In the Presence of the Great!

The school supply season is upon us! I've mentioned before that I LOVE a good bargain! Well, we've been spending some of our time in July & August the past couple of years collecting school supplies for children that might not have access to them. In the past, this has always been through church school supply drives, but this year, we have a more personal reason to donate. We are collecting supplies to give as gifts to the orphanages in Vietnam.

Now, mind you, I only buy the REAL bargains. But, somehow, this year, the bargains seem to be abounding. I have already found 9-cent crayons, 50-cent markers, 10-cent pencil boxes - and it's still just mid-July. I happened to mention it to my mother on the telephone one day, and as all good blessing stories go, she e-mailed a couple of friends, and they e-mailed a couple of friends, and well....everyone just wants to help. My parents' Sunday School class members are running around to office supply stores and e-mailing each other about the best sales of the week. Even the sales clerk at Target who innocently asked why I was buying 20 boxes of crayons offered to help, once she heard our story. My brother stunned us by providing an entire case of individual crayon packets from his restaurant.

Now, I know that some people still say really hurtful things about international adoption. (In fact, several of my adoption buddies have had some truly senseless and hurtful remarks thrown their way. I am so sorry that anyone has to hear that stuff!) But, I also wanted everyone to know how many people really care about what's happening and really are excited to help in their own little ways. I want to encourage my adoption and blogger friends to be vulnerable enough to let it be known that there are needs in adoption land. Who knows just how many people are waiting in the wings, eager to help? The sales clerk at Target sure is! If you are interested in helping too, please feel free to tag a comment on this post or just e-mail us.

"A gift opens the way for the giver,
and ushers him into the presence of the great."
--- Proverbs 18:16

Most of all, I want to say thank you to any and all of you who have given your time, your money, and your hearts to help. I wish that I could send you all a personal thank you note, for caring about us and most of all for caring about our new little boy - and lots of other little boys and girls in Vietnam. However, I don't even know any more all of the folks who might be helping and praying and caring for us in their little ways. So, I'll just offer this verse from Proverbs, and hope that your gifts have already and will continue to usher you into the presence of the great! Thank you for blessing us - may you be blessed back many, many times over!