He stretched out his hand to reveal a crumpled one dollar bill and four quarters.

“Here mama,” he said.  “You can have it.  It’s two dollars for your adoption.”

No words.  I couldn’t say anything as I graciously held on to the two dollars our five year old, Bryant put in my hands.  For him, that was all the money he had.  But he wanted to use it for his brother.

****

The afternoon before, three eager young faces came bouncing in from outside.  They were planning and plotting and had an idea.

“Mama, we want to sell hot chocolate to raise money for the adoption. Can we?”

My response was, “Sure but, unfortunately, I’m not too sure hot chocolate will sell in this 75 degree weather we are having.” But then they never had to.

Please don’t think we are telling the kids we have no money and they have to give.  We haven’t.  They have helped with a lot of fundraisers.  They see friends and family giving and encouraging us and, I think, they just want a piece of the action.  To be able to give and do something.

***

December 20th, a text came through from friends.  “What do you need to finish paying for your adoption?”  Mark and I looked at the paperwork and responded back a high sum.  Then Mark remembered money that was coming in from one place.  Then another.  And the number continued to shrink.  I sent them what I thought was a modest amount when Mark spoke up and said he thought it would be closer to a number a bit smaller.  After he said that, I looked down at my phone.  Our dear friends wanted to donate the amount he just said.

Just like that.  Our fundraising for adoption.  Less than a year of working.  Less than a year of me worrying more than I should have been trusting.  And we’re done.  God has provided.  I know He is the provider.  To see His hand move over something that I just knew, at times, would be near to impossible without us going in to massive debt.  God spoke peace over our adoption processes over and over with incidences like this.

We praise Him for providing but also for who He is and how He is working in our family.

I was told by lots of dear friends who have been there that this road was long and hard and heartbreaking.  I understand now what they meant.  We won’t be able to travel until sometime after June.  As hard as this is, we are trusting God for His timing and that He is watching over our Y the Brave.