He Provides in the Waiting

It has been a long time since our last update.  Simply put, we have been waiting.  Since sending our paperwork to CARA, the governing body in India, we have been waiting 4 months for approval.  How much longer?  We don’t know.  Changes have been implemented to the process of approval and a new director of CARA was recently put in place.  Please pray that we would be approved soon so that we can be granted permission to move on to the next step in the process – matching. The matching process is when we will be eligible to receive a referral and therefore find out who Ravi is and have the excitement of seeing his face and learning more about him. 

Now on to the fun news! This past weekend we held our yard sale fundraiser.  After great hesitation, we decided to try and take advantage of our very large, neighborhood wide yard sale. There were several factors that caused us to second guess our decision to do this. Where would we get enough items to sell? Who would help us pick up and unload heavy items since we don’t have a truck? Who would help set up and move items Saturday since Carl would be coaching his college team in Texas that weekend? God was about to provide abundantly more than we could have imagined.

For three weeks we worked to collect items from neighbors, friends, and church members and promote our fundraiser all over social media. Our garage was full of stuff, stacked up taller than me in some places.  Our house was full as well. We carved out small pathways so we could get to the garage and the front door. It felt like we were living out an episode of “Hoarders” towards the end. God provided!  We had strangers driving to our home two and three times to drop off furniture, clothes, toys, etc.

Our sale was to officially start at 6am Saturday morning. We had at least 15 people show up at 4:30am to help us move everything from inside our house to our yard. Friends and deacons and elders, some we knew and some we met that morning, all joyfully came and helped us haul out and organize everything. Many hands make light work and before I knew it we were ready to start our sale. Our first customer showed up at 5:30. Her name was Brenda and she came back twice and brought her family along too. 

Over the course of the morning we had around 30 people show up and help us work. Many stayed for 9 hours in the ridiculous 90+ degree Mississippi heat.  We worked hard but we also laughed, made new connections, and got to know each other better. God provided!

We witnessed the hands and feet of God that day. His people loving and taking care of one another without question or hesitation.  Not just on the day of the sale, but for the three weeks leading up to the sale.  We had a friend coming weekly to help sort through all of our donations, someone dropping off hanging racks so we could display the nicer items of clothing, donations coming in almost daily, friends loaning us tables and tents. God continually provided us with so much stuff, but much more importantly He provided us family – a church family that understands how to love well. These people are our dearest friends and an answer to prayer.