Often you hear people talk about how much they've learned/grown/been stretched in their adoption processes. Some of my greatest teachers this time around have been my children, my two oldest daughters, A & C, currently ages 9 & 8... not so old.
When we told A & C that we were going to adopt JW, they went straight to their piggy banks, emptied them out, even handed over much
beloved chinese yuan from C's trip to China when we brought home JJ, and gave it all (quarters, pennies, dimes, chuck eeee cheese tokens, you name it) to us to help with getting JW home... They weren't holding on tightly to what was theirs, but were more than willing, they were so excited that they could give what they had and do something/play a part in helping bring their brother home. We hadn't told them exactly how much adoption costs, but they knew it was a lot, and they knew Momma & Daddy hadn't been planning on adopting again so hadn't been saving for that, and didn't have what was needed. So they gave what they had, with *joy*! HUGE challenge to me... about not only giving when its convenient, when I've got 'surplus', but giving sacrificially...
The girls didn't stop there though.
They decided that not only did they want to give what they had, but they wanted to help *raise* money to bring JW home. I loved seeing their hearts but thought to myself, 'Girls just leave this to momma & daddy. You don't need to be concerned with this, this is not your responsibility.' They had thought about it and had come up with an idea, they wanted to sell bouncy balls to raise money. Wait, what?!?! I thought there was no way that anyone would buy bouncy balls?!?! to help bring a little boy home. But my sweet girls were determined. They started collecting bouncy balls from school - they would forgo the candy and other toys that were presented as prizes after work well done and instead choose bouncy ball, after bouncy ball, after bouncy ball... for months. Every opportunity they had (dr's appointment, dentist, orthodontist etc), they chose bouncy balls and added them to their collection.
Honestly, I thought that if we gave it enough time this whole bouncy ball fundraiser idea would fade. But after about 6 months of collecting, the girls asked their daddy (whose day job happens to be in 'web stuff') if he would build them a website to sell the 38 bouncy balls that they had collected. Soooo, Daddy did what Daddys do when their sweet daughters ask them something. He set up a
gofundme page for the girls. He sat down and talked with them about what their goal was (raise $1000!! big gulp from momma when I heard this! I was thinking more along the lines of $100), what they were going to include in their prize/package (2 bouncy balls, handmade card from them, handmade rainbow loom bracelet, and a fridge magnet with JWs picture - hopefully encouraging people to pray for sweet JW), how much they would ask people to donate for one of these 'prizes', and how they were going to share the news about their fundraiser (they drafted emails to family members asking them to share on social media). They got everything set up on a Saturday night, prayed and then clicked submit on their campaign.
Sweet girls...
I wish I could say that I was 100% supportive of this... but I wasn't. I was concerned that my girls were going to get hurt - after putting themselves out there, being vulnerable, asking for help, not having people respond, ending up feeling like they had failed, which is what I was sure was going to happen - and I wanted to protect them from that. I talked with my hubby privately and told him that I thought we should be prepared to buy 1-2 token packages, since no-one else was going to. Oh how wrong I was, how little my faith... The next morning was a Sunday, our week to serve at church, which meant an early wake up call. The first thing the girls asked was if they could look at their gofundme page. I knew what they were going to see. I had been brought to tears time and time again, between their bedtime and mine, when I received multiple emails from gofundme saying that another donation had been made. Overnight these girls had raised $500! It seemed incredible, that in just 12 hours they were halfway to their goal! To date, the girls have raised $1595.00 from their bouncy ball fundraiser.
Spring break spent making bracelets, making cards, addressing envelopes, putting 'prizes' together.
At the post office, mailing off all the 'prizes'.
The lessons in this??? Many! No-one is too young, nothing is too small, too insignificant when you bring it to God. He can use any and all... Such an incredible faith builder for me, and for my daughters, for us all. Something that I know they will remember always, and hold tightly to, remembering when they stepped out in faith and God provided above and beyond what they thought was a huge goal. I am so humbled, so grateful, to all the wonderful people who responded to my daughters faith put into action.
