This weekend was all sorts of crazy and excitement. On Saturday, we held our first fundraiser for a family (who's name should be implied, but cannot be said legally...yet) who is in the final stages of the adoption process for their son. And things got pretty intense!

But before I jump into all of the details, I wish to start with one big honorable mention: our community group.

FRIDAY COMMUNITY

Our community group was such an incredible help this past weekend! And as the cherry on top, friends from Denton, TX made the 8 hour drive down to McAllen to help support the fundraiser. While it's only been a day, simply looking back puts tears in my eyes because so many people came out to help and give up of their time and energy to put this fundraiser together.

Every person sacrificed their time to help load and unload furniture and appliances on Friday and we had several people hang out with us on Friday evening as we organized and priced everything out. I learned that pricing is a lot more trickier than I expected! At the end of the night on Friday, pizza was the greatest call in the entire world and we shared a table with laughs and exhaustion. To those of you who were there to help us organize, manage, and haul- THANK YOU! You did an amazing work and your support means the world.

SATURDAY MADNESS

The fundraiser began at 7:00 a.m. and by 6:30 a.m. we had about 15 people outside waiting and several trucks parked, ready to be loaded. And let me say, there are some serious garage sale shoppers in the Valley! I saw people who were very intentional about the area they wanted to scope out first and rushed to it the minute the doors opened. I even saw a lady double hop on her way to the shoes! It was interesting to say the least. We learned that people came in waves and they had an agenda. After the 15 people cleared out their findings, things were pretty quiet for about 20 minutes. And then around 9:30 a.m. it picked up again and then quieted down. It gave us a chance to post on social media what we still had, new "deals" that we thought of, and reorganized our "departments." I felt like I was working at the mall all over again.

We knew people would be looking for a bargain and some would talk it up! And they didn't disappoint. There was this odd line of thinking where my wife would process "we really need to sell this, but how badly do I want to get rid of it? Should I lower the price that much?"

In short, it was great and such a learning experience. I managed all of the social media on the fundraiser and people came from all over with questions, negotiations, and quirks. But despite all of the bargaining and helping to load furniture, God was gracious and met our financial goal- even passing it for the day! It was wonderful, exhausting, and it has opened our heart in moving forward with an adoption ministry in the Fall.

We have an incredible heart for adoption and many families lack information and resources. This fundraiser became a small catalyst for the beginning of something much larger. More details on that later on.

I write all of this after preaching two services, running on fumes, and after a long week so I apologize for the brevity, but please know to all of you who supported physically, financially, and prayerfully Thank You! As we move along, we will give you more details on how things pan out.

Have a great Sunday!

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