The Bigger Picture

I'm staring at a blank page because I just don't know where to even start. So much has happened in the past 4 weeks that I'm not sure if I can write it out, but I know that this is one of the most important things we can do right now. Write it down so we don't forget. 

The week of our adoption yard sale was a turning point for us. It was supposed to pour, hail, and thunderstorm the night before our sale. Derek got called into mandatory overtime and we had volunteers who just couldn’t make it to help set up. There were only 3 of us girls available to move over 8 truck loads of donated items including large furniture. It was looking like a disaster.  We considered canceling it, but we had so much stuff that we couldn’t store it anywhere and so many people said they were going to attend. I tried calling other locations to move it indoors, but nothing worked. Everything was falling apart.  Friends kept calling us with updated weather conditions telling us we were crazy to move forward with it, but we both felt like God was going to do something incredible and we didn’t want to miss it.  Rain or shine, God was moving.

Two days before our yard sale, I was babysitting a little guy. The reception is horrible out there so my phone never works. I heard it ding like it does when there is a voicemail, so I tried to check it, but couldn’t. I didn’t recognize the number, but it looked like it was out of the area, so I checked it against Bethany’s number and it wasn’t a match. Bummer. About an hour later I heard it ding again like it had service, so I ran to a window for better reception and listened to the voice mail. All I could understand was, “this is (static) from Bethany (static) and we need you to call as soon as you get this message.”

They must need more paper work. They always need more paper work. Maybe we didn’t sign something or filed a form incorrectly. I knew that I wouldn’t get service until I was done babysitting several hours later, so I tried texting Derek to see if he had gotten a call as well. They wouldn’t try calling both of us if they just wanted paperwork. I ran around the house trying to find a single bar of service so I could send it and then I had to stand in the same spot to wait for his reply.

15 minutes later, Derek said they did contact him and he would be calling on his lunch hour. I knew something was up. I could feel it in my gut.  It was excruciating waiting to hear what they wanted and all the while running around the house with my cell phone in the air just trying to get some reception. The little guy I was watching ran around the house with his play phone. I guess he thought it was a game!

An hour later I got the text that there was a birth mom who wanted to meet with us the very next day.  We were told her story and given the opportunity to decide if we wanted to meet with her or not. It was a match meeting call!

Wait, the yard sale. 

We told our agent that we couldn’t meet that next day because Derek had to work and that was the day we were setting up the massive yard sale.  She told us that she would try to work out another meeting time giving us a few days to pray about it. Our meeting was scheduled for the following Tuesday and the yard sale kept us busy during those 4 days. It was so hard to not spill the beans to everyone who asked us for an update during the sale. Derek and I just giggled.

So, all the while that we thought God was going to do something incredible with our yard sale, we had no idea that He was working on bringing our little one home to us. He opened our focus from a fundraiser to the reason we were fundraising.