One Truly Amazing Day

Hi everyone,

About a month ago, Amy's friend Keely suggested that we have a yard sale to raise funds for our adoption. She encouraged us to ask family and friends to donate items that would help raise the funds.

Well, we followed her advice and truly saw God work through the whole experience. Right from the beginning, Keely was doing everything she could do help us. She sent out an email to her entire neighborhood to share our adoption story with them and ask them to help us bring home our baby. The response was amazing. People donated items left and right.

In addition to the donation of goods, others were supporting us in thought and prayer. After my softball game last week, I stopped by to say hi to our church's other softball team and ask their coach to pray that our upcoming fundraiser would bring our daughter closer to having a home. The coach, always modest, said he already knew about it and would pray for it after his game.

Only later did I find out that he had sent out a "post message" (a voice mail sent to multiple cell phones) to a bunch of people he knew about our yard sale before that! He didn't even mention it to me... That type of modest caring truly moves me. This quiet generosity is one form of obedience to the Lord:

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:2-4)

I realize this wasn't directly "giving to the needy," but keep in mind that my friend was doing this for a young, orphaned girl on the other side of the world whom he has never met. God clearly directs us to pray and give without boasting or announcing and it's inspiring to see others living for Him that way.

One person we know from our church got that message and went right over to Keely's to drop off some items and a check... :)

By the time the day finally came, Keely's basement and garage were completely full of donated goods. Amy couldn't sleep, so she got up and read some verses given to us by Keely's husband a few weeks ago. I woke up and ended up reading with Amy for about an hour before we got ready and headed over to Keely's.

God's love shone through again that morning. Our friend Jason showed up at 7am that morning to help. He never even said anything beforehand...just came over with a smile and a helping hand while it was still dark outside. Jason and his wife have 4 children, of whom 2 are adopted from China. I can't really describe how awesome it is to know their family. They adopted children with severe medical conditions and have truly changed the world as a result. Both of them require costly, significant surgeries that would almost definitely have not been paid for by their country's government. You won't ever see them boasting about saving lives, though...you'll just see them loving their children.

Once the yard sale started, there were absolutely no lulls until we wrapped up in the afternoon. We had hundreds of people streaming through the thousands of items all day long. Keely's friend Jean showed up and helped us out the entire day...just another example of someone giving so much so quietly. We had never even met her before.

Amy and I were able to share bits and pieces of our adoption story with the shoppers. We had set up a table for donations that had one sheet about Kazakhstan adoptions and one sheet about the related costs. Not surprisingly, very few people realize that the estimated total surpasses $40,000...

By the time 3pm came around, we were exhausted. Keely again was extremely helpful and said that we could keep all the leftover items in her garage until an organization comes to pick up all the goods in a week or two.

We counted the money when we got home. We were thinking that we had possibly raised around $500 (which would be a huge success!)...Well, we had to count twice. On that day, at 1122 Gate Post Ct, we raised....$1122!!! Our jaws probably dropped a few inches right then... We can't help but think of Jesus feeding the thousands with just five loaves of bread and two fish:

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?" (Mark 8:19-21)

There's one more story I have to tell that really wraps up the whole event. On the day before the sale, Amy and I went to pick up a Christmas tree that someone had donated to us. We threw it in the back and headed to Keely's. We were just a minute from her place when someone pulled up behind us and waved frantically. I had no idea who the person was, but I figured it was because I wasn't wearing glasses...Amy and I looked at each other, I shrugged my shoulders, and waved back. They continued to wave and honk. After another quarter mile, I finally realized that they weren't saying hi. I pulled over. A woman got out of a van and told me that a tree had flown from my truck and possibly scratched up the side of her vehicle. The Christmas tree had jumped loose! Keep in mind that it was still sitting where it had fallen, in the middle of a major road right at 5pm on Friday.

Fortunately, the car hadn't been scratched. However...as our eyes turned toward the back of the van, we noticed some bad news. Her tire was completely flat. She was very friendly and we ended up having a nice chat while her husband arrived to put on the spare. We were kinda hoping that, after hearing about why we were carrying the tree, she might forgive us the tire debt and let it go. No such luck. We gave her our info and then waited for the bill.

We got the call about the bill the next day. It just so happened that she had a lifetime warranty on the tire...she said that we didn't owe her a thing!

God Bless,
Phil & Amy