Miracles: Yard Sale Results!

Were miracles meant to be a temporary thing? When we read the old and new testaments of the bible, do we read about the miracles performed both by Jesus AND his apostles as things of the past? Do we read about the wonders of the Lord and think to ourselves, "Well that was nice...what about us?". The wedding feast at Cana, the multiplying of the loaves and fishes, Peter healing the lame man in the book of Acts? Can miracles like these happen today? I will tell you, I will never read about the signs and miracles of the Lord the same after this past weekend.

This weekend was a weekend that came with much anticipation. It was not only the weekend of our first big adoption yard sale fundraiser but also the weekend of our first son, Josiah's, second birthday. It was truly a weekend full of hope and sacrifice, much like we've found the christian life to be. I found myself wondering how Josiah is doing. He's two this year..he must be beginning to talk. I wondered about what his little voice sounds like, how his little waddle of a walk must look like.  But between the thoughts and emotions of Josiah, I found myself busily getting ready for our big yard sale on Saturday along with our much anticipated home visit by our social worker the following Monday.

I had no idea what to expect from our yard sale, honestly. I knew we had a few donations here and some at my sister's house so at least we had something to sell. I knew that a few people said they would come out and I knew that our sweet family friend, Debbie Wilson, had put an ad in the local paper about our yard sale. So I was hopeful...but honestly, not as hopeful as I should have been. I realize now that my expectations of the Lord's provision was definitely on the...low end.

The days leading up to the yard sale, all I could utter in prayer was that the day would be filled with joy. That's it. I didn't pray for monetary success. I didn't ask for a specific monetary amount to be provided by the Lord. I asked for JOY.

As we arrived before dawn at my sister's house to set up on that cold saturday morning, we felt like the donations were literally multiplying (miracle one) as we pulled donations out of our cars and my sister's garage. The sun wasn't even up and people were already there waiting (miracle two), with flashlights in hand, to check out our "merchandise". A steady flow of joyful customers filled our day from 7am to 2pm. No joke...there wasn't one moment where we didn't have someone buying from us.

The day was filled with immense joy(miracle three). By a recommendation from a friend, we served hot coffee to everyone that came out to the yard sale whether they bought something or not, just to say thank you for coming out. This was a huge, huge hit! People loved the generosity. Honestly, who gives out free coffee with french vanilla creamer at a yard sale? It really warmed people up...literally. :) Smiles were all around. And on top of all the joy, we had some amazing discussions with complete strangers about the beauty of adoption! I personally had three people that I had never met learn that the yard sale was for our adoption, tell me that they were adopted! One lady came to our yard sale JUST to encourage us in our adoption. She had read the newspaper ad that this yard sale was for an adoption and she herself adopted her son over 20 years ago and wanted to come by just to talk with us and encourage us in our journey.

And lastly, a huge miracle happened. God provided for our adoption in a big way. The grand total of our simple yard sale was $2,300!!!! We had no idea how much God would provide through this and were blown away by the totals.

Who said God isn't alive and moving in our world today? Who said the miracles of the bible are a thing of the past? We. Saw. God. Move and we saw his people bless us in ways that we can hardly grasp. Tears streamed  with joy all weekend long. At Mass, I could hardly contain my tears when thinking back over the joyous day, God blessed us with. We witnessed miracle after miracle this weekend and we are forever changed. God is faithful.