The first was more of a flea market at the Vista Elk's Lodge. I didn't make back the $25 booth fee. But I was able to make a few sales and had a chance to hang out with my cousin for a bit. So this show was the first in over 6 months. It was a disaster on so many different levels. I had done this show awhile back and knew that it wasn't good for me, but went ahead with it anyways because the booth fee was cheap and I was determined to raise some funds for this adoption. My first mistake was being overly optimistic about selling at a market that I had failed at before. The second mistake came when I went to load up everything into the car. I have a cart that holds these plastic bins with some of the products I sell at the shows. When I went to put this box into the car, the whole bottom of the box broke. I had to go out and buy another one the day before the show, just so I could transport everything. I decided to go get ice and water to sell at the show. I packed the car the night before and in the morning I packed up the loose ends. I forgot to put the ice in the cooler with the water. So I was able to buy some ice at the show from the Lodge. It was the most expensive water/ice I have ever had considering I only sold 3 waters. The rain held off. But it was really difficult to load and unload everything out at the show. I was so exhausted after it was done. The one good thing that came out of it was that an old man sold me a bunch of children's books and cookbooks for $20. There were about 10 boxes full of books. So I went home took out the books that I wanted, and took the rest of the cookbooks to Book Off and sold them to this recycled book place. They bought the books for $24 so I was able to make a profit off all the books that I didn't want and made up for the difference in the booth fee.
Yesterday I went to another craft fair in Ramona. There was so much drama and chaos, I don't know where to begin. In an attempt to raise funds for this adoption, I tried to sell at this market. I lost money because the booth fee was $60 and I didn't sell enough to cover the fee. I probably shouldn't have done the show, but I was chasing a dream...thinking that I could actually help earn some extra cash to help pay for the adoption fees. What was I thinking? So here is the way this day went down. The lady next to me set up her tent. I let her borrow a tarp because it had been raining and they had us set up our booths on the dirt. That same lady noticed there was used cat litter at the back of the tent area where she had just set up. When she went to complain, the director said she could move her tent forward and refused to do anything about it. The lady got so mad she wanted to leave the show. She ended up moving her tent to the other side of me, but I think there may have been some cat poop on the tarp that I let her borrow. The show was so slow, there were hardly any customers. So in my boredom/frustration, I made some signs out of the lids of my boxes and put them out in front so people would actually stop by. I can't believe I paid $60 for a space and they didn't even have any signs out in the front of the building letting people know there was an event going on---come on people.....they put out more signs for garage sales. So that generated a few more people passing through. Then a small gust of wind blew over my display with all the onesies on it. They got dirty in the mud. But the people in the booths next to mine were sweet and helped me pick up the display. At least it wasn't the glass Christmas ornaments broken into a thousand pieces again. At the end of a very long and boring day, I packed up everything and when I went to put the dolly back into the van it broke a hole into the lid of another box. Needless to say I went home tired, disappointed, and upset about the whole ordeal.
On the way home, I just started crying. I realized that it was going to be so hard to try to raise funds for this adoption. I kept thinking, that it was so very frustrating to try to raise money just so we could bring home a kid when so many women have babies they abandon or abuse. Other families don't have to have raise support to have a baby, or have to have their lives investigated and go through an interrogation to get pregnant. Some days it seems so unfair kids get placed in abusive homes when there are so many people that would make excellent parents...and yet can't have kids of their own. If God really wants us to bring home a child from the Philippines, then He is going to have to raise the funds for all of the fees. This craft business was never that successful to begin with, more of a hobby. It generated some funds, but nothing like what we are going to need for these expenses. It is going to take God's provisions to make this happen if He wants us to raise up one of His kids. It is hard waiting, but I know it will all be worth it in the end. I long for the days to tuck in a child and kiss them good night and thank God for all that He is doing in our lives. It is just hard waiting and being molded into His image.