The Holy Spirit in action with Flat Stanley

Last fall, Matt and I went on a retreat, separately, called Cursillo.  This weekend is called different things in other denominations… the Methodist version is “Walk to Emmaus," the  Catholic version is called “Chirp." It is a spiritual renewal...The men go one weekend and the women typically go the next weekend.  After the weekend you are invited to an Ultreya.  An ultreya is hosted at a different church each month and is where Curistas (people that have attended Cursillo) or others that are interested in attending come together, have a service, a couple of “talks” and have a covered dish dinner. I was asked by my sponsor to give one of the talks at the Ultreya we hosted at our church in February…I AM WAS NOT A PUBLIC SPEAKER!!! I REPEAT, I AM WAS NOT A PUBLIC SPEAKER!! The thought of speaking in public makes made me nauseous (before I went to Cursillo, still makes me just a little nauseous)…BUT God wants us to share our story and share I will and give HIM all the glory along the way!!!  I am so excited at each opportunity to share!!!   Sometimes, I get the “deer in the headlights” look and that is okay, or the "I could never do that" or "WOW, you are a bigger person than me." Um excuse me that is not true...Please understand that this adoption is not about me or my family it is ALL ABOUT HIM!  We are not some incredible family, we are just people that FINALLY said YES to our Lord!  Which you know took a long time if you have read "our story from the beginning" at the top of this blog! Yes, we have to do the work, but we do everything WITH HIS help, HIS guidance and HIS LOVE and we get SO MUCH IN RETURN!!  Adoption is not something that most people think about, but now that I am a part of the “adoption community,” I want to share with others all that God has done, is doing and will do in this whole process!! I say WILL DO, because I have complete faith in Him.  That is not to say, I don’t get squirrely at times, but He has NEVER dropped us and I KNOW HE NEVER WILL, EVER!!

Back to the talk…It was so incredible, and I was so proud of myself for finally breaking free and doing it. Matt and the boys were there and they were proud of me too.  It was so freeing!! I had been paralyzed for MANY, MANY years of speaking in public. I finally thought, what is the worst thing that can happen to me?? People will snicker, people will laugh (at the wrong parts of my talk), people will be bored. Seriously, we are at church AND Psalm 56:11 says “In God I trust, I am not afraid, what can man do to me?” so there you have it.  I was there to speak from my heart and I did!! I got to share about MY GOD, and how I have gotten to the place where I am right now!! It was nothing but awesome for me!!  I spoke for a little over 17 minutes and could have talked longer!! I was really excited!!

After the service, MANY people came up to me and said “thank you so much for sharing,” “How incredible, bless you!” “That was the best talk I have ever heard!” People asked lots of questions about MSX and when do we go get him etc.  Most everyone had left the church when this one lady came to me and said, “I have got to talk to you!”  She explained how she had been on vacation and met 3 little girls who had been adopted from China. They became friends on their trip and are now pen-pals and she couldn’t wait to share our story with them!  She also said that they sent her “Flat Stanley!”  If anyone has a Kindergartner or First grader, you know who Flat Stanley is. He becomes flat so he can be mailed to different places in the world, and has lots of adventures.  Morgan and Maddox each made a Flat Stanley at school and then they were sent to my sister Jane.  Her mission was to take Flat Stanley with her wherever she went and take pictures of him doing different activities.  My boys' Flat Stanleys had a blast with their “Momma Zanie.” Anyway, this wonderful lady, Linda, had Flat Stanley with her and wanted to take a picture of me with Flat Stanley. I held him and she took the picture. It was hilarious.  After the “photo session” she proceeded to write down her name and number.  Linda explained that she does lots of fundraising for our children’s hospital.  She also let me know she would put me in touch with some of the doctors if I needed help.  I expressed my thanks to her and also shared that I knew some of the doctors because of Morgan.  After she told me about the fundraising, I thought, ‘I wonder if she knows of an organization that would like to donate to our family.’ I explained to her that we really never thought that this was going to happen for our family…even though I had prayed for a very long time it was really a huge surprise that we were actually embarking on this journey. I told her that since I never thought it was going to happen, I didn’t have an "adoption fund" set aside.  I also explained that I have done A LOT of work on writing for grants through several foundations that give donations for adoptions.  (we had been turned down by several.) With that, I asked her if she knew of any other organizations that may be interested in being a part of our journey with God.  She said, “well,” as she was writing something, I had no idea what was happening…My backpack was on the church pew, open, and she put something in it.  Linda said, “This isn’t much, but it’s a start…” I asked her what she was talking about…She said, “It’s my paycheck.”  I told her I was not telling her that to have her give me money (although I appreciated it immensely!!), I was simply asking if she knew of an ORGANIZATION that might like to donate. She proceeded to tell me, “Honey, I got paid on Wednesday and it has been in my purse since then and today is Sunday, there must be reason it is still in there.” Jiminy Christmas!!! Of course you know what happened next, my “gift of tears” made an appearance!  I thanked her and then she went to the parish hall. Matt was closing down the sound system, and he saw me crying, and I told him what had just happened. THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVED HER!!  A complete stranger contributed to our journey!! WOW!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT??? THANK YOU JESUS!! AMEN, AMEN!! What a true blessing for us and for Linda!! Thanks be to God!