Puzzle Piece Fundraiser Update

When we first thought about doing the puzzle fundraiser for our adoption, we talked to our pastor about it and what his thoughts were on it. He was quite excited and asked what our goal was. Well, a 1,000 piece puzzle at $10 per piece would - if we sold all the pieces - raise $10,000. Our pastor asked what would happen if we were given more than our $10,000 goal. We said that would be great, but inwardly, we both thought there was no way we would ever raise that much. Oh, we of little faith.
We sent our friends and family information on our fundraiser and put a little insert in our church bulletin. Immediately, funds started coming in! We were so excited at everyone's generosity! Within the first week, we had met our $10,000 goal - we were so overwhelmed! Friends, family, even complete strangers that we had never met before gave money to our adoption!!
I was reminded of the phrase from a Bible verse that said "pressed down, and shaken together and running over.'' That is exactly how I would describe this blessing. God had given us sooo much - we were completely overwhelmed with His goodness. I grabbed my Bible because I wanted to know what the whole verse said and here are the words I read: Luke 6:38 "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

You know, if how much I give is how God decides how much to bless us with, then I figure He would sprinkle a tiny bit of blessing on us. I don't deserve much. I'm not a good giver. But God, in His great goodness, decided we needed so much more than what we deserved! He filled our savings account up, then he 'pressed it down and shook it together' to make some more room and filled it even more, so much more, that it's running over! We cried many tears of joy as we praised God for His blessing. Even now as I type this I have tears streaming down my face!

To date, we have been given over $12,000!! Thank you to everyone who donated to our adoption! God urged you to give and you did and now our dream of having a child is so much closer! 

Our puzzle is put together and we will soon start writing the names of those who have donated on the back. I think soon, we will have our baby. God led us to a great adoption agency, and he provided a HUGE portion of our adoption expenses.  So we know that He has a baby for us! We cannot wait to meet this little one that is part of God's plan for our family!