Humbled

Putting on the roof for the
second floor

I was going through our finances the last few days and am overwhelmed by the help that has come from friends and family over the last year. We have decided not to ask for money, this is why we work as substitute teachers and do tutoring in the evenings. God has been good to us and we have been able to cover food and other expenses with these jobs. There are extra things that we have needed, like buying the truck and then repairs on it, a printer, adoption paperwork, rent for our house that is going directly into building the second floor (we have paid several months in advance, more on this below), furniture, etc. We would not have been able to cover these extra expense had it not been for money that has come in from friends and relatives.

Our truck is an example of a mixed blessing. At first we were a bit disappointed in it as it has some issues. But then we reminded ourselves how God lead us to purchase it in the first place. Though it has had to have some mechanical help we have been able to find a mechanic just down the street from our home who has turned out to be honest and extremely helpful. Many times mechanics will run the shop, but the real work is done by boys who don't really know what they are doing. Our mechanic invariably is the one under the hood working on our truck. In addition I've had spiritual talks with him about working on Sabbath, that lead then into other topics. Without help from friends and family we wouldn't have a truck or the money to fix it.

Because of LaRae's blog post (Tangibly showing God's love) a few months back about our friend Alex and how he has been a blessing to us in so many ways, we had another pleasant surprise. Alex shared the post with a mechanic friend of his and the mechanic sent over $1000 to help with expenses on the truck! What a blessing! And we hope and pray that this mechanic will be doubly blessed for his generosity. Though our truck has needed repairs, it has turned into a blessing to our neighbors, to us and now hopefully also for the donor and people we can help with this truck. We have been using it to get to work, transport items and help some friends with their projects. But we would have been unable to do this without the help of others.

When we moved into our house we were promised that there would be no construction upwards. Once the money started to flow things changed and now the landlord is building a whole new apartment above us. :) You have to love Senegal. In a way it is a mixed blessing, he said we can rent the whole place for a bit more than what we are paying currently. If we have the whole building then we can have space to have a classroom, guest-rooms, larger kitchen, a roof top garden and plumbing for hot water. Thankfully through the help of a little church in New Mexico we have been able to give rent money several months in advance. This money then goes directly in to finishing the work upstairs.

As we look back on everything that has happened over the past year we are humbled and amazed at how we have had the funds when we needed and as much as we needed. We want to thank all those who have given and look forward to how God will lead in the future.