Move Over Santa!

I have just finished up the biggest organizational project I think I've ever been part of in the shortest amount of time. Hallelujah Night organization was nothing on this Project Santa just due to the clothes sizes and shoe sizes and making sure everyone gets what is supposed to be theirs. . . plus, I had months to plan Hallelujah Night and just a few days for Project Santa.

This afternoon, we delivered 51 sacks FULL of presents to the elementary school.

Tomorrow I am going to deliver 5 other sacks FULL of presents to a family in our church.

Brandon is going to deliver 4 other sacks FULL of presents to a family in the community that we are slowly gaining relationship with.

That's a total of 60 sacks!! 60 sacks with not just a few things in them, but 60 sacks FULL OF STUFF!!!

Here's the testimony in a nutshell:

* Just last Sunday morning, I had nothing for this project and it was due on Wednesday.
* Sunday afternoon, I had some money and a few kids who were not picked off the tree.

Monday:
* Someone walks in to the church and asks me how many kids are left and I thought there were 5. He wrote a check for those 5 kids.
* Find out there were actually 7 kids, but decided we were fine and we could take care of it.
* List goes from 56 to 60 kids.
* Prayed that these presents would be more than just presents. We prayed that joy would fill these homes and laughter would flow into the streets. I'm still believing God is going to come through on this one! Why wouldn't He?
* Call Toys for Tots. (This is an amazing story actually, but for the sake of time, I'll keep it this short). They say come and pick out 3 toys per kid!! Takes a few hours, but we had just enough room to get them back. I have sown in to that foundation for years and now I was able to reap! I really can't tell you how much fun that was!!
* I go shopping Monday night and buy 13 kids clothes (minus socks & shoes) for about $500!! And, I didn't go to Wal-Mart!
* Get home and can't sleep because I'm so excited!!

Tuesday:
* Jerod, Amy, Jason, & I (and Evan & Jaxon) meet on Tuesday morning to sort it all out. Toys are EVERYWHERE! Clothes are looking cuter once I know who they are going to!! Need to make one more shopping trip to finish it up. I'm a little overwhelmed at how good God is and how the toys seem to multiply!
* Able to call 2 families and tell them to come and pick out some toys from the surplus of toys. . . . from the SURPLUS!! That was a blast!! The cool thing is that these toys weren't "surplus/leftover" type toys. They were just as good as any toys we had! They weren't left over because they were bad toys -- they were left over because we had too many!!
* Someone calls and asks me what is left on the list and offers to go finish the shopping for me. This is actually a huge answer to prayer!
* Go buy for a few more kids that haven't had their tags turned in yet because I can't take the chance they won't be turned in. I also get to buy one kid a bicycle. . . that was fun!

Wednesday:
* Mad rush to get it all packed and labeled and to the school. Jerod and I were working on the toy sacks while Joel was packing food sacks! We have to have them there by noon!
* 12:15 pm and sacks are going in the cars and heading to the school.
* School is amazed at how much stuff!! I am able to tell them about how God totally came through and how God really is a God of more than enough. I cannot tell you how overwhelmed the school was at how amazing everything was and how much stuff there was!! YAY!

* I had some clothes left over I was able to bless a kid with more.
* I have money left over.
* I have toys left over.
* I am FULLY CONVINCED that my God is God of more than enough.

We were talking yesterday about how 6 months ago, I would have had a meeting on Tuesday and the church would have written me a check and each kid would have gotten the minimum. But, because we had nothing to give, God had to come through and He did so much more than I could have hoped or imagined!! That's what happens when we move out of the way and just be who God's called us to be and not make something happen. It also just shows how our church is just a giving church. That's who we are -- we give. Like I said, there were SEVERAL small testimonies just in this project that maybe I'll share another time. . . or if you want to hear the whole thing, I would love to share! ;)

One last prayer request for this project is what to do for the lady who helps me pass the backpacks out. If there is someone that loves backpacks as much as me and Joel, it would be her. The cool thing is that she is on the receiving end of backpacks, too. I found out yesterday that her car was repossessed this week. I want to do something just for her. . . something so that she will know that God loves her and He has good things for her. I'm asking God to show me by Friday what that would be.

I'm also praying that these kids would know that God has good things for them -- that He gives good gifts. The world might not be able to give them good gifts. Their parents might not be able to give them good gifts, but God can and always gives good gifts. I want them to know that God is more than enough for all they need or want!

Speaking of more than enough. . . ever read that book titled "More Than Enough" about Heidi Baker? I am reading it right now, but that will be a blog for another time. . . for now just focus on how God is MORE THAN ENOUGH! Now, I'm exhausted and I'm going to go rest for a few minutes. After being Santa for a few days, I'm wondering how the real man gets all of that done for every kid in the world?!?! ;)