Wowzers

Well, studies are going okay. I'm just about ready to finish off another paper, and so far my new schedule has been working well. I've only got about six weeks of classes left, and then I graduate on May 24th!!!!! I'm sure they'll hear Lisa rejoicing all the way in Addis Ababa! lol

But this blog isn't about my progress in completing my MDiv. It's about our journey to adopt our first child, and, wow, do we have a big part of that story to share!

About a week ago I was leaving the office when Anita, one of my co-workers and closest friends, said, "Hey, Ray. Someone stopped by and put something in your mailbox." So I went over to my box and saw a white envelope.

Whoever dropped it off had typed "To: Mr. Raymond and Lisa Hammond" on a computer, printed it, cut it out and taped it to the envelope. I held it up to the light and could see the outline of a bill but couldn't tell the denomination. Thanking Anita for letting me know, I put it in my pocket and went home.

After pulling into the driveway and parking the car, I entered the house, greeted Lisa and said, "I think someone gave us some money for the adoption," and proceeded to tell her about the envelope. She was as curious as I was about it, so she told me to open it.

I opened the envelope and stopped, staring inside it. My hands began to tremble a bit and tears came to my eyes. Lisa, who was standing a few feet from me washing dishes, said, "What is it?" "It's a stack of hundreds," I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. She started to cry and came over to where I was standing. I began counting and realized that someone had just given us $1,000. I was speechless. There was nothing inside to indicate who had been so generous to us. Only another computer generated, cut-out message that simply said, "Hope this helps with the adoption. God bless!"

God bless indeed! We knew from the start of this journey that God was going to provide for us as only he can when it came to financing the adoption. We have been saving and doing our part, but we knew that God would have to make up the difference. He has been providing for us since day one of our marriage almost seven years ago, and we have never doubted his provision. But this latest time blew us both away. He is so good; in fact, his goodness and steadfast love is so great that we can only struggle to find adequate words to express it. Yet despite our inability to adequately verbalize it, we shout our praise out to him, for there is no god like our God. None compare to him. He is the one who said, "I am the first and the last; apart from me there is no God," (Isa. 44:6b).