PRAISE HIS NAME!!!

Matthew 14:13-21

When Jesus heard what had happened, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

"Bring them here to me," He said. And He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

You've probably read this passage many times, just like me. But did you know that Jesus still, today takes our 2 fishes and 5 loaves and 'feeds the 5,000'?!?

After 9 months of fundraising, we are FULLY FUNDED!!! What's the significance of this? It's all HIM!

And I got to share about it today as I was checking out of W*l-Mart for the 132nd time this week. The checkout gal noticed all my travel supplies and asked if I was the 'lady with all those adorable kids?' Ummmm, yep, that's me. I told her we're leaving in 3 days (eeeeeek, 3 days!) to bring home two more Treasures.

She said, "It's so nice that you have the means to do that." Helllllooooo?!?

Even in my chaotic state of mind I recognize an open door when I see it.

I replied, "See, that's the cool thing ~ we DON'T have the means to do it. Nine months ago we sent a Letter of Intent to adopt one precious little girl with a scary.to.us medical special need, and we started our first fundraiser that same day because we had nothing." Nada. Zilch. Zero.

I remember the day we said, "Yes, Lord." The choice was obvious really. The Lord had spoken to my heart, "Say yes, and just watch what I will do."

With every ounce of faith we could muster, realizing without His provision we would fail miserably, even possibly make complete fools of ourselves, we stepped out of the proverbial boat and into the water.

We have worked hard, and when we didn't know what to do next, we waited for His direction. We held a huge (epic, in Kuyler's words) garage sale; 6 drawings/giveaways (1 HP Netbook, 2 Canon Rebels, 1 $500 gift card, 1 Xoom, 1 iPad (none of which were donated); we received 4 grants; we had 2 special friends making hair bows; we sold squeaky shoes, mums, poinsettias; we received multiple 'surprise' gifts from friends and acquaintances; made our Kandles, duct tape wallets; 2 Lifesong/Both Hands Projects; 2 matching grants; Wild Olive Tees; our Adoption decals...and there are probably some I'm forgetting.

Make no mistake about it, it wouldn't have been possible without ya'll! You have been the hands and feet of Jesus to us!

We are so humbled and so grateful.

Whatever reservations or hesitation we had at the crazy notion of adopting again have been repeatedly eliminated. We laughed at the idea of coming up with $30,000 for an adoption. And then when the Lord clearly asked us to bring home a second Treasure at the same time, we figured He could just as easily provide the additional $20,000 :)

And a further cool factor, we never waited on funds. Never. Many times we needed funds within a day or two, and the Lord miraculously provided. Our paperwork never sat still due to lack of funds.

And since we have so many friends who are also adopting and holding fundraisers, we were convinced we had to help them too. It didn't matter that we were fundraising. It's all His! And every single time we gave to another family, He returned the blessing many times over. Every.single.time!!!

Now, please don't think we're super spiritual or anything like that. Last Thursday, 8 days from travel, we were still $6,000 short. With our latest fundraiser ending in 2 days, we made a tough decision. Lifesong had also awarded us a $4,000 interest-free covenant loan which we'd hoped not to use. We simply don't need any more debt. But it was available to us, and we didn't know what else to do but utilize it. So we requested the loan proceeds be disbursed to our agency.

The very next day we received our travel cost list. It was $6,000 less than we estimated. $6,000 less! (Oh, ye of little faith!) Even though we requested the loan proceeds be disbursed so our agency could wire them to China, we now have the funds to repay the loan. It's all His! It's all Him!

Even today, He takes 2 fishes and 5 loaves and multiplies it!

PRAISE HIS NAME! We stand in awe!

...and I look forward to blogging about something other than fundraising for a while :) :) That's uber cool!