Fall 2011 Garage Sale!

The last couple of weeks have been nuts around the Rippke home. It’s been almost a month since our last update, but it feels like I haven’t even blinked yet! Let alone slept! There’s been a lot on my/our minds lately about the whole adoption process, and our adoption journey, but I need more time to think about that before writing anything. And since we’ve had about 10 hours of total sleep over the last 3 days, I also need to be a little more coherent. : ) I guess this is my version of “pregnancy brain?”

Anyways, back when we started the process we decided that as long as we were going to have a loooong wait we might as well use this time to do a couple of things:

1. Enjoy our time as a couple. Over the past seven years we’ve gotten used to being a “pair” – and obviously that will change BIG time. So to celebrate our five year wedding anniversary we took a week off and got away. Just the two of us. For the first time since our honeymoon over five years ago. It was delightful, and I think if we’re still waiting at this time next year it may have to happen again. It was just so nice to put the computer down and not answer emails (ok, maybe we answered a couple) for a whole week. Oh, we’re paying for it now. Playing catch up with work, trying to get the cleaning and laundry done, dealing with vacation withdrawal…but it was worth it.

2. Fundraise. Yep. If there’s a silver lining to all of this waiting it has to be the amount of time we have to fundraise and save. Although who knows how much airfare to Ethiopia will cost in two years…not even going to worry about that right now. Our Ordinary Hero and Just Love Coffee shops will be open our whole wait, but a couple of weeks ago our friends the Dysons found out about a 84 mile garage sale happening in our town. We both decided that it would be and awesome opportunity for our families to fundraise for our adoptions (they’re adopting too!). The Dysons were able to secure the local news to come out and do a story about the sale. And it was a huge success. We didn’t have a lot of time to plan, but in about a week Nate and I were able to collect enough clothing and items to bring in a little over $600 and we are SO THANKFUL for everyone’s help and generosity. Thank you thank you thank you. Nate and I had a vase out with a sign (in the images below) and collected almost $100 just in donations from people who support our decisions to adopt, and have a heart for orphan care. I don’t know if it was the lack of sleep or just the sincerity of the support from random strangers, but I found myself near tears several times throughout the day. Between the two of us we sold  ton of stuff. Including every single baby item we had! It is all on it’s way to orphanages in Ghana. How cool is that!? So just know that if you are someone who donated children’s items to either of our families, they not only supported orphan care within our own families, but also directly, in an orphanage half way across the world. God is SO good! We took lots of pictures, which I’ve included below, along with the news video link. Thank goodness the Dyson family is huge and lives in town. They were such an enormous help. We’re planning on doing another sale in the spring, so even though it’s WAY early, if you come across any clothing, furniture, kitchen stuff, baby stuff…anything and everything…that you are loading up to take to Goodwill please keep us in mind and we’d be happy to come pick it up and store it until our next sale!

3. Build slowly and have fun doing it. Since we don’t have to be in a rush we can “build” everything slowly. That includes the nursery! Which is great because we can take our time and do some crafting and a little garage sale-ing of our own! And it’s super fun to have the time to enjoy it. : ) As I’ve mentioned before, our parents have nearly finished our nursery with awesome garage sale finds and family pieces. We are nearly baby ready…just need the crib! But we’ve also been able to find some necessities here on our own. Including our baby sling. Woo! Won’t Nate look good wearing a baby?! We were also blessed with a box full of nursery items from a fellow AGCI family. Have I mentioned how much we love our AGCI family? We love them. I heard someone say once that “adoption can be a lonely road” and it can be at times. And in those times all we have to do is open up the computer and viola! Our AGCI family is right there. I love my fellow AGCI mamas.

4. Learn some patience. Yep. Easier said than done. But nothing in our lives have made us trust in God’s perfect timing like this has. So while the waiting is hard, we find peace knowing that He will not be a day late in piecing our family together. Now if we can just continue to remind ourselves of that when the waiting gets tough…

We’re hoping to get our October numbers soon. But in the meantime, if you’re the praying type, we’ve got one major request for y’all. Six of our AGCI families, and their children, are caught up in an ugly, heart breaking, mess of a situation. Have been for a while now. And while Nate and I could never imagine the pain they’re going through right now, our hearts ache for them. We’re sharing part of their story so that everyone can know how to be praying for them. These kiddos desperately need to come home. Visit one of the family’s sites for info HERE.

Some pics from our garage sale! And here’s THE NEWS VIDEO – Click the link >> Our garage sale on the news!

Our baby sling. : ) It’ll work a little better when the “baby” has some weight to them haha. And thank you again Kim for the awesome baby bedding, diaper bag, monitor, and baby items! Love it!!