Gratituesday: Oh, how he LOVES Us!

 
My favorite stories are stories of how God continues to remind us of how much he loves us.  In the big and in the small he sees our earnest desire for all the little things that make us uniquely his!

I have been on a blog hiatus taking care of so many things.   One was an opportunity to host a garage sale to benefit my brother Sean's family and his son Carter.  I jumped at the chance as that is my thing!  In the midst or organizing that, teaching my kids, feeding my family, etc. we got a call that gave us pause on everything.

Before I proceed, let me preface my story by saying everybody is fine. I am also the type of gal who once faced with a dilemma isn't keen with completely leaving it up to God.  He always trumps me, but I entertain the idea that if I don't act he can't work.  Ha, jokes on me!  I'm constantly in awe how God doesn't just fix a problem, he uses the most unlikely sources and links hearts and lives together.

That being said, Sunday August 8th, my Sister-In-Law, Chelle calls my husband to ask some AC repair questions and in the process let's us know that their AC went out.  To those reading who are not from Texas, our summer heat is brutal and we have been topping off most days in the 100's.  My heart started to race and I began to panic as I thought of Carter enduring that heat...inside!  Long story short they ask that we keep it between ourselves and we get off the phone.  If I was in a financial position to replace it that would have been that.  But we are not, not even close.  As we talked, I cried and prayed my Hubby remembered his uncle had a portable AC.  We worked out the details and hit the road to literally hook them up.  When we got there, their house felt like a sauna.  After running all the errands that included air conditioning buildings they retreated to their front yard and filled the kiddie pool to kill some of the heat.  Luckily, they had another AC from Chelle's Dad and together they lowered the inside temp by about 5 degrees.  For real!  With nothing left to do we said our goodbyes and prayed it would cool over night.  It did not and they retreated to a hotel we would later learn.

By Monday night  I was out of ideas and I broke my promise to Chelle and called my sister.  Hoping her and her husband knew someone or a possible avenue to take that would fix this situation.  I figured at least that was two more people praying and that counted for something right.  Well, my Brother-In-Law has more guts than I have.  As he brainstormed what to do he came up with an idea.  He emailed Mark Cuban's assistant!  The name Mark Cuban may not ring a bell, but prepare to be impressed...he is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team.  Nothing like going for it...I mean 'no' would leave us in the same position anyway.  Fast forward he not only agreed to help he PAID for a NEW AC!  And then touched by Carter's story the AC company, Crow Heating and AC PAID for a NEW FURNACE and ALL THE LABOR!  There are many more details to this story that you can read at Carter's site.

So now that the AC was taken care of we could move on to the Garage Sale.  Sean and Chelle had asked several weeks prior to come home for a Garage Sale.  We finalized a date and I set out to get donations to hopefully get a few more things to sell for them.  I sent out two emails.  One to close friends and one to our local Homeschooling Group.  I was blown away at the generosity of others.  Between pick up and drop offs from family and friends we had 11 families give out of their abundance to help mine!  Two families from our Homeschool Group, that I hardly know...as in met once, brought car fulls.  My garage, car port, living room and porch were spilling over with donations before Sean and Chelle ever made it to town.  Along with donations, my sister and Mom made baked goods and the local paper ran an additional small write up to advertise the garage sale and Carter's site.

I was so blessed by the generosity of others that I almost missed it.  While each precious person was so appreciated who gave no matter how big, small, in kind, in prayer, in hugs, or financial donations, it was the fact that each was a physical example of the Father's love for US.  I was blown away that not only were my prayers answered, he loved me extravagantly through each small gesture and detail.

This lesson will be one that I treasure for years to come.  I love when God shows up and shows me up....he was there all along.  While He still calls me to be obedient He is still in control.  So many lessons to cherish.

If that wasn't enough I was able to get in lots of Carter snuggle time and my ginormous family got to take a family picture complete with grand babies.  We were missing three members, but for this brood that was pretty good!

On a not so happy note, our life is never short of a dull moment.  In all the cousin fun, Carter fell Sunday.  He apparently fell in such a way on his knee that he fractured his femur.  This poor little guy had to cast up his entire leg and will have to have it in a cast for 7 weeks.  With Carter's in and out hospital visits and stays he has still not mastered walking independently.  Please pray that he would heal quickly and accurately and that it would NOT pose any obstacles for the future.

Please continue to pray for Sean to find a job and if you feel lead please visit Carter's site for a link to their personal paypal account for donations.