The Sale

I see the hands and feet of Jesus in people, and it overwhelms my heart. Yesterday was no exception.

We decided, a few weeks ago, to have a garage sale to help raise funds for our adoption. It was a great plan since Jimmy's been on me for months to get that garage cleaned out. So I began plugging away with emails, and flyers, and Facebook posts about the event.

I am amazed, sometimes, at the people who step forward to champion your cause, and how it's not always who you'd expect. It's like God has armed our family with new warriors with each adoption journey, while we continue to be blessed by the old. We are so incredibly thankful to see how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.

Many friends began sending messages that they wanted to donate items for us to sell. We collected so much that we had to start storing items inside the house!  Today our garage is so full, that we have enough for another sale next month!

The days leading up to yesterday were tense. If you've ever had a garage sale in South Florida, you understand why. It can be a draining experience to say the least, and it seemed that everyone we knew had other plans. I was beginning to imagine an ugly scenario, sadly.  But then, plans fell through, and friends offered, out of the blue, to come and assist. Thank you, Jesus. We needed them! I am savoring some priceless moments that I won't forget any time soon. And Madi...oh our beautiful daughter. She was such a big help and donated all of the money from the sale of her toys, including her Barbie dream house and Barbie collection.

Some of our friends showed up and shopped til they dropped. Some friends stopped by only to give a donation, which blew us away, too. It was truly a great success. Like a fifteen hundred dollar success.  Yeah...you read it right...our home study is paid for in full.  Can I get a hallelujah??  

Amen.

But this was one of the true highlights of my day... 

In the driveway appears a woman, who was accompanied by a young lady carrying a baby. As I approached them, she kindly says to me, "Are you Lisa?"  

"Yes," I respond with curiosity, since they didn't appear familiar to me.

She introduces herself, and goes on to say, "We know all about your family, and we know all about your son, Daniel."  Her words sent tears immediately to my eyes, and I could see that her daughter's were welling up, too, as she hugged her baby tightly. 

"We've read your book...our whole family has read your book, and Daniel has inspired us so much." 

At that point, I had to hug them both. They had instantly joined that special place in my heart, the space that's reserved for our precious angel and those who love him. 

And then she tells me a story. "The day after I finished reading your book, it was a beautiful day with no rain in sight, I went outside and there before me was the most beautiful rainbow in the sky."

"I knew it was Daniel!" she says, and I told my daughter, "you have to read the book, and then you'll understand!"

Goosebumps.

Can you imagine?  That our little guy had such an impact on this beautiful family?  Oh my heart.

I asked them if they wanted to look around, but they declined. They had driven from forty-five minutes away just to deliver the message that they'd heard what we are doing, and they wanted to help our cause. Then she handed me an envelope, which I tucked into my purse.

We hugged again, and they went on their way.  That one single blessed encounter made up for every horrid moment of brutal negotiation that had taken place that morning.

When we opened that envelope, my heart was overwhelmed yet again.

There are no words to express our gratitude for such an outpouring of love and support from everyone.

Just, thank you all so, so much. We are truly blessed, and grateful for all of it.

Let's Begin with an Announcement...

The start of National Adoption Month seems quite apropos to share this post. This one's been on my heart for a while...

The waiting children.

There are so many of them out there in this world...an estimated 150,000,000 orphans longing for a family to call their own, and some desperately needing the love and support of a family without even knowing it. Child advocacy is an act of God, and I am constantly amazed at how I see His hands and heart working through countless, loving people. Once again, I have seen miracles come from Facebook and Yahoo groups. 

As I found myself, this year, verbally advocating for "the least of these" to friends, I realized that it is our family who needs to answer the call once again. The Holy Spirit has been totally working on me this year to bring home one more. I suppose I began strongly feeling this call from above at the tail end of 2012, when I wrote this post.

And the intense feeling just kept growing and swelling within me.

I prayed for months for the Holy Spirit to open Jimmy's heart, too, since I know that this will be a burden on his shoulders, financially, given the advent of his new real estate career this year. But I knew that eventually he would warm up to the idea. After all, my husband has a heart of gold.

That brings me to our BIG, joyous National Adoption Month announcement...we're going back to China! We started building our dossier over the summer and our home study report is almost complete. We have officially applied with Holt International Children's Services, the same agency who brought us our two precious sons.

The fact is...we may not "have it all," but we have enough to give to another child, especially when you consider their current living conditions in an institution. And we have enough love in our hearts. That is what really matters, isn't it?  I guess some would argue that it's not, but we believe we'll reap so much more joy and happiness by having another family member to love.

We are wise enough to know that we won't be able to do this alone, so, I've decided to start a "Trading Stuff for Love" fundraising campaign to help bring this child home. And we are going to sell some of our "prized possessions" knowing that the end result will be so completely beautiful and worth it.

I'll likely be posting these items through our With an Open Heart facebook page.  If you simply "Like" the page at your convenience, you will be able to view the TSFL posts and you can bid on the items (kinda like a silent auction) by sending us a message with a bid/donation amount. The highest bidder gets the item. Pretty simple, right?  Lord, I hope it works...

We humbly ask for your prayers on this journey. And for discernment about that child--our daughter--who waits for us. She will have special needs, and we pray that God equips us to meet them.

We realize that not everyone is called to the adoption ministry, but we have been. It is our sincere desire to say "yes" to God, and through our obedience, we hope and pray that He will be glorified, and that another child will come to know Jesus through the love of a family.