The Worst Yard Sale We ever Had...part two

As I was crumpled on the floor, Greg came over and I handed him the check.  He had begun to cry as soon as he saw me fall to the floor.  Not even knowing what had happened, he knew it was something unbelievable.  We held each other and cried for several minutes and the kids came to hug us and comfort us, not knowing what was happening.  In a matter of minutes, the Lord had provided enough money for us to pay off our credit card.  Basically, now we only had to come up with our in China costs.  I cannot put into words how we felt.  We are so unworthy of the love that the Lord has shown to us through friends, family, and mere aquaintances.  We do not deserve it one bit.  Would you believe, that He wasn't done yet????

The next day was Saturday and we decided to go ahead and finish having the yard sale.  We meet so many people and really have a lot of chances to tell people about the Lord and what He has done for us.  People always have questions about adoption, and sometimes even about our faith.  I suggested that we change things up a bit and just say everything was $1.  After thinking about it, Greg decided we would make everything .50 cents and suggested we copy a church tactic we saw once.  We went to this yard sale one time a church was having.  When people came to pay, the cashier would tally up their total and then say, "your debt has been paid, Jesus paid it all".  So that's what we did.  All day Saturday that's what we did, and we still had over $100 donated, even though we were giving stuff away!  Being able to share the Gospel all day long was pure joy!

Sunday we went to church and found out that we had met the matching grant!  We literally were in a daze, unable to believe what had happened.  We walked out of church, basically holding $20,000 to pay off our credit card and pay a good part of what we would owe for our China in country costs!  We were now only about $5000 from being fully funded to travel!  We planned to relax the rest of the day, and think about fundraising on Monday, and that is what we did.  But, around 7:00 pm a dear friend of mine called and asked if they could drop by.  Their church wanted to make a donation to our adoption.  Wow!  So amazing...but when we saw the check...we began to weep, again.  I bet you won't ever guess what the amount was that check was for...

That's right...$5000!  Within a matter of less than 72 hours, we went from $14,000 in adoption debt to having enough money to pay off that debt and have some left to pay our China in country costs!  

I looked back at a bible verse I had posted on Facebook the morning of the first day of the yard sale...Phillipians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus."  And He did meet our needs!  Above and beyond what we could have thought or asked.  

We don't know why He chose to bless us.  We know lots of wonderful families that have gone into debt to adopt.  And honestly, we were going to be one of them.  I can't say we never doubted.  We did.  When things don't work out like you think they should, and the obstacles keep coming, it's just natural to wonder if you've made a mistake, misjudged something.  But we chose to keep believing, to keep fighting, to keep working, to keep obeying.  We didn't know how it would happen, but we knew it would.  ALL GLORY AND HONOR AND PRAISE BE TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

***As of late yesterday afternoon, we received our final cost for our in China expenses.  This is the total for our costs for guides, translators, transportation, accommodations, government fees and final paper work.  Jehovah Jireh had provided every last penny of the money we need for this, another $7000!  WE ARE FULLY FUNDED TO GO GET JOURNEY...DEBT FREE!

This adoption has ended up costing us almost $10,000 more than our adoption of Fisher.  Greg is making half the salary he was making then.  We had less than one fourth of the fundraisers we did then.  I was pregnant for a good portion of the adoption process and not able to do much.  We came down to less than two weeks away from traveling to get Journey, being almost $22,000 short.  We stand in utter amazement of what the Lord has done.  We cannot take any credit whatsoever for this.  He chose out of His abundant grace and mercy to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.  Just like salvation.  

Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever,  Amen."

We leave next Thursday on the 24 hour trek to go get our sweet girl.  Sweet Journey Mei...here we come!  

Most likely if you are reading this blog, you were one of the many people who helped to make this all possible.  Some gave of heir time, some gave money, some gave items, some gave ALL.  For that, we are so grateful.  Words cannot express our gratitude.  We can't wait to share our trip with you in just a few days...and to post pictures of Journey in our arms!