The blessings of fundraising.. and it isn't always the funding

I've been wanting to write this post for a few days now but just haven't gotten a chance to do it.  Last week hubby helped me set up the front porch for a fundraiser sale. We have been blessed with a beautiful little mudroom off the front of the house that makes this so easy! There is not a lot of space but it is enough to put up some shelves and display things. We do have a garage we could put a sale in but it's back a ways from the road and is not attached to the house so I can't keep an eye on things from the warmth of my studio like I can on the porch. Anyway, we set up shelves, a few tables and a curio out there with a bunch of the items that were donated to our cause or that we decided to clear out of our own stuff. I put an ad on craigslist and then a sign at the road. I mentioned on craigslist that it was a fundraiser but not what it is for.

I set it up for Friday and Saturday from 9 till 4. Friday morning when I headed out to the mailbox at 8:50, someone was already in the driveway waiting to come in! Awesome. The lady came in at 9, and started browsing through some of the stuff and spotted the Breyers I had in a curio. We got to talking and she asked what the fundraiser was for. I had printed out a picture of our little guy and had it taped to our window with some details about what the fundraiser was for, so I showed it to her. She thought it was wonderful. She then mentioned that she herself was adopted at age 5. How cool is that? And she is just getting into Breyer horses, and lives quite local to me. That is fun too. What a blessing. I hope our paths cross again someday!

We made about $100 that day, most of it was from the Breyer horses that I sold to the first customer. Not too shabby for a porch sale on one of the coldest weekends we have had in a long time.

The next day we opened and had almost no customers for quite a while. I debated taking the sign down early just so I didn't have to think about it, but I figured that if I was working in my studio (which adjoins the porch), I might as well have it open just in case. We did get a couple people stopping by, most did not buy anything. Around 1-2 pm an elderly gentleman came by. He took his time and I smiled and chit chatted with him off and on. Eventually he decided which records he wanted to buy from the stack, and asked me about the picture I had posted on the window. I told him that it was a picture of a 2 yr old little boy in an orphanage in Eastern Europe that has Cerebral Palsy, and we were trying to raise money to adopt him. His eyes absolutely beamed. He said it was a wonderful thing, then choked up a bit as he said "We have one of those.... with the palsy...". He paused a moment and then finished with "It's so worth it, go get him!".  I choked back tears as I agreed. What an amazing blessing!!!  God is so good. He blessed me so much those two days. And even though we ended up making only about $110 the whole weekend, I do not think I could ever put a price tag on the experience. I still get teary just thinking about it.

My mom has been digging through her stash of stuff to find things for us to sell for our fundraiser, and I cannot wait to open the 'store' again just to see what new blessings God has for us, even if we don't make a penny.