A Successful Sale!

We had our garage sale on Saturday, and I am happy to report that we had a great turn out!  My sister, Laura, was generous to offer her garage/driveway to us, and she and her husband, David, were so much help!  Kyhle and I are so grateful for all of their hard work they put in to making this garage sale possible.  My mom was able to haul a mountain of items up to my sister's to donate, so we had a pretty good amount to sell.  On the Saturday before, we went to Laura's to go through all of the items and price everything out.  Families from Laura's ward loaned us some card tables to set up, and that was such a big help.  Thank you, Westfield ward!  

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning, and got everything set up out in the driveway.  We started the sale at 8:30, and we put sings in the front of the neighborhood and on  lamp posts with arrows back to the house, as Laura lives in the back of her neighborhood.  I posted the sale on Craigslist and Facebook, so we were hoping for a good turn out.  

My three year old nephew, Eli, was so excited to have his first lemonade stand and bake sale!  Laura made some brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  Lemonade was 50 cents and the baked treats were 25 cents.  Eli made $5 on his first sale!  The neighbor was outside washing his truck when he saw Eli set up his table, and came on over and put $5 in Eli's cup!  Eli sure did cling tight to that money!  He was such a sweet little sales man, and you just couldn't say no to him.  :)

I was getting worried as a whole hour went by and we had zero customers come by.  I thought the shoppers would be out early!  Finally around 10:00, a few cars pulled up and the sale officially kicked off!  We really sold quite the mixture of items--baby items were definitely most popular.  We sold dishes, radios, jewelry, clothes, toys, CDs, DVDs, a dresser, and a few other pieces of "junk."  We had busy spurts throughout the whole day.  We would go 20 minutes with no action, then 4 cars pull up at once.  We ended up closing the sale at 4 PM, and we were happy with the result of our hard work.  

My dad came up and joined us for the afternoon (mom is out of town), and he seemed to have a good time hanging out and playing with Eli.  The boys played with Eli's toys in the front yard in between sales, and Dad bought us pizza for lunch.  Thanks, Dad!  

We still have SO much left over, that we are hoping to have another sale at my parent's house in Greenwood the first weekend of September (as long as weather permits), so I am hoping we can have an even better turn out.  My parents live in the front of their neighborhood on the main street, and they have a ton of traffic coming through all day.  

And now the results of the sale--we were able to raise $153.00!  How awesome is that?  I wasn't sure what to expect, as I had never had a garage sale before, but seeing as most of what we sold was between 50 cents-$3, I'd say $153 is pretty good!  :)

With the help of our sale, we are now up to $3,289.25 in our baby fund!  We love seeing that number increase!  Every dollar gets us closer and closer to our future baby, and we feel so excited and anxious to get to our goal.  I can't believe what we have been able to do in a matter of three months.  We are hoping to do our IVF in September or October, so I am excited to see what we can do in the next couple of months!  

Come Shop With Us!

As we work to raise enough money to do our IVF (in vitro fertilization), I have a hard time not trying other treatments, as well, such as more IUIs.  I hate feeling like months are going by without doing everything we can to try to become pregnant.  I really want to always be doing everything in my power to have a baby, but I guess working toward raising money is me doing something.  I just hope it pays off!  On the other hand, I have also been enjoying this "time off" from medication, injections, and doctor's appointments.  However, we have not been completely on hold.  We are finally able to have a garage sale!  My sister, Laura, offered her house for us to be able to have a successful sale!  My mom and Laura both gathered a bunch of items from their houses to donate to our sale, and it gave us a great reason to clean out our closets, while also preparing to move.  Kyhle and I were able to collect 6 trash bags full of shoes and clothes!  I feel like I lost 1/2 my wardrobe!  

On Saturday, we went up to Laura and David's house to go through everything, put price stickers on the items, and set everything up.  We are so excited to see how the sale turns out, and are hopeful we will be able to make a dent in our baby fund.  We are also going to have a bake sale outside, along with my nephew, Eli, who will have a little lemonade stand.  The sale will be this Saturday, July 19, from 9:30-3.  Let me know if you'd like to come check out what we have, or maybe buy some cookies/brownies, and I'll give you the address! 

I have also been thinking about asking around to local restaurants and find out if any of them would do a dine to donate for us.  Do any of my Greenwood or Fishers friends know restaurant managers who would be open to that? 

We are definitely making progress thanks to all of YOUR help!  We are always so excited and humbled when we receive a new donation.  We have a dry erase board on our bedroom dresser with all of the donations written down.  On the top, we have how much we've raised, THE GOAL, and how much we have to go.  I love seeing it every morning, and being reminded how truly blessed we are to have family and friends who want to help us make this dream come true.  We are about half way to our goal.  Thank you! 

The Goal: $7,000

Raised so far: $3,036.75

To go: $3,963.25

I am considering doing another bake sale, like my mom did with the teachers at school.  I am curious how many of our friends (local) would be interested in ordering cookies, brownies, or cupcakes if I were to do this?  I am trying to think of other fundraising ideas, as well, but am running low on options.  I am also  happy to baby-sit, if any of my friends would like a date night, or just a couple of hours outside of the house.  I am available in the evenings, and some weekends.  Hit me up; I am more than qualified! :)

If you wold like to make a donation, you can donate directly to our savings on Paypal by using Kyhle's email address: kyhle.porter@gmail.com 

If you do not have a Paypal account, but would still like to donate, feel free to send a check in the mail (ask me for our address), or you can donate on gofundme.com by searching for our names.  

We are grateful for the progress that has been made.  A few months ago, we wouldn't have even imagined we would be where we are now.  With prayers and support from our loved ones, we are making baby steps every day.  That, my friends, feels awesome.  What a difference it makes to be able to talk about this journey, and share it with our friends.