Nickles and Dimes

I find it interesting how many people will not stop to pick up dropped coins. I don't know if i am just cheap or what, but i do. Those coins can quickly add up into big money--at least enough to get a drink from QT or something. This weekend we found out how quickly nickles, dimes and quarters really do add up. We had a garage sale to earn money for the oldests trip to Africa. It is a LARGE chunk of money that she has to come up with in order to go be a "do good-er". From the start the money thing has not intimidated her, she has said "it will work out".
Oh the faith she has.
I know she is being blessed:

1. For her willingness to be open and help others

2. For her faith that the money thing will work out

Prior to finding out that the oldest was going to Africa we had started a purge (still have a ways to go) and figured that what is one persons junk is another persons treasure. We started storing these treasures in my mom's garage and then when we heard the amount that was needed for the Africa trip we knew we had a real purpose for the sale. We decided to have the sale for two days and while the traffic was not super busy on Friday it was worth being set up for. Saturday came and we were ready to go by 7:30--although we had quite a bit of traffic prior to that.(the serious people start way to early for me) It was crazy busy. My daughter and mom were out working the crowd like pros. We didn't have much marked--instead when asked a price they would say "make an offer--it's all going to charity". Often this remark would lead to a discussion of where my daughter was going and what she was going to do. We received some donations and people were generous and the best part was we got rid of a bunch of stuff that we considered junk.

It was amazing the things that were bought--things that we had thought about putting in the alley to throw away. Some of the things we sold had actually been recovered from the alley at one point--someone elses alley. It just goes to show that we need to quit disposing of so much--that others can find need in our cast offs.

When all was said and done and the money was counted she had made over $700.00.
We were SHOCKED!
We had never made that much in the past. It was amazing to me how all the change really did add up-and how much stuff we had to sell to equal that amount.? That is 1/7 of her total that she needs...what a great start. I know that this experience will be life changing--it already has been. I am seeing her grow and mature just in the process to get there....