When Chris and I were in Russia the summer of 2001, one of our jobs was to pack as many backpacks as possible into our luggage to gift the children with. We were filling them with school supplies and peanut butter (which is a hot comodity) on the last day of VBS so that each child there would get one. I know we did not have enough back packs.....we had counted and counted. There were right at 200 children and we had about 190 backpacks.....I was thinking how discouraging it was going to be for those few at the end that would not get a backpack. And then the kids started coming out one by one and receiving their backpack and the smiles were huge....right down to the last kid. Every child got a backpack....Now you might think I miscounted, but I believe I saw a miracle happen before my eyes. At the time it was exactly like the biblical account of the fish & loaves. The disciples thought "not everyone is going to get food", "this won't go far....we've counted and counted". But that day in Russia no child went without the gift. We did not have any extras, but we had enough. It was a blessing to witness it. We are experiencing this miracle again in our lives today........
FISH #1: March 25, 2011 Greg (Chris' brother) reached 100 facebook friends to pledge $10 for his run to be held in June. Greg is challenging himself to this commitment to "go the distance" and he challenged his friends to hold him to this commitment. Some of these people know Chris, since they are family and friends from Chris' hometown where Greg preaches and shared friends from college....some of these people are complete strangers to us, but love Greg. We have been so blessed by others' generosity. I am sure Greg would take more facebook friends to pledge towards his goal. (Not sure on the exact total but he has at least $1200 pledged as well).
FISH #2: March 26, 2011 (Happened to be our 12 year wedding anniversary) --Dear friend Melissa Gerdel ran 30 miles for her 30th birthday. (YES, I did say 30 MILES--an ultra marathon). To date she raised (with the help of more genrous friends) close to $1500 simply running. Again some of these people are from our church family and MOPS, others don't know us at all, but love Missy. Amazing! Missy's own words:
"My heart is so full because of everyone who has given so far. It is like the loaves and fish that Jesus multiplied - it just keeps coming! Some people gave $500, several kids cleaned out their piggy banks, and others gave their own birthday money." BREAD #1: We have one anonymous donor who is matching up to $2000 for the money collected at Missy's run. A member of our church family that we are so blessed to serve mentioned "the need to do something" and "answering God's leading".
BREAD #2: We have a 5K run that is planned for May 7th in our area (Union, MO). I already have 11 corporate sponsors who have donated just over $1000 so that the race will be a success. These sponsors will help cover the cost of the race and provide our Love 2 Run 4 Love t-shirts......The blessing of our sponsors will be that every person who chooses to walk or run will be giving directly to the Adoption Fund. If we can get 100 racers, then that is $2000. This is my goal. I would love to see the people here surprise me and surpass that. But none the less, God is good!
Our corporate sponsors are: Union Eye Associates, Aggrecon, Encore Studios, Patients First Family Health Care, YHTI, Cinema 1 Plus, Cali Spray Tan, Ziglin Signs, Marcink Designs, Prudential Alliance Realtors, & Road ID! I can't thank them enough for already making the race a success!!! BREAD #3: April 1, 2011 Another friend Gussie Schmitz writes me
"I care so much for you and for what you are doing.......I feel strongly that this is something that I should do." (After telling her she didn't have to do this....) So straight from her site: "Sweet Madelynne is excited to announce that 20% of all profits through the end of 2011 will be donated to the Strickland Family Adoption Fund to bring home baby Chloe from Ethiopia!" So mamas: ANYTHING you buy at Sweet Madelynne (hair bows and clippies for princesses) will help us get closer to bringing her home. You'll even recognize one of the princesses on the site as my sweet Eden. Click here to go there. :)
BREAD #4: Actually I have two-three other names here that I am not sure which one I will write.....but other dear friends have come out of the woodwork to support our cause and offered to help with fundraising plans.....Not sure which ones I will do, when I will do it (perhaps in the summer, fall---who knows) and so forth----but I can't type further without just thanking people for thinking of us in this journey. It really means a lot.....(especially Cassie, Jane, & Dayla)......I will get back to you girls.
BREAD #5: ??? Are you our final loaf of bread?
I know that sounds funny. But isn't it crazy?. Every little bit counts. Every dollar goes the distance. In a short amount of time, we will have been generously given almost $7000. Obviously no one thought that 2 fish & 5 loaves of bread would feed 5000. But it did.....and that ate till they were full. We are seeing the miracle take place again....this time with 2 runners & umpteen generous friends, buisnesses, etc. It has already surpassed 5 and it is amazing to see the testimony that bringing Chloe home will bring....we know she will be a miracle, but the journey itself is a miracle.
