If I had one word to describe the last two weeks it would be "overwhelmed". In some cases in a weary, bad way; and in other ways, a wonderful way!
I was blown over by the amount of things that our dear friends and some people we don't even know as well poured out upon us for our yard sale. I was so grateful people gave of their belongings to benefit our adoption. I am a person who has in recent years become a purger. I love to go through our things and weed out stuff that we no longer wear or use. I still have a lot of sentimentality towards certain objects, but living in a thousand square foot area has limited my attachment to various objects or clothing. So I went into the sale with not much to donate to it myself! I would say for certainty that about 98% of the stuff we sold was not ours to begin with.
Right on the heels of the generosity of friends came the intense feeling at times of having too much stuff to sell! I tried to keep ahead by pricing things as I received them, which was helpful. But more than that was the help of my before mentioned friends (previous post). Even with their help there were times when I felt as if I would never be ready. I am not often overwhelmed by events of life, but this sale somehow sparked new feelings inside me.
However, I am happy to report that the sale was a HUGE success! We met our goal (actually I never had a goal, my husband did). And that was so amazing to me! I was just praising the Lord that we had great weather, made some profit for the adoption, and most of all that I didn't have a ton of stuff left over! I initially thought before I really began the process that I could do another yard sale on another weekend if I had tons left over. But praise Jesus, I don't have to! The bit that was left over in the end we donated. I even saved out some clothes to donate to our transition home in Addis.
So thank you friends for prayers and help! I am so entirely grateful and happy for the outcome. Just don't ask me to do another yard sale for a long time! :) LOL