Beverly...do you have any ideas for those of us who live far away from you all, but would like to offer some physical support to you and your family?? Gift cards to restaurants or local grocery stores,....if so, what restaurants and grocery stores would be most helpful to you? We are definitely lifting you all up in prayer daily and would like to show our love for you and your family....and I am sure your other long distance friends would like to as well.
It wasn't long before other friends started chiming in with their desires to help as well. I confess I shed tears each time I read a comment. Honestly, I feel I don't deserve the outpouring of love and encouragement...and this is something God has been revealing to me about myself. I used to think these feelings were because I was independent and it has always been difficult to admit I need someone's help. But through a number of amazingly sweet and well-timed messages, cards, texts, a theme has emerged, one that is finally getting through my thick skull.
"You are so loved."
I don't know how many times I have read that sentence or a variation thereof in the past few months. In our family, we freely and frequently tell each other "I love you." I wouldn't have thought that receiving love was an issue for me, but somehow, just in the last couple of weeks, I've felt a growing awareness that YES, it is an issue (for whatever reason), and I need to stop skimming over these words and ponder, meditate, chew on the fact that I AM LOVED.
"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." Jeremiah 31:3
After failures like those I detailed in my last post, it's easy to feel undeserving of good things. And yet, that is exactly the point of grace! We DON'T deserve God's love. We DON'T deserve the opportunity to spend eternity with Him in heaven. But He loves us and pursues us while giving us the choice to receive or reject Him.
As for me and my house? We choose Jesus. But regardless of our daily choices, actions, words, attitudes--His love never fails. It isn't dependent on our behavior, thank the Lord!!
And so, being reminded of these truths (there's Verity's name again! Oh, how much this little one is teaching me!)...I humbly and gratefully open my heart to God's love that is DAILY being poured out through His people. THANK YOU, dear ones, for having it in your hearts to serve, love, and care for me and my family!
In considering what some of our practical needs might be upon Verity's arrival, I have to confess that honestly, the biggest struggles will likely be the things I currently struggle with on a day-to-day basis. It's hard to admit what an enormous challenge it is simply keeping my family fed and semi-organized; I never asked for a large family (but I'm so very thankful we have one!), yet I feel the pressure of looking at least minimally capable of keeping it all together, lol! So when I consider that there's a chance we may be spending a lot of time at the hospital and/or traveling back and forth, keeping all these bellies fed (with minimal stress) will probably be one of the biggest challenges. I have some amazing teens who are becoming very capable in the kitchen, but keeping easy-to-prepare foods (that are reasonably healthy) within reach will be helpful for anyone doing meal prep.
So, ideas for gift cards:
- Commissary! I am pretty sure I saw signs posted that there are military commissary gift cards available.
- Trader Joe's (we love some of their frozen offerings like gnocchi and pasta and orange chicken--even Kenna can cook those meals!)
- We don't often buy groceries in our town because it's more expensive, but a chain grocery store we do have is No Frills.
- Some folks asked about restaurants...we don't eat out often, but Chick-Fil-A is a family favorite, and we've discovered we all enjoy Freddy's as well!
- There is a Pizza Hut in our small town (although the more refined tastes prefer the locally owned Adriano's Brick Oven Pizza, lol).
- While grown-ups may eschew McDonald's, there is also one of those in our little town, and it IS a treat for the kids!
The baby shower our church family is planning for Verity will likely be a money tree/gift card thing. We will use cash toward Verity's clothing and diaper needs and any special items needed for her care (we obviously still aren't sure exactly what she will need, so we don't really know either what items are covered by insurance, etc.).
Thank you, thank you, thank you for even asking how you can help. I often feel that there are such greater needs in the world...that our journey with a Trisomy 18 baby is, in comparison, something that "should" be so much easier to deal with than [fill in the blank.] But I can't deny that this road has been every bit as hard as--and probably even more difficult than--having our 6th baby while Daddy was deployed to a war zone for a year! I learned to ask for and receive help during that time, and I'm re-learning the importance of that same lesson.
"But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." 1 Corinthians 12:24-26
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