Multiplying The Fishes and The Loaves:

About 3 years ago I studied the book of John in a Precept Bible study and fell in love with my Bible. I know that sounds weird because I have always loved God's word, but I had never studied it inductively before. I had no idea how rich Bible study could be. Well, the book of John contains the story of "the little boy who shared his lunch" as my sweet little Ansley put it when she was about 4 years old. The boy brought Jesus his 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish and sacrificially gave it to Him to share with the 5,000 people who had gathered to hear Him speak.
"Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. When they were filled , He said to his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost." Leftovers??? He fed 5,000 people from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and there were leftovers???
Well... We collected belongings from about 20 different families for our garage sale. Our garage was FULL. We figured, whatever we didn't sell those first 2 days , we would donate to another fundraising garage sale. We sold a LOT of stuff and made about $700 that first weekend. But when we loaded it all back in the garage after the second day of selling, we realized that our garage looked fuller than when we had started. We still had all the really good furniture and toys and strollers. No one had bought the "good stuff". You wouldn't believe what people wanted. One lady walked up to me with a piece of that rubber padding that you put under your silverwear tray and an old brown hand towel and wanted to know how much we wanted for it. I said, "It's free!" I mean what would you charge for something like that? One by one all the little trinkets and treasures were selling, but all the big stuff remained. We thought about Craig*list and eB*y, but that just takes so much time. So I said to Matt, "Maybe this is just God's way of multiplying our loaves and fishes." So we have just kept on selling. Next weekend will be our 4th and the stuff just keeps coming. We continue to get donations. Who knows how long this will continue:) So far we have made over $2100.00! Please continue to pray for Ashlyn and that time will go by fast. We are just about done with the homestudy and then we start the dossier. We're still about 10-11 months from travel. It seems like time has been crawling by so slowly.
Today is Orphan Sunday. Our church did nothing to bring awareness. I was disappointed. BUT, check out Adeye's blog at www.nogreaterjoymom.com tomorrow. You may see a familiar face! She is posting personal testimonies from several different families for adoption awareness month. I love her blog. She is an inspiration our family and to so many thousands of followers. There are many stories of God's great provision to families who said "yes" to adoption. I LOVE hearing other peoples stories.

Our garage AFTER our last sale this weekend! We sold about 200 books, tons of clothes, some end tables, and lots of toys.