Tonight was the drawing!!! We ended up at the last minute being told by the TV station that they could not draw or air the drawing because it was a liability. We called and asked the judge of our county and he had Valentine's plans, and we asked our pastor and he too had Valentine plans, so Dale Pederson an elder from our church met us at the church with 15 minutes notice and did the drawing. He was the perfect guy to do it!!! As it turns out...him and his wife Marlene have an adopted child as well, just a fun extra fact that made it extra special. He was the perfect one to draw the winning number.
We lined up EVERY ticket 1-106!!!! We checked and double checked that everything was right on.
Then, we put all the tickets in a bucket that was labeled "A Hart For Esther". Then, we raced to the church to meet our official drawer there.
Dale drew and came out with #30!! We checked our paperwork and that was Donald Thomas from Prineville, Oregon. We had no phone number for him because he had handed me a check for 2 tickets at a Senior Bible Study that I spoke at on the Wednesday that I left for Africa. I didn't even realize what had happened until I got out to the car and looked at the check. Wow!!! I was blessed and blown away. Anyway, we were excited to contact them, but there was no number in the phone book, so we then looked up their address on map quest, their address was on their check. We drove to Prineville and WOW!!!! We had the most bless-ed hour long spontaneous visit with the most incredible people. Here is just a blip of their story: They have 3 internationally adopted grandchildren, and well as many biological ones, and they have an adopted child as well as 3 biological children. They are passionate for the Lord. They used to own a horse, but have passed that stage of life.
These WONDERFUL folks...are the WINNERS!!!! They won the trailer, thanked US for letting them be a part of our journey, donated the trailer BACK TO US!!!! And then prayed for us!!!! I can't even give the details right now it is just so emotional and overwhelming the goodness of our God and these people's precious HEARTS!!!!!
Dale drew and came out with #30!! We checked our paperwork and that was Donald Thomas from Prineville, Oregon. We had no phone number for him because he had handed me a check for 2 tickets at a Senior Bible Study that I spoke at on the Wednesday that I left for Africa. I didn't even realize what had happened until I got out to the car and looked at the check. Wow!!! I was blessed and blown away. Anyway, we were excited to contact them, but there was no number in the phone book, so we then looked up their address on map quest, their address was on their check. We drove to Prineville and WOW!!!! We had the most bless-ed hour long spontaneous visit with the most incredible people. Here is just a blip of their story: They have 3 internationally adopted grandchildren, and well as many biological ones, and they have an adopted child as well as 3 biological children. They are passionate for the Lord. They used to own a horse, but have passed that stage of life.
These WONDERFUL folks...are the WINNERS!!!! They won the trailer, thanked US for letting them be a part of our journey, donated the trailer BACK TO US!!!! And then prayed for us!!!! I can't even give the details right now it is just so emotional and overwhelming the goodness of our God and these people's precious HEARTS!!!!!I just can't fathom the details that the Lord works out! I stand in awe.
11 comments:
I'm crying! I love it! I've been saying for awhile (to Mark) that I thought God would let you keep that trailer...It was your Abraham/Isaac/mountain top moment...you were faithful and so was God.
Love you all...we need a date night!
I am just so happy for you all! Praise the Lord for is abundant grace!
Wow, Jenay! I totally got the chills reading this! God is at work in this whole story, and it's so exciting just to witness it from the side lines! :)
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so happy for your family. I had been praying that whomever won, they would give it back to your family. God bless the family that won...such an amazing story.
Blessings,
Amy
yahaaaaaaaa! God is good and using you in a mighty way...and in return you get blessed along the way...isn't that amazing?
Tears!
I am so happy for you! As I read from Lorraine Patterson's blog about you raffling this trailer, I had a strong sense that the winner would be the person/people who would donate it back to you! Thank you for sharing your story. We are waiting, even today to hear that we can travel to bring home our daughters from Peru. The stories of financial provision are encouraging.
www.thecoreys.org
Amazing! Truly Amazing!
:) :) :)
I've known this story for days, and today, when I finally get to read it, there are still tears. God is so good, and He loves Esther, and He loves you guys - what a beautiful story He has give you to share! I love that the people who won it understand adoption so well, and know how to honor God! I know He will bless them!
OK, this is too funny, I just have to tell you - my verification word was ateso - "a teso" - Esther's tribe!
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