Blessing Brag

 It is not often that I have several "stories" running around in my head like my husband does. Seriously, ask him sometime about how many stories he has to write. But right now I have at least 4 blog stories waiting to be told. The one I started on yesterday by copy/pasting some of my recent Facebook posts to combine was accidentally lost because I don't understand Word's desire to "recover" recent work. I assumed it was saved as I left it, NOPE. So I have now moved that one to "next in line." 

"What's a Blessing Brag?" you might be wondering.
It is when you get to brag about how God has used you to bless people. 

Blessing #1 The Printer Blessing
Probably more than a year ago we tried to sell our old printer and failed. That was because God knew that this month Dan and Lisa would need a new printer. Their old printer has worked to print off paper after paper of God's word in the village but didn't want to give anymore now that they moved to Yaounde. All our computers communicate with our old printer so we sold them the newer one. 

Blessing #2 The Bike Blessing
Maybe 6 months ago I thought we could sell the last bicycle we brought over. (Bicycles brought over are a story in and of themselves. But that is for another day.) One of the girls thought she'd still ride it some so we waited through the summer months. She never did use it again so up for sale it went. You guessed it, someone really needed a bike! Marc had been stuck walking for quite a distance sometimes to catch a ride for work. Now, after a bit of repair on the old bike he'll be on the go with less cost!

Blessing #3 The Clothing Blessing
Subtitle: Recycled Missionary Clothes: People change shape. Kids grow up. People leave. These are all reasons that we "recycle" our clothes. So as long as I can remember being here clothes have been sold and given away to other missionaries, local people, orphanages, and even to prison inmates. Our story is no different. Recently I have had an abundance of clothing to send to new homes. Maybe our shape has changed a little but mostly it is kids clothes that are no longer needed. So, I have been selling and giving clothes away since last Friday. MarieAnne bought the Tuxedo pants and jacket that Kevin used to wear for our formal event at school. (Oh, that Tuxedo, and a few others, were donations from The First Baptist Church of Atlanta that we got many, many years ago. So the story is even longer than the part I tell.) Anyway, she bought a pile of clothes from me and the Tux was in it. Her son will enjoy looking sharp. More clothes were sold to employees at school. MORE clothes were given away today to my garden helper, Elijah. And EVEN MORE clothes were given to Emelda who will send them out East to families who have next to nothing!

Blessing #4 The Combination Blessing
Through the sale of the printer, the bike, the clothes and the financial gifts of our supporters we have been able to help with three medical needs that otherwise we could not have helped with. 1) Vicky's back: hmmm, how do I summarize? Well, she'd been in pain a long time and God arranged so many details for me to be able to take her to a chiropractor and pay for her treatment. Even the chiropractor is surprised at her recovery! 2) Emelda's son: There is a problem with Joel's eyes but we really don't know what at this point. I've given her some money so they can do follow up work. 3) Elijah's son: This child has had infected tonsils repeatedly, I believe. The scheduled him for surgery and we just could not help with the cost. Normally we always try to contribute something even if it is just a small amount toward medical costs because these things are just not in the budget for many people here. But, like I said, through the sale of stuff, and more stuff, we gained a little to share. It really wasn't much more than a drop in a bucket of the cost of the surgery but Elijah was SO delighted to receive it. The young child has already had the tonsils removed and will return to school on Monday.
Oh, and there really is a 4th one that Kevin pointed out to me. All the money that comes to us is just blended together for us to live and Emelda's salary comes from that and Emelda tithes at her church and that tithe goes to help pay teacher's salaries in the North so kids can go to a "church" school instead of a government school; that is Combination Blessing number 4.

Do you have any Blessing Brags to share?