Yard Sale Results!

The dust is settling from an intense weekend of “yard sale-ing.”  God provided much more than we expected, considering we just started the planning 6 weeks ago!  Thanks for everyone’s prayers and help!   Our three day total ended up being $2350, basically doubling our goal!  This is enough to cover over 20% of my annual need for funds as the Bethlehem Life Coaches for Kids® director or over 10% of my total two year need! 

We had surprises every day of the sale. On Thursday, Day One, we experienced a near constant flow of people.  This included a pair of counterfeiters who snuck a fake $100 bill by us (a “bleached” $5 bill with a $100 printed over it). But even with the loss, $650 still came in!

Jeremiah and the yard full of goods, and this was the final day!

Day Two we canceled due to the forecast, which ended up being a gift since we were so spent from Thursday and all the prep-work on Wednesday.  Saturday, God provided some last minute set-up help and another large turn-out – strangers were even buying up a good number of our bake sale goods!  We had some added excitement on Saturday night when we left most of the sale items under tables on the lawn covered in tarps.  We noticed a group in a car checking out our place around midnight.  They took off when they saw me peek through the blinds, so I ended up calling the police to ask for more patrols.  Thankfully, God helped us to get some sleep and nothing was touched during the night!

Day Three demonstrated the ecumenical power of rummage.  We discovered the pastor/priest of the 4000+ Roman Catholic church across the street inserted an announcement to encourage everyone to visit our sale.  He’d already dropped by multiple times during the week without us knowing it.  His church helped clean out a good portion of our bake sale and did some shopping too! 

All in all, God’s promises to care for His people were on display.  We’re thankful for the approximately 25 families/individuals that donated over 1000 items -- wow!   Special thanks to our small group and all who joined in to help us by praying, pricing loads of things, lengthy set ups, baking, hauling tables, and child care!  Your support in the middle of summer busyness was huge and definitely what Paul would call “a fragrant offering to the Lord!”  Thanks so much!!!

A view from the "Sporting Goods" and "Furniture" Sections.

It reached the 90's on the final day, but people kept coming!

Enjoying Tighter Spaces

We’re actually thrilled to feel the walls start to close in on us over the last two weeks!  God is providing.  Thanks to everyone who’s donated so far, and to everyone who’s still planning on donating to the yard sale.  We have plenty of room for more donations!

Hanging out in the redecorated garage.

We also received two good pieces of news last week.  One, BUI confirmed that we can provide tax-deductible receipts – if you’ve already donated items, one should be on the way shortly.  And two, my friend Francois, an accomplished French Pastry Chef, is partnering with us. He’s preparing cheesecake and French pastries to complement our Saturday morning bake sale!  You can learn more about his business, which is helping him get through seminary at his website, La Ciel Cheesecakes and Pastries.

Keeping safe in the basement storage area.

Besides bake sale and yard sale donations, we’re busy looking to assemble a team of pricing/labeling helpers for Tuesday night (Aug 17) or join members of our small group on Wednesday night (Aug 18th) – thanks group!  We also could use help with set up and take down for the sale on Thursday through Saturday (mornings before 8a or evenings after 5p) – help as briefly or long as you like.  Let us know if you’d like to get involved!

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