundraisers and such now. Thanks for sticking with us! Now, on to the heart of the post...

****************************

My title for this post was "Letting Go" and as I was sitting contemplating how to put into words everything that has happened since November, this song came on. And it absolutely hit me. Here is just part of the song that just brought me to tears and falling on my knees. 

Steffany Gretzinger

"Letting Go"

You've brought me to the end of myself 
And this has been the longest road 
Just when my hallelujah was tired 

You've brought me to the end of myself
And this has been the longest road
Just when my hallelujah was tired
You gave me a new song

Now I'm letting go
I'm letting go
I'm letting go
Falling into You

And I confess, I still get scared sometimes
But perfect love comes rushing in
And all the lies that screamed inside go silent
The moment You begin 

I think this whole post could be summed up with this, "You've brought me to the end of myself. And this has been the longest road. Just when my hallelujah was tired. You gave me a new song."

Because, friends, we were beyond tired. We were worn. Scarred. Ready to put up the, 'I SURRENDER!" flag. I have had moments where I wondered what we were doing. Why, oh why, were we adopting from Haiti? Why international adoption at all? We have been in the process for only 10 months and I already was ready to throw in the towel. Satan had weaseled his way into my head and I couldn't shake him. 

But, now? Now I know exactly what all the tears I have cried for the last 6 months have been for. There may be moments I am tempted to wish away all the hard moments, but to be frank, I refuse to. Because it brought us here. And right here, well, it's amazing. We still have so many battles ahead, but we know each battle is worth the fight because we now can see the reward ahead. And it's going to be beautiful. 

So, here we go. Let's have a sit down chat about why we had to be so silent lately. 

My 30th birthday and the day we were eligible to adopt from Haiti.

November 10, 2014. 

The day that seemingly changed it all. It was also the day that I turned 30 and we could officially adopt from Haiti. 

It was that day that we were given the go ahead to adopt two AMAZING boys. Two boys that Josh had met on his mission trip. It wasn't planned. In fact, I had told him NOT to fall in love with any kids there. But, it didn't matter. We both fell so hard for them. 

However, there was one thing in our way. Their orphanage was in the process of getting approved for adoption, but not approved yet. So, with the advice from our agency, we all decided we should take the next 6 months to do some extra education on older child adoption, talk to other families that had adopted older children, and then we would be in contact at the end of the 6 months to discuss how to proceed. 

I so thought that wait would be no big deal. I mean, we had a time frame. And those boys were worth waiting for. But, you guys. It was ridiculously hard. I had not expected it at all. 

The 6 month deadline was basically here. Josh and I both knew we needed to move forward in one way or another, but let me tell you, we did not see what direction the Lord was leading for quite awhile. Even though looking back, I know it really was pretty evident. I could feel that we were not the right family for them, no matter how much I tried to make it happen. And, in the end, the orphanage still was not approved. 

And, this is where it gets hard. I want to be real with you, but I still need to protect this story. Because those boys are still very loved by us. We want the very best for them. 

We walked away. And making that final decision gave me the most peace I have felt in 6 months. I had cried so many tears. My heart has been so broken. But having an answer and knowing that it was what God had wanted helped heal my heart. We believe those boys have an amazing future ahead of them and we are so thankful that we will still be able to be a part of their lives, just not in the way we originally thought. 

And God totally dropped a bomb on us. Let's just say we are fast tracking things and praying that things move quickly. And suddenly I am having to trust Him again. Trust that He will provide the funds that are needed to get our dossier to Haiti. I thought the money part wouldn't scare me. We have seen him provide when we had $0 in our bank account for 6 months. Never the less, I see the giant bill ahead of me and am wondering how we will get it paid. It's going to be so amazing to look back some day and see His hand in every moment of this. 

Thank you all for journeying with us. For praying with us. For encouraging us. For loving us amidst our crazy. We appreciate every single one of you. 

Choosing Joy

I've been so quiet. I wanted to write, but no words came out. This season has been so very hard. Both our season in life and the actual season. Winter. Winter is not my favorite. Here in Oregon it means lots of gray and rainy days and I REALLY don't love either of those. I was born with sunshine in me. Probably why some of my friends have now taken to calling me, "Sunshine Bear." It's true. If it is sunny, I am outside. So being in the midst of winter in a season of unknowns caused some serious struggles within me. And Josh said it best when he referred to this part of our adoption as, "being in limbo."

I so wish I could share more about that.

God asked us to step out in faith, and we did. And we had perfect peace about it. And then Satan decided to come on in and camp out in my head. Telling me lies. All day long. Add to that the fact that we cannot talk about what we are doing openly at this time (it really is for the best) and whoa. This girl, who constantly talks about being an open book, is really struggling with being in this season of quiet. I want to tell you all about it. I do. But, we know that this really is the best for the situation at hand. So, I am saying, "SORRY!" for being so vague. I really don't want to be. But I really felt like it was time to say something. Anything. Just to break the silence for a bit. I'll tell you more as soon as I can. We actually should know more this month. In the meantime, yes, we are most definitely still adopting from Haiti. None of that has changed at all. Our process just might look a bit different than we expected.

Let's move on, shall we?

Just over a week ago I was in "sunny" Southern California. I use sunny lightly because the only sun I saw was as I was heading to the airport to board my plane. Thanks for nothing weather. The reason I was there was the best part though. I got to attend my second Choose Joy event.

What is Choose Joy? It is a 2-day conference that is centered around infertility and adoption. It is soul refreshing. It is life giving. It is the one place where I can be in a room full of people I have never met and yet feel like I have known them my whole life. While typically large gatherings make my introverted self run and hide, I actually find myself so beyond comfortable and literally loving every minute. And while it was made for men and women experiencing infertility, it absolutely is designed for those that are not walking that road but just love adoption as well. We have not experienced infertility, but we know so many who have. That is such a lonely road to walk. You are literally breaking apart inside, but no one can see it. I have been so thankful that while my soul is being refreshed in terms of adoption, I am also learning how to love those that are walking the hard road of infertility. I am already so ready for next year!

Tears In Our Eyes...

We wanted to say a big HELLO to all of you that are stopping in from The Lettered Cottage and tell you a little more about us! 

First of all, how do I even start?

We are completely humbled/blessed/undeserving by this opportunity. God is SO VERY GOOD. And Layla? She is a special treasure. She is beautiful in every way. Her heart LOVES so big and so well and we just feel so special that God laid US on HER heart. Amazing. Do you have no idea what we are talking about? 

Go check out her latest post. You may just see OUR faces gracing her beautiful blog. We will be receiving a portion of the proceeds from her new t-shirt business. I have been cheering from the sidelines and praying that she would continue her t-shirt business (she did a trial run a few months ago). I LOVE watching people follow their daydreams and I am so happy that she decided to pursue hers. You must check them out, they are so beautifully designed! We are just so humbled to be a part of this. 

 

So for those of you who don't know us, here is a little bit more about who we are.

We are Joshua, Mallory, Eden, Israel and Bella (the dog). We love Jesus. Last year we moved to a little farm town and we fell in love even more. We love adventures and spending every moment together. We desire to live a life of less stuff so we can have a life that is free to serve God more. Our journey has been full of so many lessons, in which we learned a whole lot about grace and redemption, and we are so thankful for each and every one.

Why adoption? Adoption has been on my heart since I was 4 years old. I am not even kidding. It was never a doubt that I would adopt. In fact, I never even knew I wanted biological kids. But, God knew better. When I met Josh, I immediately asked him about his desire for children. I knew adoption was too important to me and I wanted to know that if we were to be married (which I was pretty sure we were going to be on day 10) I needed a husband who shared that desire. I'll just let you in on a secret, he was definitely on board. As years have past, our hearts for adoption have only grown. We waited patiently until we were able to begin the process. This year, God clearly opened the doors up big and wide, but not where we thought. We always thought we were adopting from Africa and then BAM. He threw Haiti right in front of us. So, July 1, we started our journey! 

Now, I want to give you a little background here. I have been following the Lettered Cottage since the near beginning. But, I am the worlds worst at commenting so I have just secretly been reading and loving everything Kevin and Layla post. I remember when they first announced their adoption. I was SO excited for them (I even commented! I know, right?!). And then they shared about Haiti and I was even more excited for them. I had NO idea how our stories would end up intertwining because, we were adopting from Africa remember? Once we started pursuing Haiti we looked into ALL the agencies we could find. We actually believed we settled on one. We qualified, they seemed good, so we were set to go as soon as I reached the right age (you have to be 30 to adopt from Haiti). But, it never felt right. They were a great agency, but we have a serious passion for reunifying families when possible and we didn't feel that they were as passionate about it as we were. One day I was just mindlessly clicking around the Three Angels page after Layla had posted an update. My eyes widened. Somehow I had missed how many amazing things Three Angels does. You should take a look, they work so hard to reunify families and I am so thankful for all that they do. Anyway, long story short, we realized we needed to be with an agency that worked with orphanages that LOVED their children and LOVED their birth families. And, here we are. So at peace with where God lead us. And so thankful that Kevin and Layla have openly shared their journey and that God lead us to their story to then begin our own story. He is so in the details. 

So, that is us. As best as I can describe without writing a longer novel. I should have mentioned that I LOVE to write. I may love simplicity, but not with words. I like lots of words.

So, back to sitting here. Eyes filled with tears. Completely awed at the way God works. And so very thankful for this community of friends He has put in our path. 

Feel free to ask questions! We love to share the beautiful journey God has given us! 

 

Bloggity Blog Updates And A New Fundraiser

I have been working to get as much info about our adoption, the process, and the cost all in one easy to find location for those that are interested. So, visit the pages up at the top, under the header to find some extra info on our adoption!

We love to share our journey, so feel free to contact us! 

Also...

We just launched a new fundraiser today! Of course it's based upon something Josh and I LOVE. 

COFFEE!! 

I'll be talking more about this in another post, but for now, if you are in need of some coffee and want to support our adoption, I have provided our "shop" at Just Love Coffee below!

Just Love Coffee Fundraiser

Thank you all for your continual love and support!! 

#JourneytoSandJ

If you follow me on IG, you may have seen #journeytosandj under our adoption photos. I wanted to take a moment to talk about what it means.

A few years ago, God laid two names on our heart. We thought they were meant to be for our second born child. Then, Josh came to me one day and said that he believed our son was to be named Israel. I am EXTREMELY picky about names. We pray about them. We talk about them. We try it out with all of our names to make sure it fits. I've mentioned before, but I had to get used to the name Israel. I definitely let Josh lead on this one. He was so confident in that name, that I was not about to try to change his mind. I know if I had said, "NO WAY!" he would have been okay with that, because he's that kind of guy, but I would not do that. I love that he felt so confident in the name the Lord wanted for our son. We realized then that God was truly laying those two names on our hearts for our children who would come to us through adoption.

Selah & Judah

The names we have prayed over for many years. We choose a verse for the year for each of our children, and this year we chose one for Selah and Judah.

When we talk about our children that are in Haiti, those are the names we say.

If you ask Eden about her brother and sister, she will tell you that their names are Selah and Judah.

The funny thing is, we have no idea if we are getting a boy and a girl. We have no idea if we are even bringing home TWO kids. We are choosing to be open to 1-2 children, but we have no idea who God has chosen for our family.

And of course, since moving, we have become friends with a family that has a Judah. I always get so weird about "stealing" someone's name so there's that.

I don't know if God will bless us with a boy and a girl. I don't know if we will choose the names they were born with. But, for now, these are the names that we are praying over until we know who are children are.

I will admit, I will be so excited when we know if there will be 1 or 2 more Crain babies because then I will know if I should say child or children.

It's the little things...

Adoption Garage Sale Tips

*Originally written a month ago...

 

Garage sales are no joke. It has been 3 days since we had ours and I am finally starting to feel half alive again. However, when it comes to fundraising, garage sales are AMAZING. I really think it is so worth all of the aches, pains, tears, sweat, blood....have I scared you yet?

We held our adoption garage sale the first weekend of summer. The weather ended up being decent. That was a relief considering it rained the night before and was still raining while we were trying to set-up.  Satan was certainly busy that whole week. He attacked every possible aspect of our lives, BUT we knew that he wouldn't win. To us it was just affirmation that God was going to bless this sale in awesome ways. And He did.

ADVERTISE

Post about your garage sale on Craigslist. Post about it in local garage sale pages on Facebook. Post about it on your personal feed and ask people to share it. I cannot tell you how many people came because they saw a post that friends shared. If you are creative, design a flyer that catches your eye. It will make your sale unique and will draw interest. I added it into our craigslist posting and all of our Facebook posts. Be sure to highlight items that you have that you think will draw a crowd. We always find that toys, baby stuff, and tools are what people are looking for.

ASK FOR DONATIONS

We posted on Facebook about needing donated items and wow. We had so many responses. We even had to turn some down sadly due to circumstances.  People want to help. Guaranteed many of your friends and family have piles that they need to get rid of and would happily give them to you instead of taking them to the local Goodwill. Do be prepared that you will likely have to pick most of it up. We were SO thankful to the people that dropped their stuff off because it was seriously exhausting driving all over 2 different cities to pick up items. However, we were more than willing to do it since it meant more stuff and more money to bring our babies home. Also, have a place to store stuff. Be ready to give up your garage for awhile. We started asking for donations over a month before the garage sale. We would then have pick-up days to grab stuff...this worked well for us since we live 30 minutes away from where we were having our sale. Promise me you won't have your sale 30 minutes away from your house. Just trust me on that.

ASK FOR HELP

This right here is where I failed in some ways. We actually had quite a few friends that live hours away that asked to help, but clearly we would not ask that of any of them! We were so thankful for their offers though! I did ask my mom and grandma to watch the kids the two days of the sale.  There is no way we could have done it without babysitters. Josh also used leave time to be able to help me on Friday.  However, the week of and the weeks prior, Josh was SO busy with work. He would help pick up heavy items, but other than that we did not seem him. It was terrible timing. This meant the week of the sale I was driving 30 minutes into town to bring items to my parent's house (where the sale was) and to attempt to sort it. Attempt truly is a good word. There truly was not a lot I could do with limited spaced, heavy items, and two kids to keep track of. They truly were troopers. I needed help. I should have asked. I am bad at asking for help, can you tell? See if you can find a friend that can help you with set-up. I know of one family that had a sale and they had many friends sign up to take shifts. If you have friends that offer that, don't say no! You'll need a break.

TWO DAYS

As annoying as it is, please try to make your sale two days if possible. Friday and Saturday. Apparently not all states have Friday garage sales, but ours does, and it was by far the biggest money maker. It was so busy and we made over half our amount that day. It was so annoying to set-up two days in a row, and we could hardly move that second day, but it still was worth it. Many of our friends who weren't able to come Friday were able to come out Saturday. We were so thankful for their support!

50% OFF! EVERYTHING MUST GO!

On the second day of the sale, it's time to start moving items out. You don't want to be stuck hauling everything back or storing everything. Unless you are having another sale, then by all means you can skip this tip.  Around lunchtime your crowds are going to disappear. You can take this time to eat and re-organize. Then make a sign that says 50% off or something of that sort. Also, as people arrive, greet them and let them know that everything is half off. They will be more inclined to shop longer if they know they can get better deals. You can ever offer for them to fill a bag for $5. People love a good deal.

ADOPTION SIGNS

Not everyone will care that your garage sale is fundraising for an adoption. However, most will. Have a sign that makes it evident that you are fundraising for your adoption. Have information about the place you are adopting from (if you are adopting out of the country). If you know who your child is, have a picture of them! We had many people ask about our kids (which, for us, lead into deeper conversations about the process and why we don't know who are children are yet). We also put up a green poster board that said, "Adoption Fundraiser Sale!" Just to draw their attention to it as soon as they walked up. Don't be afraid to mention it while you are talking to people. I am not a salesperson AT ALL, but I do know that when I am at a garage sale I am focused on the stuff and nothing else. I would hate to miss out on a fundraiser just because no one said anything. Just for bringing that up to one of our "customers" he gave me $20 for a $5 item. Very worth the 20 minute conversation I had with him. I had a photo for this, but it seems to have disappeared from Instagram and my phone. So bummed!

HAVE DEPARTMENTS

Just like a store has departments, try to set-up "departments" for your sale items. We were limited on table space, but for the most part we had women's clothing, men's clothing, kid's clothing, housewares, kitchen, toys, electronics, and holiday. Then lots of miscellaneous stuff on a few tables. It kept it looking somewhat organized and helped people to shop easier. I had also made fun signs for each category, but sadly they never made it to the sale :(

CLOTHING

Clothes definitely need their own topic. We had tons of donations of clothes. So many that we had to wait for some to sell before putting more out. The bummer about clothes is that they can be hard to sell at a garage sale since people can't try them on. ESPECIALLY if you don't have them hanging on racks. We only had one rack and we reserved it for the larger, nice items like coats. The rest were all folded onto tables. For our sale we organized the clothing by type (shirts, pants, athletic wear, etc.). I was unable to sort them by size (there is no way that was humanly possible), but we did try to have a table for XS-XL and then a table for XLL and up. I found that people were able to locate their sizes much quicker this way. Now, our biggest tip. Pricing. Price them low. Trust me, you will make so much more if you price them low. People are willing to take a chance on clothes not fitting if they only pay a little bit. Adult clothing was $1 a piece, BUT you could fill a small grocery bag for $4. Kid's clothing was $.50 a piece. We didn't add the bag option until the end with kids clothing because they are easier to sell. Coats were $3. Shoes were $1 (I would even do $2). Accessories were $.50.

FOOD

Be prepared for what you will do about food. You will be too busy to go pick something up. We ate breakfast before the sale started. We also brought snacks and stuff for sandwiches. My mom was able to pick up meals for us which helped a ton. Otherwise, be prepared to order out...but be aware that it's a bummer if most of your money goes towards food... Crockpots may have to be your best friend.

SHOP YOUR SALE

We ended up finding things that we had been in search of that people had donated. We felt that it was totally okay to grab those items. Adoption means you aren't spending a whole lot of money so any penny you can save from free stuff feels amazing. We have been so blessed in this area lately. Josh's computer chair had broken (I mean it was BROKEN). We were freaking out over the price tags of chairs we were finding and then our amazing friends gave us one for FREE. This isn't the first time that has happened. However, don't take stuff just to take it. If you don't truly need it, put it in the sale. Give it a good home and earn more money towards your adoption.

LEMONADE STAND

For our second sale we were able to set up a table for Eden to sell lemonade, cookies, and bottled water so that she could help raise money for her brother and sister. People LOVED this. I would say, to actually make money, see if someone would be willing to donate the supplies. Ask people to donate baked goods. That will help offset the costs of getting all of the supplies to sell, that way anything your kids make is purely for your adoption fund!

SIGNS

BRIGHT signs with clear writing. Sadly, my marker was dead when I tried to make signs so they definitely were not so good. And a neighbor pulled off one of our signs so many people probably drove around aimlessly trying to find the sale. But, I knew our bright green signs were obvious and helped many to find us. Most just said, "GARAGE SALE," or "HUGE SALE," with a directional arrow. I was planning to put, "Adoption Garage Sale," but I felt like it may seem more confusing to those not around adoption. The most important tip is to keep the color consistent so people know that they are following signs to YOUR sale.

So, after all of that hard work, how did we do?

I know so many of you are curious!

After totaling everything, including someone who just handed us a donation we did...

 

$700 (almost to the penny)!

 

Josh had a goal of $600, and I had gone into it with zero expectations. We are both so happy with the outcome! I know some make thousands, but we felt like it was a great amount

One last tip...

I know I said to try to not have your sale far away from your house. BUT I will say sometimes it is necessary in order to find a better location. IF you have access to a free space...a church building perhaps? Use it!! People are more inclined to go to church sales knowing that they have more stuff. PLUS how awesome is it that you can set your stuff up and then just lock the door at night...no dragging everything back in?!

 

Did I miss anything? Any more tips anyone would like to add?

 

**Edited to add...

We actually ended up having one more garage sale at our house. First of all, it was SO much easier having a sale at our own house. Plus all of our items were already price and organized so that helped a ton. Also, it was funny to see what was popular this time around.  Our first sale we sold a ton of clothes, books, and kids stuff. This time...it was all really random. Mostly home goods. I would definitely say just take ANYTHING people are willing to donate to your sale, because truly you have no idea what treasures people are looking for!

I don't have the exact amount, but it looks like we made $900 between the two sales. Our second sale did not do as well, but we only did it on Saturday and it was literally the HOTTEST day. People just weren't out. We are so happy with the money we have raised so far. We know we still have a looooong way to go, but we are so confident that God will fund what He loves!

Let me know if you have questions!