Provisions - Post #1

Have you ever taken a leap of faith?

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and had such a peace in your heart about it that you knew it would all be ok?

  

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and had the Lord just confirm that leap at every giant step?

 

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and had such joy that you just felt like you were flying?

Have you ever taken a leap of faith and just knew that the Lord would not let you come crashing down?

We took that leap...

the day the Lord laid XM on our hearts - we jumped...

and as we continue to trust in the Lord's safety net, we continue to see His blessings, His provision, His love for our family and our precious, waiting XM.

If you take a look at my side bar, you will see a brand new gadget...

a thermometer...

a fundraising thermometer to be exact!

Just take a gander at how the Lord is providing to bring our daughter home!

So far to date, a little over $15,000 has been raised and it is all because of the Lord and His call on so many hearts - YOUR hearts!

THANK YOU!

and while the Lord has confirmed for us over and over that our sweet girl is coming home, we are still waiting on Him to provide hubby with a job and that wait does get hard sometimes.

We really do trust, however, that He will provide and as part of that provision, we know that hubby will eventually get another job but we also know that the longer we wait, the longer our sweet, precious XM waits and...

that - is - hard

but every time, y'all,

every - single - time

that I have started to slip, to loose some joy or to worry...

My Heavenly Father has answered me and in such amazing ways!

All along this journey, there have been incredible families who have offered to help.

My sweet friend Tammy over at Quantum Silver has gone above and beyond to help us raise money.  More than once, she has opened up her beautiful jewelry line to us and donated ALL of the proceeds to our sweet girl!!!

Thank you Tammy!

There were 3 beautiful young friends whose hearts for China's children at such a young age is inspiring.  These young girls make crafts to sell for these precious kiddos and blog about their mission, here at Crafts for China's Orphans.  These beautiful girls decided that they would sell their crafts one Saturday and donate all of the proceeds to our sweet girl!

WOW!

There were my sweet neighbors who organized, paid for and ran a week long summer camp - just - for - us!!!!

 

They raised $1800 for our sweet girl and we had a blast!!!

Then there was precious "Darlin" who made such sweet Lemonade, that she was able to raise $150 for our precious girls!!!

$150 y'all!!!

You can go here, Sweet Lemonade, to read that amazing story but what I haven't shared about that day is that 15 minutes before they were scheduled to close up shop, sweet "Darlin" counted the proceeds from the day and was upset to find that they were $25 short of her goal of $100.  She asked her Mom, the wonderful Mrs. C, if she thought they would be able to make $25 in 15 minutes.  Mrs. C responded that she really did not think they would be able to sell that much lemonade in that amount of time.

So what did sweet "Darlin" do?

She prayed

She prayed for the Lord to help them raise that $25.

She prayed, "Dear God, please let more customers come so I can give this family $100. Lord, that's just $25 more." And as soon as she had prayed, someone who had been so touched by what sweet "Darlin" was doing, returned with a $20 bill, then someone else came with $5 more dollars and in the end, sweet "Darlin" raised $150. WOW!  When asked how she raised so much money, Sweet "Darlin" said it was all "hope and prayer."

WOW! 

When I went to "Darlin's" house so she could present me with her donation, she had written us the most beautiful, amazing, "wise beyond her years" card.

"Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."
Mark 10:15 

As I stood there with the tears starting to flow, Mrs. C asked "Darlin" to go get "Crosby" as she thought I would like to meet him.

My mind went blank for a moment trying to figure out who "Crosby" was and then I remembered!!!

Sweet little Crosby was the cutest little Yorky that I had posted on my FB page a while back because he needed a home and...

Mrs. C and her wonderful family saw his precious face on my page that day and what do you think they did...

They went and rescued him!!!

Now he's livin' on easy street, sleeping in the bed, playing with his best bud (a weimeraner twice his size) and loving being carried everywhere, AND...

I got to hold him and love on him and see in real life, that advocacy does work, even my doggie advocacy!

So, not only did the Lord bless us with the love and support and amazing faith of this wonderful little girl but He also blessed me that day by showing me the fruits of my labors - labors of love.

I was feeling the burden of the wait that day and He provided!

In fact, His provisions and blessings have been so many that I am going to break this up into 5 different posts, otherwise you would be here all night!!!

Hehe!

So be on the lookout for Provisions, parts 2 through 5

Coming soon!!