Front Row Seats

Walking out onto this limb has come with a sweet perk. We have been provided with front row seats with an amazing view of our creative, resourceful, wise, repurposing, relational Jehovah Jireh.

This weekend we held our first official Out On a Limb sale at our church home, Calvary Chapel Chattanooga. There are so many miraculous details that came together to make this happen and despite great efforts on the part of our enemy, Satan, the Lord was victorious. The sale profited right at $1000. Honestly, we went into this weekend with open hands ready to trust that whatever the Lord gave would be the exact blessing He had for us and we would not complain in it. We were speechless after calculating the total!

If you didn't catch the post about our first yard sale which was held several weeks ago, a really sweet thing to ponder is that the profits from
that were also right at $1000. Now I don't think we ought to go reading into every number that comes across our path, however I was reminded that the number 1000 (along with 10 and it's other multiples) symbolizes completeness in scripture. Not completeness in the sense of "finished for all time" but in sense of the "fullness of the thing that is in view". This idea speaks to me "The Lord was in this and He did what He wanted to do- there was nothing lacking". This is a sweet gift from the Lord as we give our bits of time and thought margin to this effort, ever feeling inadequate. To know that He takes our very little and makes it into a beautiful much for His glory is carrying us along.

After hearing our totals from this wknd someone commented yesterday how amazing it was but questioned whether that even made a dent in our $25,000* goal. There was a brief flicker of doubt in me, for a second I saw this ridiculous thing from flesh view and had to agree the dent is small. However a little later, the Lord reminded me of the response to the dent question. He's got this thing, these are EXACTLY the circumstances He loves to work with. Seems often the less we have to offer the greater thing He calls us to.....cause our "less" makes a perfect stage for His glory!

**$25,000 is the amount we are working off of to bring one child home from Haiti. Next you ask "are you adopting one or more?" Ummm, we don't want to go around with clenched fists unreceptive to but we could definitely use your prayers as we sort through this.

In other news:



October 22

We will hold our 2nd yard sale! Our sister and brother-in-law have graciously invited us to host it at their home in the King's Valley neighborhood off Snow Hill Rd in Ooltewah.

We are accepting donations and would love to come pick them up from you. Just leave us a comment and we'll arrange the details.





This weekend was so successful that our inventory was pretty well wiped out. So, please be patient with us as we work on restocking and posting to Etsy.





We are now on Twitter! Please follow us and help spread the word: "outonalimbadopt"

Something New

We’ve been working on a little something for quite a while now and are real excited to share with you our newest product, the Kainos Cuff.

Each Cuff is uniquely handcrafted from upcycled materials, repurposed from thrift store finds.

The snap closure makes for ease of wear and comfort. Kainos Cuffs are available in XS, S, M, L.

“Kainos” is the Greek word for new found in Revelation 21:5 - “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” It refers to the newness of life adoption – both spiritual and physical – brings and describes the upcycled nature of the cuffs.

Each Fabric Style Kainos Cuff retails for $12.00.

Leather Kainos Cuffs are individually priced.

And for the gentlemen:

Leather, canvas and other creative materials snap together for a manly cuff, each individually priced.

Kainos Cuffs are currently available personally through Andrew or Robin. Look for our Local Shop and Etsy Shop to carry them in the near future.

Garage Sale

Two weekends ago we had a garage sale to benefit our adoption. We didn’t envision anything huge for this one, it would just be us selling our castoffs for our adoption.  As we prepared for the sale, we looked over our fairly small pile and honestly forgot that the Lord is a God who loves to make much out of our little.  The week of the sale the Lord multiplied our stock of items several times over…not even through our solicitation for donations but His creative initiative.

His “much” exceeded our expectations, leaving our jaws dropped. In our one day, 7 hour sale the Lord brought in just over $1000!!!

Much thanks is due to our gracious hosts David and Anna Scharff who let us totally take over their garage for a week and who worked their tales off unloading, organizing, pricing, schmoozing with customers, calculating change on miniscule amounts of sleep and dealing with the leftovers. Thank you, we love you so much!

And thank you to Cheryl Smith for keeping Callie and Luke so David and Anna could devote themselves to the yard sale.

Thank you Pat and Jenni Miles for donating your unclaimed belongings one your way to begin your new adventure in the Dominican Republic. Thank you Dawn Gross, Brian & Amy Schaffernoth and Shannon for donating items to the sale.

And thank you Jim and Monique Lea for letting us use your moving truck.

The funds brought in through the sale take us about half way to our homestudy which will be the first official step of our adoption process. We are so encouraged by what the Lord has done in this!

Our First SALE!!

If you are like our family, one of your favorite words is SALE!  As a matter of fact there are very few, if any, items our family purchases where some sort of sale or coupon isn’t involved…I am just glad this is the new chic!

So with all this said, it is with great excitement that I announce our very first sale/coupon!  To celebrate the VERY hot summer weather, we are doing a 20% sale on all our Etsy items.  In order to utilize this deal you need to use the coupon code SUMMER20 when you checkout from our Etsy store.  So help us spread the word and get those bargains going.  At these rates our ties are only $10!! 

As always, thanks and stay cool!!!

Multitudes on Mondays

Joining in marking our way to 1000 gifts of grace, making our life about giving thanks to God. Whether seemingly insignificant or life changing...

495. Little girl picking peas apart
496. Driving to preschool summer camp, "mommy, will you pray for me?"
497. Re-entering this listing after vacation inconsistency
498. Maybe doing more comes in moving slower....paradox?
499. Watching milk bubbles pop
500. Spot of sunlight in our woods
501. Little girls wide eyed wonder at discovering the spice cabinet
502. Muggy, cloudy morning
503. Day old coffee, still tastes ok, drinkable at least
504. Hours unfolding before me - new hours, new mercies
505. Struggling, struggling through Colossians
506. Quiet moments
507. Pressing snooze a million times
508. Heavy eyelids persevere through quiet time
509. Chasing down morning patches of sunlight
510. Little boy calling me "mama" instead of mommy today
511. Same little boy sweeping Walmart floor brimming with pride at his job well done
512. Adoption takes a long time
513. Unanswered questions
514. This horse I keep trying to get back on

It’s A Family Thing…

As Robin and I watch this dream of adopting a child start to take shape, we often find ourselves wondering how this will be viewed from the innocent and precious eyes of our two children.  From big questions like “what is adoption?”, to the little things like “why are there so many bow ties around our house?”.

While we are still early on in the fundraising process, I can say with utter joy that our kids are as much a part of this journey as we are!  Not only is Wade already excited at the prospect of being our #1 bow tie model (see pics below!), he is even more excited about the prospect of who God will place in this family down the road.  He has already made it known that he wants us to adopt a little boy that is three years old just like him!  There is also hardly a day that passes where Wade isn’t mentioning the “Baby Scharff” that God is going to bring from Haiti.  As parents of such wonderful children (Chloe will surely be joining these conversations before we know it) our hearts melt with joy in knowing that God isn’t just calling Robin and I to adopt, but is truly calling our entire family. 

Are you thinking how cute that kid would look with a 4th of July sparkler in his hand?? What better way to capture the fun of Independence Day than with our “Uncle Sam” bow tie!

In the beginning…

Today marks the beginning of an incredible adventure for our family: our journey to adoption. The adventure took hold of our hearts years ago, as newlyweds, Andrew and I dreamed of the family God might have for us.  Back then we planned it all out and along the way have opened white knuckle clenched fists to the dreams of He who knows the plans.

So here we are, raising up stone by stone, these little ones…Wade, the one with the tender heart and Chloe, full of zest for life.  And now we know, He’s adding another to the mix.

Our timeline is thankfully held in the hands of our God, who holds all creation together. Human eyes would see the Haitian legalities holding us back, but we’re choosing to trust our Heavenly Father.

In the meantime, we’re learning that it is God who does the setting of the lonely into families (Psalm 68:6). These days, the setting carries quite a financial commitment. Our Creative God is calling us to this endeavor, this bowtie treasure making endeavor.  And its quite like we’re walking out on a limb where only Christ is our foothold.

We’re opening up the shop door, inviting you all in. Come on in, check out our handmade treasures. Each and every bit of profit will go toward the (expected) $25,000 adoption cost. Join us on this journey, this rescue story…unfolding one bow tie at a time.

Both our Etsy Shop and Local Shoppe are open for business! And if you would be so kind, share a little bowtie love by following us here or liking us there.