Bountiful Blessings

I know this is the Christmas season, and Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago, but we have had some wonderful blessings in the last week that I thought I would share.

Some of you know that Drew was laid off in April of this year.  Since then, he has had some side work, but nothing steady.  The construction industry around our area has all but come to a grinding halt.  We were hopeful that he would get a position with a commercial construction company before the end of the year, but the company has postponed making a decision about offering the position until sometime in January.  So, we were kind of bummed about that, but we are continuing to trust in God's timing to provide for our needs.

Last week, one of the pastors from our church called and said a few people at church wanted to do some things for the kids for Christmas.  So, I gave him a few ideas and thought maybe each of the kids would get a couple of things.  When we arrived at church Sunday morning, he said that there were some items in his office that we needed to take home with us.  We were absolutely overwhelmed!  Each boy has several packages to open in addition to a large gift bag for each boy containing clothing items (and much needed dress shoes for church!!) that they needed!  As if all of that was not enough, there was an envelope simply labeled "Merry Christmas."  Curious to see what was inside (and if anyone had signed the card!), I opened the card and found not one, but two $100 gift cards to Walmart.  The thing is, we needed groceries (okay, we really needed groceries!) and I had no idea how I was going to pay for them until we were given those gift cards.  Also - hang on for this one! - the battery on my van died, completely died, Monday morning.  Drew was able to jump the van off for me to drive it to Walmart to have the battery replaced, again using the gift cards.  And as a quick side note, they had one battery left that fit in my van.  Call that coincidence?  Neither do we!!

And if all of that was not enough, there's more!!  Thursday was Zachary's last day at school before Christmas vacation, and Friday was Justin's.  Both boys' school bills were two months behind, and the schools have been wonderful in working things out with us.  But, they both wanted one payment before Christmas vacation started and the entire bills caught up before the end of Christmas break.  We had absolutely no idea how the bills were going to be paid, and we had actually been praying about whether I should homeschool the boys beginning in January.  Then, Thursday morning when I was at the boys' Christmas parties (and Drew was home sick), I got a phone call from Drew.  A good friend from church stopped by with a gift from our Sunday school class.  They apparently collected some money, and it came to almost $2000!!!!!  We were able to pay the school bills in full and also pay some other bills.

We are so grateful and thankful for our friends who extended themselves to help us this year.  Drew and I are continuing to trust the Lord that He will provide for our needs in His timing.  May each of you find God's blessings in this Christmas season!

Nancy