My family has been
richly blessed this Christmas season.
Recently, we've had several set backs that have really hurt. Christmas was looking very bleak. I was second guessing my decision to homeschool instead of working. Now, my faith is completely restored! God is so good! Keep reading and you'll understand:
Our blessings:1. A generous person that we don't even know offered to pay our
water bill. We had a shut-off notice. Not only did she pay the notice, she also paid the current month's bill. We received a Christmas card from her the other day and she included a
$100 check! Now I can pay the gas bill and put the remainder toward the electric bill!
2. A family has offered to purchase the items that we need to make
tamales, which is a Christmas tradition of ours that we were going to have to forego this year. The family is going to meet me this Saturday afternoon at the grocery store. Making tamales means so much to the kids and they look forward to it every year.
Thank you to Shari & Rudy who met us at Food Lion and gave us a $100 gift certificate!
3. On the of the message boards I am involved in, each month we have a "wishes" thread. On the December wishes thread I asked that if anyone had some small items they could send so the kids could open some gifts, we would appreciate it (Salvation Army & Christian Services were full).
Two amazing members responded! One donated some credits to me and encouraged me to use them in the Book Bazaar. I had fun! I'm not positive of the final count, but I think I spent 8 credits and am getting about
30 books! The Lord promised to provide for us if we follow Him. Well, we ARE and He DID!!!!!! See #6 for other PBS blessing.
4. I taught our good friends & neighbors (one family) how to make the the crosses that I sell, so they could make some for gifts for their families. They said they were not going to make them for sale, they only wanted to make some as gifts. Well, they made some and wore them to church. A lady wanted to buy 10 from them @ $10 each! They tried to give her my info, but because she knew them, she wanted the items to come from them, as it would mean more to her. They asked if I minded before they accepted the job and offered to give me half of the money. I gave my blessing and turned down the money. This past Sunday I was trying to figure out how we will get through the week, food and gas-wise. I was about to call my friend and ask if we could borrow $20 until this Friday, when she came over and insisted that we take the
$50. She said that God was telling her that the money was not hers and that she should give it to me! This before I even told her of our need! We had been praying and God answered! Of course, I had given my blessing for her to sell the items and I do not in anyway feel that she "owed" me that money, but how awesome is it that we were so blessed right when we needed it!!!!
5. We have had the honor of making
crosses as a family and we have given out them to four families in need and to one soldier so far this Christmas season. We've also gone into an organization and handed one out to each employee just to brighten their day. So far, we have given away 27 and our goal was 30. Since I have 3 kids, they each are going to pick 1 person to give one to tomorrow!!
6. Today we received a Christmas card in the mail from another PBS member with a
$35 gift certificate for Target! What a blessing!
7. Yesterday we met a lady from Monroe and she gave us some
clothing that is really nice that fits Ashley. I mean really nice, like even if we had the money, I wouldn't buy it for her!! There was also a boy's coat that we didn't need so we gave it to our neighbor's son. He loved it! It was a
new coat with tags. Later, his mom said that if she knew he was going to love it so much, she would have wrapped it up!
8. We received a
Christmas dinner complete with a huge ham from the Family Resource Center sponsored by the boy scouts.
9. From the Family Resource Center, I was also able to get some
groceries and some
clothing for the kids, including a
coat for Ashley which she really needed. I also got a new coat and its really nice!
10. I'll keep adding them...tonight (Saturday, Dec 20) Rudy won a raffle at his work Christmas party and we got a
$50 gift certificate for Target!!
11. We were able to bless two families with
tamales! One that moved here from San Diego three years ago and haven't had tamales since, and one family from Texas that has been looking for homemade tamales!
12. Thank you to
Dawn who gave us $50 and some gifts for the kids!
I've spent so much time in tears over the last two weeks just amazed at the kindness of strangers and friends alike. In fact, my husband has quit assuming that something bad has happened when he sees me crying!
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