We had our soup supper on Saturday night at Westview Christian Church and everything was great. We ended up with around 100 people there and raised enough money to really help with our adoption costs. Combined with our savings and other fundraising projects we’ve done, we’re off to a really great start.
The entire evening was outstanding. We were pleased to have Warren and Brian from Calvary Christian Church (www.calvarychristian.net) with us all evening. Warren is an outstanding musician and performed several great songs for us, and Brian shared with us some very moving and inspirational words on adoption. We’re so fortunate to have great people like them who were willing to sacrifice their time to share their talents with us. We can’t thank you enough.
As great at things went, the day wasn’t without a few hiccups. There was, of course, Ashley’s insistence that only 5 or 6 people would show up and that we’d be left eating leftover soup for weeks. When the first wave of people started coming in though, we were hit with the more frightening thought of, “What if we run out of soup?” In the end though, the amount of food ended up being just fine. There were also the things we forgot at home. Fortunately, one of us was thinking ahead and made sure the car had plenty of gas to make the trip back to Salem to get what we needed. Although I didn’t plan on making 2 trips back to the house to get things we forgot, we still had plenty of gas so that wasn’t too much of a problem.
And sure, there were things that disappointed us a little. There were people who we expected to be there who didn’t show up. And as much as you know that things like that are going to happen, it never ceases to disappoint you just a little. Those small disappointments were quickly brushed away though by the overwhelming kindness of the people who came. For every person we expected to see and didn’t, there were more who we were pleasantly surprised to see. From people we haven’t seen in years to people we barely knew, they all came to support our efforts. It’s honestly so overwhelming to me that it’s hard to write about how much that means. We owe you all a debt that we can never repay. Thank you so much.
But there was one thing more than any other that disarmed any of the small disappointments or stresses that occurred in setting up this event. That was that this weekend made us feel like our child was closer to home. With every small progression in our adoption journey, whether it’s finishing some paperwork or adding to our savings, our child feels a little closer. We know he’s out there waiting for us and the work we put in this weekend was a big step toward getting him home. We know there will be many more steps and, sometimes, there will be setbacks. But celebrating the progress makes us feel like our child just got a little closer to home. Thank you all for helping our family take this step.
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