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Let me begin first by saying that God is faithful. The next best thing to experiencing His faithfulness in your own life is watching Him fulfill His promises in someone else's life.

My high school friend and her husband won a house. A HOUSE!!! I won't go into detail of their story (mostly because I don't know their whole story!) but I'll just skim the surface by saying that her husband, B, suffers from a congenital heart defect and recently collapsed and had to be flown to Seattle for surgery, testing, etc.. This family does not have health insurance and due to B's recent health scare, he has not been able to work. They have a one year-old son. I cannot even begin to imagine the fear, stress, and complete dependence on the Lord that this situation has brought upon them. They were living in an apartment before but now have been blessed with a $400,000 brand new home! The house that they won was built to raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital and when I think of the fact that this house could have gone to anyone - a retired wealthy couple who had money to spare? a family who already owned their own home? a single man who had homes scattered across the country? - I get goose bumps because God knew exactly who this home was going to go to when it was being built! I cannot think of a more deserving family and it almost brings me to tears when I think of His faithfulness. God will provide in the strangest and most surprising ways!

When I think of their story I am reminded of how God has provided for my family over the past three years. We were fortunate enough to have health insurance when Cale was born two months early but I cannot even begin to imagine how different things would be for us if we didn't. Money has been tight for us and being that I am not the financial provider, money isn't always on the top of my stress list. For my husband, however, it's a daily - if not hourly - worry.

I want to share just a few of the ways God has continued to provide and fulfill His promises to us. Two years ago we received a bill from the hospital. This was the first bill we were going to have to pay that was going to send us backwards. It was also time to write our tithe check. If we chose not to tithe, we would have enough money to pay the hospital bill. Alex came to me and asked me what we should do. Without giving it a second thought I immediately told him we had to tithe, no matter the circumstance. He wrote our tithe check. The very next day we received a check in the mail for $1000 from our church! God had provided just as He said He would. More recently, Alex has been working incredibly hard at work. This year is the toughest year he's seen since he took his job back in 2004. He's been incredibly stressed and since he's been working so much we really haven't seen him much over the last couple of months. About two weeks ago there was a knock on our door. I contemplated answering it because I saw that it was someone I did not know. For whatever reason I decided to answer it. There was a lady standing there holding a box, she handed it to me, smiled and said good-bye. I immediately opened it and found a small stuffed animal with a letter attached. The letter contained a message about a family that had nominated us to receive money from a foundation that was set up in honor of a local family's daughter that had lost her battle with cancer. With the letter was a check. Again, during a time when we were stressed about money and the future, God had proven His promise to us.

Those are only two examples but we have many, many more! God is GOOD.

On a side note, Cale turns three in November. Because he is turning three that means he is no longer eligible to receive money from the Child Development Center. Since we started receiving their services they have helped pay a portion of Cale's therapies. News of this has been weighing heavily on me and even more heavy on Alex. They didn't pay for much but every penny helps. Last week we heard about a waiver that Cale can possibly apply for. It's called a PD Waiver and to be honest I don't know exactly what that is. All I know is that Cale would automatically receive Medicaid (because right now he is not eligible for Medicaid) for the rest of his life, which would mean he could have as many therapies as he needed without cost to us!!! This is HUGE and would lift an incredible financial burden off us. I'm supposed to hear more back later this week but I will definitely be praying hard for this to happen for us!

Money, money, money. Can't live with it - can't live without it. (Sigh)