Pictures and Updates

It has been a while since I've posted something new to our blog and it is certainly not because there hasn't been anything to report. It has been INSANE. No really, our life has been quite nutty over here in the Central Valley. I wish I could take the time to chronicle every awesome event but I need to finish Jane's Halloween costume so here is the highlight reel:

EPIC Yard Sale

On Saturday, Oct.12th we had our first (of what I'm thinking might be a few) yard sale. I put up a few posts on Instagram asking for donations and we were overwhelmed with the response. Our garage was filled to the max by the Friday night before the sale. It was something from "Hoarders." Not the junky episodes. The ones where people are addicted to shopping and by really nice stuff. There was a lot of really nice stuff in our garage.

We enlisted a few of our fabulous friends to help us sort the chaos the night before. It was a HUGE task but with everyone's help, we were done sorting by 9 pm. A couple more friends joined us for a late night party and we sent the boys to handle signage while we ladies enjoyed a glass of wine. It was seriously such a good night.

Saturday morning rolled around and we had people casing our lot at 5:30 am. Seriously people? Go back to bed. My dear friend Leah arrived at 6 am with Starbucks and donuts and the three of us set up on the driveway and lawn. By 7:30 am it was a zoo and we had already made at least $500. At one point there were probably 60 people on our property.

We had a ton of friends stop by throughout the morning to help us out. Right when we felt overwhelmed, someone else would drive up to help us. The Lord totally knew what we needed and He provided well.

It's all about the grand total, right? Friday night our set up team gave predictions on what our total would be at the end of the sale. And the winner is....

Tim! 

We made a total of $1836 at our yard sale! 

The whole experience was great. It was a lot of work but so worth it. Thank you to everyone who helped out and donated items!

Maker's Market: Our "Standard Goods" Debut

We had an amazing night at the "Maker's Market" put on by a couple of businesses downtown to promote local crafters. Since it was our first time selling our leather goods in person, we were really freaked out and felt very exposed (if that makes any sense). When all was said and done, we sold over half of our inventory and made just over $800.00! It was amazing and so much fun! It was just the push we needed to feel confident in our products and excited to continue in the Standard Goods endeavor.

One of the funnest parts of prepping for the craft show was getting to design our display table. A huge thanks to Jacki Potorki at Third Element Studios for the rad photos!







As I mentioned in an earlier post, we finally launched an Etsy shop for our leather goods. It is such a rush to get the email notification that an order has been placed. Every dollar gets us one step closer to our child! Visit www.etsy.com/shop/standardgoods and let us know what you think! We've gotten a few custom orders for different sizes and colors and those have been really fun to design and make.

So that's the update for now! We've been so blessed by everyone's support and encouragement. I know there will be many challenges and difficulties in our future as we continue down this adoption road but these last few weeks have been so faith building, I know we will be able to face the challenges with confidence and tenacity.

More updates coming soon!