Blessings all around

The Burmese refugees in Clarksville were on my list of people who received donations after my

 event. The biggest blessing for me was getting to deliver these clothes myself! These families are the ones we've been playing with and spending time with since this summer. I wish I had 5 racks of clothes...but two was all we took over last night after AWANA. Everyone took several things home and I pray they are just one thing that makes life easier for these precious people.

 

9th sale...

FIVE years ago we made a decision to try our hand at the little consignment business my sister in law started in Conway. I could never list the many ways this business has blessed me. Some of my favorite things are that I have LOTS of new friends that I would've never known. I also get to give clothes away at the end of the event to A LOT of needy people. Personally, I also get fulfillment from offering this service to all kinds of families in the River Valley.

 

Each season, if I can make it through the grumblers, and those who come in with a chip on their shoulders...I can enjoy those who are so thankful with clothes they can afford and a chance to make money as stay at home moms. 

 

Today I'm thankful. Mostly today, I'm thankful to be done...the checks are all mailed, the racks and other equipment is in storage, VIP supplies are put away, and although I've got some loose ends to tie up...I'm mostly done until January.

 

Bad news: This great location will not be available for us next season. Good news: Richard and I are going on a trip for our anniversary and I don't have to think about it until after we get back.

 

 

 

Blessed with Friends...and co-workers

I didn't know one of these girls before I began my events, now I'm blessed to call them not only Leaders, but friends. They each add special gifts to our event. All of them help me run our events smoothly! I'm so thankful.

Back row: Darla (Rsvl), Rhonda (Rsvl), Maranda (Dardanelle), Nauscha (Havanna), Ashlea (London), Monica (Atkins)
Middle row: Julie (Morrilton), Andrea (Rsvl), Chrissy (Rsvl), Candace (Clarksville), Amber (Rsvl), me
Front Row: Rachel (Economy!), Jaci (Rsvl), Jennie (Dover)

Rhea Lana's of Russellville - SPRING!

Selling Broken Arrow three weeks before my Russellville event was awesome because I could focus on my event and not worry about what was or wasn't happening in Oklahoma. HOWEVER,  I made 3 big errors before we ever started! 1) I ordered the big postcards (double cost),  2) I forgot to put my phone number on those 7000 cards, and 3) I put the incorrect address on the cards. AND THEN as we were checking in the first consignors I realized I forgot to order shopping bags. I only had about 500 in storage! After the sale I was short checks by 110! 

I overcame the shopping bags by ordering from a quick delivery company and getting them in on Monday in time to not ever really run out. I also handwrote the last 110 checks, and was thankful I had all the small checks to write!

If that wasn't enough to put me under, another source of stress was the fact that Suddenlink really put us off about getting our phone lines in and they FINALLY installed them at 12:30 on Pre-Sale day. We coudn't have taken any credit cards without them...it was a potentially HUGE issue that was resolved 30 minutes after my first group came in and were up and running by the time they wanted to check out. (Whew!) 

We had right at 40,000 items and around 420 consignors. Despite my amateur mistakes and lack of good organizing, it was a wonderful event! I'm so thankful Richard was in town all but a day and a half of my event. He can take care of so many things for me, run errands and give me a peace when he's at the store. My leaders were awesome and I have some of the most wonderful and loyal volunteers ever. I'm thankful for how God works at our events and that I was able to handle the stress this event much better than last season. God provided a real sense of peace even in the midst of chaos and planning mistakes.  

We do what we do

This could've been a HUGE slip and slide, but our idea was to try to re-use this billboard cover from our last event into a huge banner for our upcoming event space. It didn't look quite this big in the bag, but it was a large as our front yard! Richard was brave and started cutting. We took it to our local sign maker and he bound the sides and put in some grommets. SAVED! Yes, we're that frugal.

Gearing up for Rhea Lana's in Russellville

I'm gearing up for my next event and I'm digging in! I'm so thankful for a blessing in our lives as we have sold our second event in Broken Arrow. After 3 seasons, we had a mother/daughter team from the area approach us about buying. In true "only God could do this" form, Richard and I had discussed, prayed, and agreed that we we would be open to selling the business the DAY BEFORE Rhea Lana called us with the question.

This was on a Friday and Richard was out of town. On Monday he faxed them our paperwork and financials on the business and a number we would be willing to sell for. On Tuesday night, after talking to their accountant, they agreed to the price. OH MY! I'm so thankful for the instant relief of not having two locations, two marketing orders, and the travel involved in running the business in Broken Arrow (2 1/2 hours away). I know the income potential is great in Broken Arrow, but I'm at a time in my life that the stress is too much.

I'm going to do more training with our new franchisees and I'll be an account executive for a few of our franchises. I love my job and I'm excited about my Russellville event...in 5 weeks!

Rhea Lana's of Russellville

Just finished our 7th sale in Russellville (although I thought it was our 8th the whole time). We've grown to a point where there's not a large enough building for us in Russellville and we had to CLOSE our data base 5 days before normal. We had over 34,000 items and 409 consignors! My leaders and volunteers are wonderful and all went smoothly. The PreSale event was crowded and there were long lines to check out, this didn't bode well with my coping skills, but we made it through with lots of happy shoppers. The guys in the parking lot (2 fields and a gravel lot) parked about 300 cars for about 4 hours.

I heard some great stories over the week, moms making money for something their family needed, finding a tuxedo for a little one for a wedding for only $22, and a special mom enjoying her time out of the house with 3 special needs kids.One of my favorite things of this sale was offering the foster parents in our area a time to "shop" our donations after the sale. About 6 families were represented and they shopped about 200 items for little ones who come through their home. It was nice to have great-quality clothing that will cover those little ones so in need when they get to their homes.

I'm so tired, and a little over-stimulated from the amount of work it takes to pull it all together. I'm super excited to be back in my Bible Study and have a few months off before we start the sale season here again.

Of course, I'm headed to KC next week to help at a new sale...

Sale #6

Blessed. It's the only way to describe all my crazy feelings during and after this 6th event in Russellville. You'd think I'd be nervous because we had less items, but no, the item quality was better. The location was new, but FABULOUS, and the shoppers never stopped coming!



Lauren and Ryan both put in a 10+ hour day on Saturday, driving all over town trying to buy me 6 foot tables (of which there are none in Rsvl), printing labels, checking in folks, checking out folks, and moving inventory at my command. They are learning some important skills of working with people, especially the grouchy ones (of which we have a few). I'm thankful they came, I would've loved to have them there all week.

Mom and Dad drove down on Monday afternoon just to hug my neck and see my new space. Of course, after about 10 minutes I had my mom running next door for ink pens and my dad stuffing a late entry in my 500 goody bags. I love my parents, they have been huge supporters during the development of my sale. I think I called my mom almost every morning on my way to the sale to give her updates. The time was right when she was getting ready to go to work, but she listened to me and took my prayer requests everytime! Blessed indeed.

The light was SUPER in our new location, the one big room looked so much bigger too. We had a lot of walk-by traffic from the grocery store next door. One day when I went to buy ice for our cooler, one of the managers at the grocery store told me because the parking lot was so full, they were having shoppers who though we were in a "snow scare!" I was glad we had several ladies in the store who knew what was going on (and would explain) and are now our fans.

Three weeks until Broken Arrow! God is good, all the time.

Sale Time

6th season in Russellville! I love my job! In the last two weeks I've been at two different events, one in Little Rock and one in Mansfield, TX. I was training new franchise owners from Northern Indiana, Cincinnati, Overland Park, Mountain Home and Pine Bluff. I am so thankful to work with great ladies around the country and especially at my own sale. We moved in today to a new location with wonderful light and space. I am thankful for my leaders and the many consignors who are entering items into our sale right now! It's been a crazy and busy few weeks...check in starts tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited!

Let the season begin

Technically, the season began about 2 months ago when I started pricing things for people and the clothes and toys took over our garage, living room and bedroom. However, after dropping the kids off at school on Thursday morning...it was off to the races for me.

Move in was Friday morning for our 5th event in Russellville. The numbers had been climbing during the last 48 hours to enter items...and even though my homemade check off chart stopped at 30,000 items...consignors entered 33, 785 items into our sale! OH MY! Where were we going top put it all? It did fit, but it was tight.

Our sale was a success, consignors were happy with their checks, shoppers were happy with their purchases..I made new friends. I thank God for the chance to give things away to ministries who can use them for the people who need things. I give all the credit to Him for bringing consignors and shoppers to our event...and the wonderful volunteers who help me pull it all off smoothly.

God is good...all the time.

2 weeks until Broken Arrow.