When we did our first lemonade stand I thought it would be amazing if we could bring in $50. I thought the girls would be so proud of that and really feel like they are a part of the team bringing their sister home. Well, to my amazement, the first lemonade stand brought in $105! We were shocked! We were able to share our story with many people who were amazed and excited. On each cup I had placed a label with a link back to our blog so people could follow our journey. We were so encouraged by how excited people genuinely were for our family! Seeing the girls excitement, Nana stocked the girls up with new lemonade pitchers, lemonade, Kool Aid, and sugar. The girls couldn't wait to get back out there!
Fast forward to the next Saturday. Another sunny day, another smiling lemonade stand staff. This Saturday we were again amazed! We made $156! We truly are humbled! We had people stopping two or three times because our lemonade was "soooo good!". The girls were so proud!
Yesterday was a hot, humid day. After dinner the girls asked if they could set up a quick stand. We said, "sure!" Their first two customers gave us $61! We couldn't believe it! God is certainly blessing our styrofoam cups of lemonade!
When we first started this I knew fundraising was something we needed to do, but I honestly struggled with it. We were the ones wanting to adopt yet we were asking others to help us. It took some praying and processing through this with The Lord for me to feel more excited about it. That would be a whole other blog post, but I'll try and quickly summarize some of my thoughts. I know I've said it before, but we believe that all Christians are called to take care of orphans and widows (James 1:27). We also believe that looks differently for different people. One way it may look is people being willing to use their own personal resources to help another family provide a loving home. It's certainly not the only way, just one specific example. Through our little lemonade stand on our front lawn we have seen first hand how excited people are to share their resources with a special child!
Another blessing we have experienced is helping people see the possibilities for them to adopt in their own lives. We've all heard of other people adopting internationally, but if you were like us, we had a strong desire to adopt but didn't see it possible - strictly from a financial stand point. The awareness this little lemonade stand is raising is amazing! We are hoping to inspire others to step out in faith and commit to bringing home a child in need! I can't tell you the shock on people's face when we tell them our story. It's not a shock of disbelief that there are babies who need rescuing or even a shock that we have 4 biological children and are still pursuing an adoption (that doesn't seem to bother anyone! It actually seems to make them more excited! This came as a huge shock to me!). They are truly shocked that they get to meet and talk to a family going through the process. It is just something people read about or hear of t.v. not something many people often get to have conversations about and ask their questions. It has been wonderful to be able to explain how other families can get more information regarding the adoption process and how this is our way of living out the Great Commission in our home and how we are stepping out in complete faith trusting God for the big unknown! We are prayerful that The Lord is always glorified during this process! It is nothing of our own doing - all His!!
Thank you for all your support!
Stacy
Prayer Request:
-Continue to pray that our home study can be done within the next couple of weeks
-Please pray our passports show up very soon
-Please continue to pray for our financial needs. We have a very large check to write any day now and still need to raise some funds for it. Large donations or small donations all add up!
-Pray for our sweet Charlie Jo!
No comments:
Post a Comment