Kids "playing" in the "new" van with the RED interior.


"Count your many blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God has done. " This was a little chorus based on a Bible verse that we used to sing at church. It has been coming back to me over and over the last few weeks.

Many of you will probably look at the picture of the van above and think, "Blessing? No way." However, I am convinced that it IS a blessing. Last fall when we began this whole crazy process, one of our concerns was a vehicle. We had a nice 7 passenger minivan. The only problem was that we were going to be a family of 8. We talked about our options and prayed about it a lot. I wanted a little 9 passenger van, 12 at the most. D thought a 15 passenger van would be perfect- lots of storage, room to separate kids, room to carry extra friends/passengers, etc.

The further we got into debt over the adoption, the more we realized how hard getting a new vehicle was going to be. It remained on the top of our prayer list. Since our return home with our 2 new sons, we have been managing, albeit a little illegally at times. When it is just me and the kids, we are fine. However, when the whole family is together, the gwins have to double buckle.

Seeing that we needed to hurry the vehicle process along, we asked for prayer in our Sunday School Class for locating a vehicle in our price range and with the space we needed. That very night, one of our class members approached me and said that the church had just voted to try to get rid of one of their old 15 passenger vans. It had low mileage(56,000) for its age(1989) and was well taken care of. It had been used by the "Golden Disciples"(aka the Senior Citizen group) to go on trips and outings.

When I first saw it, I thought, "Oh my goodness. It's so big and so old and so ugly." I really didn't want it. Then I began realizing that this van just might be an answer to a prayer that was started almost a year before and prayed many times since then. We checked into it more and talked to the trustees about it. They sent it to a mechanic and had it checked out.

On Sunday, they handed us the keys and told us it was ours. Yes, it was given to us! They told us we could make a donation if we wanted to. We made a small one, the best we could right now.

It may not be pretty. It may not be new. It may not be a great status symbol. However, it IS a blessing and an answer to prayer. It is a symbol of answered prayer and yet another reaffirmation of God's blessing and call on this adoption. It does show that God is our Provider.

It is currently at a body shop to get the wording removed and possibly the paint stripped off so it can be repainted. The kids absolutely love it. El and L keep asking to go play in the "big van". It is huge! I am a little nervous to drive "the bus", but I know Who sent it to us and that He will protect us in it. We will keep it until we get the adoption paid off, then we'll see about another one(unless we've grown too attached to it). ;-)

***Another provision: After meeting El and L, a sweet couple at church decided to try and raise some money for the boys' medical and dental expenses. Sunday, they handed us a check that was far more than we could ever imagine. We also know that we will soon be receiving another check to pay off some adoption expenses. It was raised for us/the boys by the children of our church at our KidsFest (like Vacation Bible School). Isn't that amazing?

God asked us to follow. He asked us to trust and now He is providing. It is all so overwhelming to me. It brings me to tears. It is so good to be a part of the family of God.