Officially started!

September has been an unusual crazy month. I took the Girl Scouts to camp in the beginning of the month, then my beloved Grandmother passed away and I needed to fly to Chicago for a few days, and then I was sick for a week. But, we are back on track now and going at full speed. The garage sale items are just about all priced (I will price the rest that day), the signs for both the garage sale and the craft fair have been made, and we got tons of paperwork filled out. We are officially started in the adoption process! It's so exciting. The paperwork was a little overwhelming, but we got through it just fine. Today was our first interview for the home study. I was so nervous because I'm a person that has a hard time talking about myself and was unsure of the personal questions that would be asked. I think we both did a great job and we really like our social worker. She is a person that is very easy to talk to, which helps greatly. She's open and honest and started preparing us for some things that we never even thought of. I'm excited we found her and I think we will be very happy with her getting us through this beginning process. We have our home visit from her on October 20th. I'm definitely not as scared about it as I was. I think it will go well. There are a few things we need to do prior to that; doctors visits, vet visits, fingerprinting, and a few other papers to gather, not to mention the garage sale. Today was the first time we had to spend some of our fundraised money and we truly appreciate the help everyone has given. We still have a very long way to go, so any additional help, would really help us along. I'm so excited we are officially started and can't believe we took the first steps in the process. I can almost picture this actually happening!!!

A busy month

Wow, I just realized it's been almost a month since I wrote a post. Things are going very well and we're very excited (along with stressed and nervous) about this whole process. This is what we've been up to lately.

Preparing for the yard sale: We were contacting local residents via Craigslist hoping for donations after their sale was through. We are so exstatic with the response. We have had many people that were happy to allow us to pick up their unsold items. Our sale (on October 13), will be very neat because we literally have different items for all sorts of tastes. We just recently had to stop picking up large amounts of donations as we ran out of space in the garage to store it all. It's a good thing and bad thing. I wish we could get even more for our sale, but we don't have the room. It was tough going out and picking up the donations in 110+ degrees, but has been totally worth it. The amount of support still amazes me. Some people donated to us because of our cause, and others because they won't have to deal with the stuff anymore, but we appreciate every single one. I have most stuff organized in the categories they belong in, but nothing is priced. It will be a very long month ahead of us trying to get that taken care of. I keep hoping for a day that isn't too hot to get out there, but I think I'm dreaming about that one. I will just need to grab the fan and go out there. We do still need to go through our own house getting rid of unwanted items, it will be really nice to get more room in here. We did sell a couple things on Ebay like our Atari, Sega, and soon to be Nintendo. It's sad to see them go, but it's so great to know why we are getting rid of them. I just started making the signs for the sale, and they just need to get printed now! We're getting there!!!

Preparing for the Craft Fair: At the same time this huge yard sale is going on, we are also preparing for the craft fair. I'm hosting this so it's a lot of hoping people are interested, waiting for applications to come in, and trying to organize every single detail. I have been comparing it to organizing a small wedding. The interest has been great and I couldn't be happier. My mom understands how much work there is to be done and has decided to fly out to help us and support us. I can't believe she will be here and I'm so excited. She actually extended her stay so we can even spend Thanksgiving together. I have so much to be thankful for this year. I am in the middle of making a few quilts for the fair to be added to my booth and also getting the big signs designed to bring in shoppers.

Puzzle Piece sponsorships have also been coming through, which is so great. In lieu of gifts for my birthday, some people have sponsored pieces. There's nothing I love more than watching the pieces fill up. Again, it shows support of everyone and is very touching.

Crafting away: I have been unbelievably busy lately with selling my crafts. I have made several custom quilts that were ordered. I'm currently working on a diaper bag, getting ready to fill another large order, and am hoping to have another custom order coming through soon. I've been very busy and very grateful for those orders.

We will be getting our home study started very soon, so stay tuned!!!