And the Blessings Just Keep Coming

I don't know if I can do justice to what I have to share....but I really want to share some things, so here goes....

A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend of mine held a fundraiser to help with our adoption expenses. Teresa is VERY gifted when it comes to providing hospitality to others. She and her husband, Alex, open their home for many family, work and church related functions. In an effort to help us get a jump start for the holiday season, she invited people to come to her home and make three appetizers to take home with them. She provided the recipes and all the fixings--even containers and cute gift bags to take the appetizers home in. When she announced the fundraiser via her Facebook account she heard back from a young woman named Jennifer that interned at the school where Theresa teaches a few years ago. Jennifer asked if her church cell group could provide some gift baskets to auction off to help with the fundraiser that evening....and she offered to bring her Scentsy wickless candles along and gift us with her profits on all of the sales that evening. (Those Scentsy candles are so great!!!) The party was a big success and I went home feeling quite humbled by the entire experience. Thank you Teresa and Alex!!...and all of the people who donated to our adoption fund that evening.

So, fast forward a couple of weeks. Brian and I had started trying to figure out if we were going to be able to afford airline tickets to take the girls with us to China. It was time to make a Plan B for the girls...so I e-mailed all my adult kiddos and asked them about helping out with the girls. I also started talking to the girls about the *real* possibility of them staying here. I knew they really wanted to go and telling them that they might not get to was difficult to say the least. I figured I could play it up and make it sound like fun for them to stay here with their adult siblings...but they didn't accept that. Not that they wouldn't enjoy it, but it was heartbreaking for them to think of us leaving them behind. I think the news was quite upsetting to Anna because she started acting out quite a bit. Every time Lilly asked me about it, she couldn't hold back the tears.

A couple of days later, our daughter-in-law, Susan, posted a note on her Facebook asking people to consider helping our family stay together this Christmas by providing a donation to our adoption fund. (To help us with the costs of the airline tickets.) She and our son, Aaron, set up a website for others to donate to the account. I can not tell you how blessed we felt by Susan's actions in doing this for us. To know that we have the love and support of our family members means so very much to us.

A few days later, Brian and I realized we were still short of funds. I debated back and forth whether or not to re-post Susan's message about the fundraising website. I kept thinking that people might think it an "unnecessary expense"....like they wouldn't understand spending that much money to keep our family together this holiday season. I kept thinking..."money is so tight for people these days, I can't ask others for money."

Two days ago, I woke up and realized that I might be robbing someone of a blessing if I didn't re-post Susan's message. I also wanted her and Aaron to know how much we appreciated their efforts to help us. So, I mustered up all my nerve and re-posted it. I felt it was the right thing to do. Later that morning, I realized that several friends had reposted the message...and by about mid-morning to noon'ish we were blessed with about 10% of what we needed. That afternoon while I was waiting to pick up the girls from school, I received a message from an acquaintance that I've know for years. She had recently come into some money and had been praying about how to tithe 10% of it. She gifted our family with the balance of what we needed to purchase airline tickets for the girls. PRAISES!!!
You should have seen the look on Lil's face when I told her and Anna that it looked like we had enough money to take them with us. Anna was grinning from ear to ear. Lilly jumped up, wrapped herself around my neck and said, "REALLY??!..We have the money???...We can go??...Oh Mommy, God answered our prayers!!!" Anna said, "You girls are crying happy tears...I've never seen you do that before." She's such a card!

God has been so faithful!!! We are so blessed!!! God gets the glory!!!!

We have our passports and visas ready. All we need are two more things, TA (travel approval) and CA (a consulate appointment). Then we can make arrangements to travel.

May God richly bless each of you this holiday season,
Deb