"...when we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are
reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some
of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them
reside in our own neighborhoods. Some of them gave birth to us, and in
my case, one of them consented to marry me. Indeed heaven never seems
closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and
devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind."-- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
One of the many blessings of Puzzle Them Home has been the privilege of meeting some of the kindest people on earth. When we broke ground a couple of months ago, lots of sweet people showed up to support us. One of these was a blog reader by the name of Jill. She drove up from Payson with her cute little kids just to be there and show her support. I had never met her, and it meant a lot to me that she would go to such great efforts to be here. She told me that she had a brother, Steve, who had a moulding business who would like to be involved. (Ok, I just found out when I put that link in that he has some awesome pics on his page of what I'm writing about...) Several weeks ago he drove clear down from Syracuse to meet us and see if we could use his help. He does stain grade moulding. I'll admit, I didn't even know what that was! But I soon learned that it meant the our moulding would be beautiful if we went with him!! He offered to do all of the labor for free, and he told us that his sweet sister had offered to pay a substantial amount toward the cost of materials-- wow! Because of this, we are able to put stain grade moulding in our main living area upstairs. It will be beautiful and we feel so grateful!
As if that weren't enough, he emailed Jeremy a couple of weeks ago and said that he had been thinking more about our family and what he could do. He had a little something up his sleeve. Last week when we returned home from the pinewood derby, there were two absolutely amazing picnic tables sitting in our driveway. He had handcrafted them himself. We were stunned. It was an unbelievable gift and was one of the most touching moments I have ever had. He put so much thought into these tables. The round one is obviously amazing and beautiful and can fit so many people. The rectangular table is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It can be a normal picnic table, two benches (one reads "Green" and the other "family), or a bench and a half table in all kinds of configurations. He had Cali in mind especially for this so that she could wheel her chair right up to the table and not have to transfer. I know! Thoughtful beyond words.
Our kids absolutely LOVE the tables. Every time Sophi passes them she says, "Those tables are SO AWESOME, huh?!" We have never had picnic tables. Every time we have a birthday party or big gathering we are borrowing the neighbors-- it will be so much fun to have our own!!
From acts like this to cute little friends (thank you, Lauren, Logan and Erin!) who just set up a lemonade/duct tape bows stand to raise money for the home to generous, thoughtful online donations to donated and discounted goods and services to my sweet committee who works so hard in our behalf-- we are feeling the goodness and kindness of so many people right now. Every contribution has been felt-- however small or large. You have lightened burdens and gladdened hearts. You have given us
the strength to do the things that we feel we've been called to do but
couldn't do on our own. You are all angels.
We love you!
And, just because-- I had to add these two of Sophi with her ice-cream cone. Her new thing is giving "thumbs up." (: We'll all try to ignore the fact that her hair isn't done and her shorts are a little too short. (;
--Christianne
