shipment #12
shipment #13
This update is terribly overdue. Since I sent the last official update two loads of diapers and formula have made their way down to Juarez, Mexico. Shipment number twelve left our house on Friday, March 20. Shipment number thirteen was picked up Saturday, May 2 and driven down on Monday, May 4. Take a look at the “baby shower gift” picture (below) to see the beginnings of shipment number fourteen that my kids and I got to pick up the afternoon of May 4. (Coincidental timing? I think not.) I haven’t had the words to say thank you – it’s truly been a case of being grateful beyond words. It’s not that I’m finding this project any less inspiring or encouraging, believe me. In fact it’s very much the opposite. Since February I’ve had little time to promote these efforts, so one would think the supplies would be dwindling. Not so much. God has knocked me over continually with my own lack of understanding. These last few months have served as the greatest reminder to me that I’m nothing but a storage facility for the work he is doing. And thank goodness this project is in his capable hands and not my own human ones.
Voila Tans in Highlands Ranch held another drive. My friend was given a baby shower to welcome the newest member of her family – and in lieu of gifts for her little girl she asked people to instead bless the babies of Juarez with diapers and formula.
We received a monster check out of the blue from a couple in our Sunday school class. We received a monster check from my son’s friend’s family, also out of the blue. (Gotta wonder what the people at the UPS Store think of me crying over mail.) A close friend of a close friend held a drive at her church and totally overwhelmed me with supplies. People drop off unneeded formula samples and half-opened packages of diapers. Our school parents continue to donate to the cause. Friends. Neighbors. They’ve given again and again. I am humbled when some unexpected supplies show up on our porch and I have no clue who donated them. But God knows. The only reason I feel comfortable even stating some of the ways we’ve accumulated supplies, risking leaving out important ones, is because God knows it all. Every sacrifice that’s been made on behalf of those babies. Every extra effort to drop something off instead of throwing it away. Every prompting heeded instead of ignored. The list above is nowhere near complete – it’s just meant to encourage us all! To be used by God is no small matter. Many would say there’s nothing greater.
Today I sat down to have a quick lunch and the thoughts for this update finally came to me. “Give us this day our daily bread.” My mind goes back to some Bible study lessons this past year when God provides manna and quail in the desert for the Israelites. Daily. I can’t understand that incredible depth of reliance for my daily bread, because God has seen fit to stock my pantry in embarrassing ways. The Israelites learned this daily dependence on God to provide for their physical needs. Many people, many babies in Juarez are literally in this very same situation. Manna isn’t falling to the ground with the dew. But manna is showing up on my front porch. God’s unlikely avenue to feed the babies of Juarez, who are relying on him for their daily bread. May God grant me this same dependence and understanding, whether I’m hungry or full. May I be a person who walks daily in the knowledge that everything good comes from God. May God continue to use our plenty to help those in such need.
From the very depths of my being, thank you for allowing God to use you in his plan of provision for the hungry babies of Juarez.
Quinn