OK...i know you are waiting!

FIRST, a thank you to our children!!!  I am so very very grateful to our girls for all that they did!  Liz donated things that were REAL treasures and i mean this...they were TREASURES to her and she amazed us at her generous heart for giving so much for her brother's behalf! Victoria is growing up and is being a help in helping to care for her little sister and loved seeing her clothes going into her brother's quilts!  Catia has been SO VERY involved in this garage sale in ways that are beyond her eleven years!  She has had such joy in her serving!!!  All three of those girls were helpers with the garage sale itself!  Victoria baked cookies to sell too!  Becky, our "college age 'adopted' daughter -not in reality but in heart, has been a huge help in staying later and coming earlier than her PCA hours and even spending the night and working the garage sale in such a way that she was exhausted from it and going right into a youth retreat weekend where she is a leader.
To point out Ally is needed......she has been an amazing sister since before Scott and i even said YES with both feet to adoption!  I am NOT saying however that she has ALWAYS been smiling and giggling over all of the work that has needed to be done with an adoption BUT i AM going to tell you that this girl is the main reason that the sale happened!  She said that she would do whatever it took to do the sale and she did!  She and Becky priced almost all of the merchandise and THAT my friends you KNOW how big a job that is!  She also worked at organizing the merchandise with Becky again.  Ally has been a powerhouse when it has come to these days of the sale and i will NEVER be able to thank her enough!  She is an amazing blessing in our lives and we are grateful!
OK....the story that i KNOW that you are wondering about..... my girls would come down and get me if someone needed me and on Thursday a couple had asked to meet me as they were adoptees and were on an advisory board for St Cloud.  I went up to meet them and introduced myself, they introduced themselves and they asked about our son.  I explained that he had Down Syndrome and that our daughter did too and THAT is when the miracle happened.  I don't want you to miss this miracle because you may if you don't really take the time to think about it.  Those who worked on Thursday know that it was a very rare thing for me to be out in the garage sale at all as it was insanely busy INSIDE the house and that i was at the exact spot meeting this couple and answering these exact questions in that spot in the HUGE garage sale....ONLY GOD!!!  SO i am telling them about how our son and daughter will be fifteen days apart when i hear a small voice and then see who the voice is within seconds...there stood a young woman...remember i am nearing 46....who was very pregnant with her two small children -one standing with the other in a stroller and she said with a trembling voice and tears filling her eyes, "I'm pregnant with a child with DS".  I was able to let her know that having a child  with DS is a huge blessing and it is hard....sometimes VERY hard BUT it is worth it all!  She was terrified of what the future held. The other couple shared that the adult that was standing with them had had surgeries and was only a little over a pound when she was born and she was doing great!  I let the young lady know that i was so proud of her for continuing with the pregnancy of her child.  I let her know that i was only a phone call away if she needed to talk.  I let her know that Sophina had open heart surgery too and had a PDA and had other procedures but we wouldn't trade her for a single thing that the world has to offer!  Ally came by and let her know that Sophina is a HUGE blessing in her life.  Will YOU PLEASE PRAY for this courageous woman and her family???  Will you please not forget her when you think of our family....pray for her!  Pray that she will be encouraged, uplifted, strengthened and that she will reach out for help!  AN incredible blessing of the WHOLE ENTIRE sale!!!
Ok....i KNOW that you are waiting for the total BUT the total is still not really the total as i seriously have shoppers in my garage right now (from our home school group being helped by Victoria and Catherine).  She is an incredible encourager to me and cheerleader and giver of my bi-weekly hugs!  OH! Plus there are still two other sales left to be added yet in here too....BUT with all of that said.....the total of the two days is $2297!!!!!!!!  Can you believe it?!?!?!  All of us who worked on Friday and knew the total were amazed that we had received over $600 on a day that was so horribly windy and freezing cold.  There had hardly been people compared to the day before....but God!!!
SO this means that we will be fully funded!!!  We have saved and done as much as we could paying for big chunks of the adoption and then you all have given SO GENEROUSLY that the Lord has blessed all of that generosity with His blessings!  WE ARE AMAZED!!!!  We stand in awe of the generosity of you all AND the incredible blessings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has been right there with us through all of these months!!!
We are leaving in SIX DAYS.....in fact we will be in the air at this point in six days!  WILL YOU PLEASE PRAY us through...even until heaven as we know that our adventure is just BEGINNING!!!  We are so grateful for all of our supporting friends and family!  WE CANNOT WAIT to introduce to you our son!
On Mother's Day, we are praying that we will be able to introduce to you our son and dedicate his life to the Lord at our church....we will all be together that Sunday and it is Mother's Day and we will more than likely be up anyway.  Any time will be overwhelming i am sure for him.
Will you pray? For our time...for our family...for our son and daughters and son-in-law.  For our trip...SO much to pray for! We are grateful for all of these prayer warriors!  I just can't believe that we are almost to the end of the beginning line of our son.  ALWAYS BLESSED, Connie for the crew