Good news first. We had a phenomenal garage sale on Friday and Saturday. We received tons of donations for our sale, had many friends chip in their time to help us prepare for and run the sale, and it only rained a little bit on Saturday. In all, we raised over $2000 that will help bring our child home. Huge success! We don’t have proper words to thank everyone who donated to, helped with, and promoted this sale. We thank God for altering the weather forecast so that we only got a little bit wet.

On the other side of the coin: we received a note this past Tuesday stating that intercountry adoptions in Ghana are temporarily on hold. You can read the US State Department’s official post here. Carrie and I (along with the other families in our program) are upset that this has happened and we’re anxious to see what will happen next. As far as why this happened, we can’t really discuss it here, but, after a conference call with Bethany last week, we are very hopeful that the Bethany Ghana team is hard at work on our and the children’s behalf to get permission to begin processing adoptions again very soon.

So, we’re asking you again to please pray. Today (Monday) is an important day, so pray that Bethany, along with the two other licensed agencies working in Ghana, will be allowed to keep working.

We hope to provide more news later in the week, but for now, pray with us that this is only a temporary pause and that we’ll get back on track soon so we can a) receive our referral and b) bring our child home.

Thank you for praying. This thing isn’t possible without your support and God’s leading, one day at a time.

Our garage sale is Friday and Saturday from 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. both days. All money from this goes towards our Ghana adoption. Pray for nice weather!

Here’s the description from our Craigslist ad:

HUGE Garage Sale Fri & Sat- Adoption Fundraiser 8am-3pm (Fishers)

Friday, May 17 & Saturday May 18
8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

10050 Orange Blossom Tr.
Fishers, IN 46038

MORE PHOTOS of our garage sale items at http://www.whenatlast.com.

We will be accepting credit/debit cards!

All sales go towards our adoption from Ghana. Items from several families including:

CLOTHING

Men’s (all sizes)

Women’s (all sizes, including maternity)

Boys (infant-6). TONS of 2T, 3T and 4T.

Girls (4T-8)

Shoes (all sizes, kids and adults)

FURNITURE

2 brown leather arm chairs, couch, side table/coffee table set, telephone table, shelves, Harvard AIR HOCKEY TABLE, very nice custom hutch, bookshelves, side tables, camping chairs, 2 train tables, desk, dresser, DVD storage cabinet

MEDIA

DVDs, books, board games, Wii games

ELECTRONICS

Everything in working condition: 2 tube TVs, DVD/VCR combo, CD boom box, Dell desktop computer (Windows XP, 2 GB RAM, printer, CRT monitor)

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS

Mini fridge (works), Wine chiller (still in packaging, never used), 2 microwaves (both work), TONS of very nice picture frames, framed art, lamps (some vintage/antique), flower arrangements, tons of other cute indoor & outdoor decor items, mini Christmas trees, large silver mirror, throw pillows

TOYS

Kids’ easel, barely used Hot Wheels set, stuffed animals galore, puzzles, Fisher Price baby play house, tricycle, dolls, cars, rocking elephant (That’s right. A rocking elephant.), doll house

BABY ITEMS

Stroller, breast pumps and accessories (Medela), crib, Graco changing table w/cushion, boppy w/cover, bouncer, bassinet, body support pillow

MISC.

Paintball gear- Spyder TL-X set w/mask (see photo). weight bench, Harvard air hockey table, small foosball table, guitar case/backpack, air compressor (works), Huffy bike (in great shape except for it needs new front innertube), kitchen items (cups, mugs, dishes, silverware, etc.)

Here are some photo highlights of our sale. These are kind of the tip of the iceberg:

Very nice kids’ train table

Vintage telephone table.

Cool vintage peacock lamps

Orange lantern

Spyder TL-X paintball gear

Nice white dresser

Huffy bike. Needs new front innertube, but is a great bike!

This desk would make a great craft project.

Foosball table

Harvard air hockey table. This thing is awesome.

Antique rocking chair

Twin leather chairs…so comfortable

Air compressor

Coffee table and end tables…so nice!

This couch needs a good home.

Silver mirror from Target

These next photos are a little more chaotic. There’s a crib and bassinet…

…a stroller…

…microwave and mini fridge…

…some household items…

…board games…

…books, dvds, Wii games, mini Christmas trees…

…tons of toys.

Our garage sale is this Friday and Saturday! Can we just tell you it’s going to be a monster garage sale? We’ve got stuff from a dozen or so families, including paintball gear, an air compressor, a rocking elephant, custom hutch, leather armchairs, really nice coffee table and end tables set, a foosball table, more 2T, 3T, and 4T boys clothes than we know what to do with, and a really sweet air hockey table…the list of awesome things goes on and on.

Currently Curtis’ favorite donation.

We’ll write a bigger post later this week with many pictures of all the “big things” in addition to a more comprehensive Craigslist post with everything we’re selling.

1) Can you pray for good weather? Right now there’s a 40% chance of rain on Friday and a 30% chance of rain on Saturday. This is another one of those “we don’t have any control over this” situations we keep finding ourselves in. We know that we can trust God in all things.

2) And while you’re at it, can you keep praying that we receive our referral soon? That would be so awesome. We feel incredibly supported by our family and friends. The donations and help we’ve received for our garage sale are a visible, tangible testimony to this support.

3) Finally, can you get yourself (and your friends and neighbors) to our sale on Friday or Saturday? Spread the word! I can’t stress enough how much great stuff we have. And we want it to leave our house! Right now I feel like I live in a hoarder’s house. No reasonable offers will be denied. We’re open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday. Our address is:

10050 Orange Blossom Tr.
Fishers, IN 46038

We’d love to see you there. Thanks for helping us bring our kid home.

P.S. Oh, and I’ll add a fourth thing: if you still have donations, we’ll take them. Just get ahold of Carrie or me.

As you probably know, our adoption fundraiser garage sale is Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You should see our future kid’s room–it’s packed full of garage sale items! We even have so many garage sale donations so that I (Curtis) have  to park my car in the driveway.

I want Carrie’s car to join mine in the driveway, which means we could use some more donations. If you have big or small items you want to donate, I will come pick them up from your house. Furniture? No problem. Just let me know and I’ll come get it.

Please continue to pray for us. As Carrie wrote last week, we’re boldly praying that God would send us our referral soon. Will you join us in praying? With only a small amount of faith, mountains will move.

Our adoption fundraiser garage sale is happening on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. We’re excited to raise some money to help cover travel expenses for our two trips to Ghana.

If you’d like to donate items toward the sale, let us know!