Serving with Both Hands

Surely, now that this project is complete, we will have learned that when God calls, you should just act.  Your human self might want to evaluate, give your opinion, weigh your opportunity cost and set your expectations.  In the end though, sometimes you just say yes and jump in with Both Hands. 

We are so grateful to this sweet woman, for sharing her heart and her stories of a husband lost.  For whispering that on this day she felt like, "God really sees ME." 

This was her project. 

This Both Hands experience taught us much.  One thing we learned is that this man serves and has quietly for years. He also gets the nod for "Project Manager of the Year".

And the girls?  Crazy generous, big hearted, breakfast bringing friends. 

So many friends showed up to serve.  They showed up ready.  Willing to help in big and little ways.  Patiently, they showed our girls what love looks like. 

They planted flowers, hung a fan, fixed a toilet and trimmed bushes/trees. 

THIS was the church being the church. 

Special thanks to Both Hands, founder, JT Olson, for showing up to share his story and his time to work alongside us. 

These guys rocked the mailbox installation. 

 No doubt the mailman will be thrilled to drop mail at this stop every day. 

The littles came to see it all and to serve.  They passed out waters to our parched pals. 

And the boys?  They were giddy at the opportunity to plug in power tools, dig holes and climb ladders. 

Don't doubt for a second that the boys had all the fun.  These chicks took down some tree limbs and planted flowers like it was no body's business. 

We ate, we worked, and we ate some more. 

Big shout out to Chik-fil-a and the amazing baker who donated cookies. 

We happily ended the day with full bellies and hearts. 

As always, this crazy awesome friend showed up to support and serve.  She helped us wrap up our afternoon by removing branches and taking down chairs and tents.

So many servants showed up throughout the day. 

 Several so focused on helping that they ducked out of photos.

This was a blessing for our family and we pray that it was for Ms. Cindy as well. 




These folks(and many more) used not just one, but BOTH HANDS to help out a widow from our church and make some noise for orphans.  Crazy cool. 

 

Big, fat shout-out to Home Depot for donating tons of the supplies needed to make this happen.

Sing to God, sing praise to His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds-
His name is the Lord-and rejoice before Him. 
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families. 
Psalm 68-4-6

 

God Knocked on Our Door (Both Hands)

 

 

 First it was a text.  Our friend, Alicia, messaged asking if we'd ever heard of the organization, Both Hands.  Making a mental note to check it out later, I went back to playing with the family in the backyard.  About an hour later, a young woman came to the door selling books.  She was a persuasive one, not giving in with a "no".  She kept selling until I let her know that we couldn't buy anything because we were on a tight adoption budget.  Her immediate response? 

 

"Have you ever heard of Both Hands?" 

It was Google time. 

 Sometimes God actually has to knock on our door to make us pay attention.

 

Both Hands is a ministry that seeks to serve both widows and orphans.  The thought is that you serve a widow with one hand and an orphan with the other.  Adoptive families and volunteers spend a day serving a local widow and also raise awareness for their fundraising needs.  Participants are supposed to send letters of support and ask other volunteers to do the same. 

 

My response?  No way, no how.  Loved the idea of serving a widow.  Didn't like the idea of focusing on us.  But, we are called to serve widows AND orphans. 

 

James 1:27  tells us that

 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

 

But sending letters?  Asking others to?  No thanks.  For somebody else, yes.  Us no. 

 

But, within days, Alicia had found a list of widows within our church that needed help. 

A list.  Mark and I had been praying for our church to have more local outreach opportunities.

 

A day later, a specific woman who had lost her husband two years ago was decided upon.  They'd spent most of their savings on his care, so she needed some help.  Confirmations that we were to do this kept coming in. 

 

Mark, my perfectionist project managing husband, immediately got stressed.  With work and Army obligations, how were we supposed to organize a team, allocate supply donations and plan work done well?  We were feeling stretched and cringing with what it seemed we were being called to do. 

 

I immediately started praying for a project manager,
believing that if he were this stressed, that we shouldn't do it. 

 

 A couple days later, we drove out to look at Ms. Cindy's house.  Being the man that he is, he committed himself in that moment.  My thought?  "Seriously God?  You want us to do THIS when we are weary from the adoption battle?"   A day later, we got an unsolicited email from Bud, a church staff member offering to be our project manager.  A couple days more, he sent a list of donations made by Home Depot and Lowes, and a painter who was willing to work for free. 

 

Yep, big fat confirmation. 

A date was set and we moved forward to this weekend. 

Saturday sacrificed, a group of friends will show up to serve a widow. 

Loving it!

Today, Mark and Bud spent the day unloading supplies and prepping the serve site. 

Our friend, Richard, called to say that he'd gone over to get a head start on mowing.  He'd spent two hours with his industrial mower.    We are feeling all kinds of blessed to be surrounded with friends who don't just think serving is a good idea.  They act and see it as an opportunity. 

 

This project that felt like such a "stretch" was EXACTLY what we need at this time.  Blessing lies in taking your eyes off of  your worries and your agenda.

 

Our hope and prayer is that Ms. Cindy feels an avalanche of love tomorrow. 

 

Find out more about our Both Hands project.