Thank you Lord for another amazing yard sale! One thing I have learned from the yard sales we have done this fall is that there are some serious yard sale shoppers. Some that no matter how good a deal you are giving them they still can't spare an extra dollar or quarter to help an orphan find its forever family. I have also learned that if you run an ad that your yard sale will begin at 7am expect your customers to start an half hour earlier. We actually had our first browser via car at 6am! Crazy! We are forever grateful for all who have shopped at our recent yard sales. Every little quarter or dollar sure adds up quickly! We had a lot of familiar faces that had come back to see our new items.
We were so glad to share our story with so many people and to raise awareness about orphans in general. Everyone's response was so joyful to hear our story. We had so much clothing that we had decided to do "Fill a bag for $5" to move it out. Because of this sale we not only helped raise money to bring our child or chidren home we helped clothe children in Columbia (the country, not the town in TN). We met a lady who is a native from Columbia who filled up two kroger paper bags with clothing and shoes for $10. She shared that many of her family members over there do not have lots of clothes so she trys to shop at yard sales to ship clothes back to them. She was so thrilled that she could find so much clothing for them so cheap and also help us with the adoption. I can't say it enough... God is so good! Because of our trip to Costa Rica and learning just a little spanish we were able to put smiles on some faces of our hispanic shoppers. I told this one little hispanic girl after she finished paying me for her toys " Dios le Bendiga" which means God Bless you and the look on her face was priceless. She was like, did she really just speak spanish to me? and then her Dad who was standing a good distance from us heard me and told his friends " She just spoke spanish" and he smiled at me real big. I loved that I could bless them just by trying to communicate a little in their language. Maybe someday we will speak and understand fluently so that we can better communicate with our local hispanics and especially for mission trips.
Another great story is that we sold almost all of the Haiti items that Kelly Mills had gave to us. We weren't sure if those would be items anyone would want but again God is so good. The best thing is that there were a couple of paintings that we liked and thought would be great in our child(ren)'s room and those were the only ones that did not sell. So we hope to get those framed soon to be decor in his/her room.
I keep thinking that I am done sharing our experiences from yesterday's sale but I keep remembering more. One shopper must have told her husband about our adoption once she got back in the car because the next thing we know he's getting out and coming to give us a donation even though she had already made a purchase. They had eight kids of their own so we were very appreciative of their generosity.
I'll end my post with this... God is good all the time and ALL the time God is good!
Blessings,
Cindy
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Sunday, November 15, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Marching Forward!
We are pressing forward! Finally today we have been able to seal up the envelope to send in our home study paperwork. Lily had the easiest job of us all ... she put it in the mailbox! This part of our journey took a little longer than we had hoped for but it is done. We now are in the waiting game of our social worker receiving it, reviewing it and setting up our next interview.
You really learn a lot about yourself writing your own autobiography. You learn a lot about your marriage as well. It forces you to really think about your role as a spouse and the things that you love about your spouse that you can sometimes take for granted. It was fun to drive down memory lane about our "courtship" too. I am so proud of David. For those of you that know David well, you know that he is an extravert and would rather be talking to someone rather than writing his thoughts and feelings down.
We have been on this journey now for almost 80 days. It's been an amazing ride thus far. Some days better than others but we are always thankful to our heavenly father in all circumstances. We know that we are in HIS grip and this journey is HIS story. HE is already teaching us so much. I am definitely learning to focus my entire being on HIS living presence. A verse that has been consistently coming up in my life is Matthew 6:33-34 " But Seek first HIS kingdom and righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." I catch myself wanting to jump too far ahead in the process by worrying about how are we going to to do this or do that! David constantly reminds me that "we" are not going to do anything! God is in control and we must seek HIS great wisdom and rest in the comfort of HIS presence knowing he will meet our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19).
We are praying with expectancy that God will provide for the next step. Many of you have asked about how the fundraising is going. God has been so good to provide exactly what we have needed to pay for the first step which is the home study. Our next step is paying our deposit to the agency, and some miscellaneous fees to pay for the dossier, etc. That amount is around $3500. We are anticipating that we should get our approval to adopt in December. Would you join us in prayer that we could raise this money over the next month to be ready to move forward as quickly as possible?
Remember to pray for our sweet child(ren) in Haiti and that we can meet them soon!
In HIS grip,
Cindy
You really learn a lot about yourself writing your own autobiography. You learn a lot about your marriage as well. It forces you to really think about your role as a spouse and the things that you love about your spouse that you can sometimes take for granted. It was fun to drive down memory lane about our "courtship" too. I am so proud of David. For those of you that know David well, you know that he is an extravert and would rather be talking to someone rather than writing his thoughts and feelings down.
We have been on this journey now for almost 80 days. It's been an amazing ride thus far. Some days better than others but we are always thankful to our heavenly father in all circumstances. We know that we are in HIS grip and this journey is HIS story. HE is already teaching us so much. I am definitely learning to focus my entire being on HIS living presence. A verse that has been consistently coming up in my life is Matthew 6:33-34 " But Seek first HIS kingdom and righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." I catch myself wanting to jump too far ahead in the process by worrying about how are we going to to do this or do that! David constantly reminds me that "we" are not going to do anything! God is in control and we must seek HIS great wisdom and rest in the comfort of HIS presence knowing he will meet our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19).
We are praying with expectancy that God will provide for the next step. Many of you have asked about how the fundraising is going. God has been so good to provide exactly what we have needed to pay for the first step which is the home study. Our next step is paying our deposit to the agency, and some miscellaneous fees to pay for the dossier, etc. That amount is around $3500. We are anticipating that we should get our approval to adopt in December. Would you join us in prayer that we could raise this money over the next month to be ready to move forward as quickly as possible?
Remember to pray for our sweet child(ren) in Haiti and that we can meet them soon!
In HIS grip,
Cindy
Saturday, November 7, 2009
143 million orphans
"143 million orphans in the world", What do you think when you read or hear that? I sometimes have a hard time comprehending just how big a number 143 million really is, but it is not just a number. 143 million = 143 million lives, 143 million children without a mommy or daddy, 143 million hearts desiring to be loved. 143 million does not include the children that are not accounted for, those children who do not have a place to stay each night and are roaming the streets. Now when you read or hear "143 million orphans in the world", what do you think? My heart breaks for these children!
Please pray about how you can help the 143 million orphans in the world. Not everyone is called to adopt a child, but we all are called to take care of orphans. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world".
Please consider what your part is to look after orphans. Should you adopt, should you help those who are adopting, should you commit to supporting organizations that take care of orphans?What are you called to do?
In HIS Grip,
David
Please pray about how you can help the 143 million orphans in the world. Not everyone is called to adopt a child, but we all are called to take care of orphans. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world".
Please consider what your part is to look after orphans. Should you adopt, should you help those who are adopting, should you commit to supporting organizations that take care of orphans?What are you called to do?
In HIS Grip,
David
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