From Yard Sale to Tornado to Date Night

 In the midst of the excitement of getting on the wait list, I almost forgot to post about our #2 Adoption Yard Sale last weekend!

This go around we had the remaining items from our previous yard sale, which wasn't much honestly, along with several things from random neighbors we had never met before. (Let me explain...Yes we literally drove around our neighborhood a couple weekends before our sale to other garage sales that were coming to an end,  and as we saw people loading up the items they didn't sell, to take to Good Will or wherever, we sheepishly asked if they'd be willing to give it to us instead... apparently we have no shame. Our sweet neighbor let us borrow his truck and we kindly offered to take the remaining items off their hands. People  were surprisingly willing to hand over their stuff if it meant one less trip for them!) All that to say, the above picture is what we were able to come up with before the sale on Saturday- so an entire garage full of quite possibly the most random stuff ever!

We once again woke up bright and early to get things set up in time for those crazy early bird garage sale goers. (I highly recommend doing this if you are planning a yard sale yourself... we make a good chunk of money on the crew that comes at like 6:45am-7:00am- it's well worth an early set up!) Here's what it looked like at 5AM all pulled out of the garage. It's a bit strange to be out and about that early in the morning setting stuff up in the dark. As Joshua and I were slowing pulling stuff out of the garage our neighbors one by one started coming out in the morning dark to help! How awesome is that?! From neighbors letting us borrow tables to set things on, to neighbors helping set stuff up and work the sale- we truly are blessed with a great cul-de-sac full of kind hearted folks! Thank you so much!

The day was a mixture of on and off again rain, just enough to make you nervous that it was about to downpour at any moment. We lucked out though and managed to stay pretty dry and still have a decent turn out despite the dreary day. Just like the last yard sale the crowd seemed to die off around 11:30am - 12:00pm and the sky was looking a bit angry, so we thought it best to maybe call it a day and start making some trips to the Good Will with our remaining stuff. While Joshua was gone dropping off a load of things at the GW I was pulling stuff into the garage as the wind started to pick up. I noticed it started getting pretty stinking dark in the garage and glanced up outside as Joshua was pulling back into the driveway. He jumped out of the car and motioned for us to get a move on it! "There are some nasty looking clouds Hil and we're about to get hit with this storm! We gotta bust bootie and get this stuff in the garage quick!". As we're hustling to drag the remaining stuff in, I hear the dreaded eery sound of the tornado siren go off! Ugh, if you know me at all, you know that I HATE tornados and will always be the first one in the closet when the sirens go off hugging tight to my babe and pup (oh and my cell phone too because I make calls to the rest of my family to make sure they're taking cover- no one seems to be nearly as concerned as me though, although they'll thank me one day when one actually touches down! Yes I get made fun of for this.). I pause, mid-move of a table we're caring in, and give Joshua my scared eyes, but then glance back outside and see there is still junk to be pulled in. I quickly became brave (yes, you should be proud of me), toned out the sirens and did some serious speed moving! We literally drug the last item in as the torrential downpour let loose! We quickly closed the garage door and I hurried myself to the TV to check out the tornado warning for our county. I should add here that in the middle of the hustle and bustle of bringing everything in, both my mom and sister called me (a bit of role reversal here when it comes to storm calls) because they knew that we were totally about to get hit hard. I called them back once inside to proudly let them know we got everything in the nick of time! For those of you concerned if our home blew away... it did not. Why does TX sound the stupid sirens all the time if there isn't a tornado on the ground? Don't they know it stresses a girl out?!
Okay, enough tornado talk, sorry... onto more important things! So grand total from the day was right at $600! For a dreary half day of yard selling it- I thought that was pretty darn good! We have since taken all the remaining clothes and furniture to some families we know that could really use them- so it worked out great for all!

We were able to end the day on a GREAT note! It was Joshua and I's SIX year anniversary, and while having a yard sale is super romantic, we figured we should go on a date to top off the day! Joshua had gotten a gift card for the movies from my sis and Scott for his birthday, and then the day of the sale, our amazing next door neighbors generously gave us a gift card to Maggiano's! Yay for free, really nice, date nights! So we got all cleaned up from being nasty sweaty and rained on, handed the Jude man over to my sis, who graciously offered to babysit, and went out for a relaxing night, just the two of us! What a great six years it has been! Nothing beats being married to a man who I know I can glorify God more by being with than without! I'm so grateful to share an adventure of pursuing God's call on our lives with this incredible man!