Welcome December with Tireless Hope

As Adoption Awareness month comes to an end & we consider all that we are thankful for, we wanted to extend our thanks to all of you who have enveloped us with love & support.

We've been in a period of waiting for a couple of weeks now, but hopefully the beginning of December will bring the next step in our adoption process.  (I think we have that 'hurry up and wait' thing down now!)

There is a song entitled 'Snow' by Sleeping at Last that we love.  The title of this blog is a line from the song that Kevin & I have considered a mantra over the last couple of years.  I hope this lovely video gets you into the Christmas spirit & gives you hope as well.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSxMqyiVfsM

So we'll sing carols softly, as sweet as we know.

A prayer that our burdens will lift as we grow.

Like young love still waiting under mistletoe.

Welcome December with tireless hope.

~B&K

Mary Kay Fundraiser

I know I say this all the time, but we really are surrounded with the best folks.  So many have offered help & support to us through this process so far & it's been completely humbling!

 

A friend, co-worker and Mary Kay consultant approached me about having a fundraiser & I said, "why not?" :)

 

Now, I'm a HUGE fan of Black Friday shopping so I suggested we have the sale start from Friday, November 29th & go through Sunday, December 8th.  It's a 10 day sale & the profits will go directly to bringing Baby Masch home!  So if you or someone you know loves Mary Kay products, it's a win-win situation! 

 

You can place an order in a couple of convenient ways: call or text Miranda Haley @ 615-573-8975 & email beautifullymade79@gmail.com. Payments are versatile as well: you can pay with cash, check (if you're local) or credit/debit card!  When ordering, use the code BAK with Miranda so she knows you're including your order in our fundraiser!  You can check out all of their products by going to www.marykay.com but please place an order by phone or email with Miranda. 

 

Remember the 10 day sale starts this Friday! 

 

If you have any questions, feel free to message me or Miranda.

 

Thank you!

                                                                                    

 

Gold Coins

Two weeks after my 31st Birthday, I was still flying high off of the sweet, generous gift from my husband.  We made plans that week to go to our credit union & officially set up our adoption savings account, plus we had our first appointment with our adoption agency.  Needless to say, it was already a BIG week of adoption stuff happening. 

The day after our adoption meeting, I spoke to my mom on the phone & told her all the details.  How much things cost, a timeline of events, for I felt about the agency, etc.  She asked me towards the end our conversation, ‘so how much more do you think you need to get all of this preliminary stuff done?’  I responded, ‘I don’t know but I think it’s around $1,800.’  Not much else was said about finances & the conversation ended quickly after that.

 

The very next day, I rushed home from softball practice so we could see a movie but I wanted to check the mail first.  My sister told me earlier in the week that my belated birthday card would arrive any day & I had a feeling it would be there.  Sure enough, there was an envelope from my sister but underneath it was another card envelope that had my granny’s writing on it.  Since my Granny already sent me a birthday gift, & because it was made out to me & Kevin, I figured it was an anniversary card for us since that was coming up in a couple of weeks. 

 

I couldn’t take the suspense so I opened my Granny’s card first.  Have you ever had one of those moments when you are reading something but you’re not believing or comprehending what’s on the paper in front of you?  Well, I was having that moment!  There was a very simple greeting card enclosed but also tucked inside was a check for $1,800!  I started bawling my eyes out in the middle of our driveway & ran inside to tell Kevin.  (Thankfully none of our neighbors were around to witness this!)  He was in the living room playing guitar & as soon as he saw me he flipped out thinking something terrible had happened.  I couldn’t speak so I just shoved the card into his hands & he had nearly the same reaction as me.  We called Granny right away & after making sure no one put her up to this, she told us this story about where the money came from... 

 

Several weeks prior she mentioned to my dad that some items were just sitting in her safety deposit box.  One of these items were some gold coins that my Papa had purchased when my sister & I were little with the intent that we could sell them one day as a part of our inheritance.  My dad can be quite convincing when he wants to be, so he talked to her about pricing out the coins to see what he could get for them.  If they were offered a good price, then he’d sell them & split the profits between the two of us.  Obviously he was offered a great deal on them & they decided to sell. 

 

So while I was on the phone just one day prior to this, telling my mom how we needed $1,800 to get the process started, God provided & it was delivered the next day!

 

Before we made the official decision to adopt, we felt like we were in limbo.  We still clung to the dream of getting pregnant & miraculously having a child of our own.  We also struggled with other options (should we try an IUI, In Vitro, Eastern medicinal treatments...)  We just didn’t know which path to take.  Within weeks of us making the decision to move forward with adoption, God opened all of these doors to prove to us that not only is this dream possible but that it’s what He wants for our lives. 

 

After years of heartbreak & discouragement we FINALLY had a tangible hope on becoming parents. 

 

Thanks to all.

 

Brooke

 

 

Y'all ready for this? {{yard sale results}}

When we first announced our yard sale a couple of months ago, friends & family began donating goods that we could try to sell.  We were gracious to take anything, which resulted in our house looking like this:

Having a lot of stuff to sell at a yard sale is a good problem to have, right?  We thought so!  (Even if we did feel like the walls were starting to collapse in on us!)

 

Early on, we were humbled by the amount of people offering to help us with this event.  So many of you graciously advertised, collected donations from church groups, small groups, classrooms, small businesses, & co-workers.  First, we want to thank Lindsey & Tony Sparrow, who opened their home & gave up a lovely weekend of family time to host the event.  Next, I want to thank our dear friend Heather Miller, who coordinated so many things, helped keep my sanity intact & offered encouragement from the very beginning.  My good friend Amy was an amazing friend for helping us the night before & the early morning hours of the sale.  Then last but not least, future Baby Masch spoiler's, Trevor & Blake were up all morning, wheeled & dealed some folks, fed us pizza & boxed...boxed...boxed up stuff.

The Dream Team:

Heather & Lindsey

Blake & Trevor

 



After 2 truckloads & 4 cars full of yard sale merch, we were ready for Saturday morning to get here so we could get rid of this stuff!  Amy D. sorted MOUNDS & MOUNDS of clothes (10 cent hose…) & we all worked ‘til we were delirious, then called it a night.  Kevin & I got up around 4ish to start the day. 

We littered Donelson with signs (some were pretty goofy…again, we were delirious the night before!) Then we started unloading everything along the Sparrow’s long driveway.  Our first customer, the lovely Jessica Jackson, arrived at 6:45.  She found some treasures & asked to pray with us before she left.  What a blessing that was!  I was running on about 3 ½ hours of sleep so, yes, I got a little weepy.  This was just a tangible reminder of how many of you prayed for us that day! 
 

The entire day was a blur.  So many people came by to shop & we sold just over half of the donations received!  When asked how we had accumulated so many things, I was able to tell people how we decided to adopt a baby & the response was so sweet.  Complete strangers offered prayers, words of encouragement & decided against haggling to ‘support the cause’.  I met so many people who have been involved with adoption.  A woman spoke with me about being adopted 40 years ago.  Another person saw our ad & brought her daughter that she adopted from Ethiopia.  Every story we heard was an encouragement & a blessing!

 

The weather was beautiful until about 1pm & it decided to pour!  After frantically getting everything inside their garage & under the carport, several people still showed up to shop.  We even had a shopper rummaging through everything we boxed up to donate to Thrift Smart! 

Towards the end of the day, Heather asked if I wanted to count the money.  But I’ll get to that in a minute! 

Let’s skip to this past weekend in San Diego.  My best friend Tiffany Goodrick took it upon herself to coordinate a yard sale to benefit our adoption.

Complete strangers donated items to sell & the turn out she had was well.  Seriously…we are just blown away by the generosity of others!  We got really excited when people driving by decided to shop the night before as she was trying to set up! 

She texted me asking how much I had hoped to earn from their sale.  Honestly, I was just honored that she thought enough of us to do something like this & I didn’t care how much they raised.  When I responded back with, “$400?”  She said, “sorry, we didn’t raise that much…”  Immediately I responded saying, “It’s OK!  Any bit helps…” She was being sneaky, though, & texted “we sold $200…”  (a minute ticked by)  “…plus $300” (another minute passed) “…plus $100”, “plus $200”. “Plus $200…how much is that?”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? 

Not only did they get a lot of gracious yard sale customers.  So many people simply donated money to the cause.  Our hearts are full…that’s the only way to explain it.  What an unexpected, AMAZING gift!

Let’s go back to our yard sale when Heather & I decided to count the money...

She put her banker’s hat on & immediately sorted through everything.  She looked at me & said, “How much did you hope to raise today?”  I said.  “Umm…$600?”  Smiling, she put her finger down on one stack of bills (all $20’s) & said “There’s $600 right here.”  I’m sure my eyes bugged out at that moment considering there was about 8 more stacks to go…She grabbed my phone, pulled up the calculator & told me not to look as she tallied everything up. 

 

So by the end of the day, we earned $1,708. 23!!!!!!

We had easily tripled the amount we had hoped to earn at this fundraiser.  We immediately went outside & had everyone guess as to how much we raised.  Kevin was the closest with a guess of around $900.  You can imagine the hootin’ & hollerin’ in the Sparrow’s diveway at that point!

I still have to pinch myself when I think, “we raised almost $3,000 towards our adoption in just two weekends!”  It doesn’t make sense in my mind!  I know I’ve said this multiple times already, but WE ARE SO GRATEFUL to all of those who helped us, for all of those who gave, & for all of you who prayed!  So many people told me afterward that they prayed for us the entire day.  Even though they weren’t able to come, they supported us in prayer.  That means so much to us & we definitely felt the prayer. 

 And the sale isn’t over!  We still have items listed on Craig’s List & Ebay we’re hoping to sell.  (Does anyone need a Kindle Fire for Christmas???)  And we took a LOAD of books, CD’s, DVD’s & VHS tapes to McKay’s. 

 McKay's loot:

Again…A MILLION TIMES…for the rest of our lives…until we’re blue in the face…we thank ALL who helped this November in bringing Baby Masch home! 
 
With love & thankfulness,

 Brooke & Kevin

 

 

 

San Diego Yard Sale!

We want to share the amazingness that was our yard sale this past weekend, but FIRST we have an announcement...

The yard sale is moving to the Pacific Time Zone! 

This Saturday, from 7am-12pm, my best bud Tiffany Goodrick is hosting a yard sale benefiting our adoption.

The event will be held at: 
7733 Blue Lake Drive
San Diego, CA  92119

Send me a message if you need more information.  Spread the word with anyone you know in the area. 

In regards to the Nashville yard sale:  We're still crunching the numbers & selling product.  Once we have a final total of what YOU helped us earn, we'll post the official word. 

As always, your support & generosity have left us in awe. 

Thank you!

~Brooke & Kevin