A Long-Expected Yard Sale (With an Unexpected Abundance of Stuff)

Thanks to Connie for the sign.
It really was a huge yard sale!

For all of our followers who aren't privy to the world of Facebook, you might have missed the fact that we had a yard sale last Saturday. Aside from from sending out letters and a meeting or two, it was our first major fundraising event, and thanks to God's provision and the generosity of our church family, it was a rousing success!

For Seth and I, the yard sale was a complete whirlwind. On Friday evening at around 6pm, we arrived at the Fish's (soon to be former) residence at 135 Pigeon Street in Waynesville, thinking we would spend an hour or two getting everything organized so we wouldn't have to get up so early the next morning. When we got there, however, we were floored (and a bit overwhelmed) by the amount of stuff that generous Vinelings had brought to sell, and our short organization time turned into about four and a half hours of moving and sorting items. In the end, we filled most of the porch up electronics, furniture, and housewares, and had mountains of toys and clothes. Thankfully, Winston Blanton, Stephanie Lyon, Amy Grady, and the Fishes all pitched in and helped. Without them, I think we would have been sorting all night.

What do we do with all this stuff??? You can't even see everything still on the porch...

Despite our endeavors, we still arrived back at the Fish's dark and early at 5:00am the following morning to set up. Again, we had wonderful helpers (the entire Blanton family and the Fishes), so in spite of an ambush by a swarm of ants we were ready to go by the time our first customers arrived at about 6:30am. (I am still amazed that people get up before 7 on Saturdays to do anything, let alone look at people's old stuff in a yard sale). We began selling things by 6:40am, and thus began the process of trying to move as much stuff as possible off of the Fish's lawn while still making money (although by the end we were practically giving things away...). 

Housewares!

Ready to go! Just hoping at this point that we don't have to haul all of this to the thrift store...

I must pause here to thank the Fishes for providing the perfect location for this yard sale. It really made all the difference, and is probably one of the biggest reasons why the yard sale went so well. It was right on the way to downtown, and so people were stopping in all throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, whereas at normal yard sales usually by late morning there are only a few stragglers left. Along with the general public, we had many wonderful Vinelings come out to show their support and browse our wares. So many people came out that we had a Waynesville Police officer come out to find a way to solve the traffic problems we were causing on Pigeon Street! Fortunately, he was really nice, acknowledging that it wasn't our fault and working with us to get people to park on the other side of the street.

And so, with our excellent location and awesome helpers, we spent the next several hours watching an incredible number of items leave the yard! Take a look at how much we sold:

Getting started

Lots of people!

So much stuff gone!

It went so well that the ease of clean up afterwards was a really nice surprise! It didn't take long at all. We took the clothes and toys in our van to the Salvation Army, and thanks to Stephanie Lyon we had the Habitat ReStore truck come by and get everything else! Then, as we were all drop-dead tired at that point, we went home and napped (yes!!). Later, we found that we had made more than $1800 (which I might note was 50% more than Richard's initial expectation)! 

Linus is obviously quite comfortable laying around on a pile of money.

God and our Vine family were so good to us, and after even more generosity over the weekend we are almost three-fourths of the way to our fundraising goal! Thank you to all who have helped and praise the Lord!

 ~DJS

Concerning the Hobbits - Seth

A Far Green Country...

Salutations! 
I wanted to share a little bit about myself, and how I have come to be crazy enough to go to New Zealand as a missionary with Youth With A Mission. For starters, my name is Seth Baggins. Okay not really. Seth Blanton is my real name. Obviously, I am a Lord of the Rings fan. I am 18 years old, and am nearly done with my senor year of homeschooling. Yes, homeschool senors do exist, but they are endangered, so if you see one remain silent and observe it in its natural state. I live in the Misty Mountains of Western North Carolina with my loving parents, Robert and Connie, and my two siblings Shelby and Winston. And I can't forget the dog, Luthien. No joke, thats really her name. I belong to a faith family here in Waynesville called the Vine of the Mountains. Outside of my family, the Vine has been the most influential aspect of my life. There, I have learned what it means to be a Christian, and to live in community and fellowship with others. It is largely due to members at the Vine that I made the decision to pursue a a Discipleship Training School. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me bring you up to speed on the recent string of events in my life. 


Last year, as a junior in high school, I started thinking about what I was going to do for the rest of my life. College, of course, was the obvious choice. I didn't feel called to any college, I didn't feel at peace with college.Something else bothered me about college as a default  decision. Not to say that I do not desire to pursue further education, I do. But I didn't want to mindlessly follow the American Dream, only to wake up with mortgage, two cars, two and a half kids and a white picket fence. Not that those things are bad, but I didn't want to confine my future, or God, to what society says is the the ultimate goal in life.


I had heard about Youth With A Mission's Discipleship Training Schools from several friends, and after though and prayer, it seemed to be a great option. After deciding to complete a DTS, I set about emence task of choosing the location in which to do my DTS. Around this time, I heard from Dan Snyder, a longtime friend. Dan just graduated (with honors!) from NC State. He was also interested in doing DTS, and we decided that going together would be a epic adventure! 


After much prayer and deliberation, Dan and I choose the Marine Reach DTS in Tauranga, New Zealand. As avid Lord of the Rings scholars, New Zealand was a tempting choice. We are currently fundraising, and are scheduled to leave on July 12th, and return home on December 12th. Dan and I are exciting about what God has for us as we journey there, and back again!

Concerning the Hobbits - Dan

My dear Bagginses and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles, and Proudfoots [Proudfeet!]. Today is my 111th birthday! ...and I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve...

If I were a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins of the Shire, this is how I might introduce myself to any distant relatives who happen to be following my blog. But in reality, I am not a Baggins, I am not 111 years old, and if you're following this blog it's probably because I do like you half as well as you deserve and I hopefully know you at least half as well as I should like. And besides, instead of giving a speech I would rather you come inside my cozy hobbit hole, have some tea and seed cakes, and I'll tell you a bit about myself.

I am actually Dan Snyder of Waynesville, North Carolina. I am 22 years old, and I just recently graduated from NC State University with a degree in Biological (aka Ecological) Engineering and a minor in Spanish. I love the Earth and learning how to care for it, I delight in making and hearing music, and I am intent on continually serving the God who made both of these things. I am also a nerd in most senses of the word, I love to read, and I love dogs and cats. I like to have things organized and planned out, and I'm really good at paying attention to every little detail in the things that I do. I really don't like to beat around the bush; I would much rather we all just say what we're thinking. I love spending time with people, but I also need time to myself. I really love my home in the mountains of western North Carolina; in fact, I love most everything about mountains - the scenery, the weather, the camping and hiking, the small towns, the down-to-earth people, the curvy roads, and just about anything else you can think of. I'm going to miss these mountains when I'm halfway around the world, although fortunately I'm going to have some new ones to explore.

Despite my adoration of all things mountainous, I think I love the places where I have lived so far (Waynesville and Raleigh) in larger part because of the people and community I have found there. In Waynesville, I have spent the last ten years as a member of the wonderful Vine of the Mountains Church, where I took part in all sorts of youth group capers and was loved and encouraged more than I could ever have asked for. And of course long before that my awesome family - Bill, Beth, Jack, and Katie - has been here to teach, encourage, love, and annoy me (sometimes). At school in Raleigh, I found a different but equally wonderful church called Vintage21 which also surrounded me with support and provided an environment for me to grow like crazy as a follower of Jesus. While I still cannot pin down a specific time when I made up my mind to follow Christ, during high school and college these three families provided the guidance that cemented my identity as a son of God for life and beyond.

It is this new identity that has led me to defy all the cultural norms that are usually applied to college graduates. Having thrown those out the window, I am instead leaving behind career and traditional schooling to focus my life on knowing the Lord and on obeying his commands to serve and love people. I have been presented with an unbelievable opportunity that may only be available at this time in my life, and so I am doing a Discipleship Training School with YWAM to make Him the foundation for whatever it is that I end up doing in the future, be it engineering...or something completely different. Wow...I still can't get over how amazing this is. I can't wait to find out what I'm going to learn - about God, about people, about new cultures, about myself, about anything! - and I can't wait to be in New Zealand!

Thank you for checking out our blog!