Memorial Box Monday - Food Bank Miracle!

   I am so excited to write this story! It just happened this weekend and just so much fun. It has been a tough transition back to 'normal' life from our time in Mexico, specifically our time at the orphanage. We both are wrestling with so many things about our lives and our culture and feel like our eyes have been opened in new ways. It feels like so many things are swirling around and we are asking God to sift them and show us how to make changes in light of it all...
    So, on Saturday morning we were hanging out in the kitchen having one of those, "What do you want to do?, "I don't know, what do you want to do?" conversations about the day. We finally decidied that we wanted to do something more than just focus on what would be fun for our family. We had been meaning to check out the food bank for awhile so we decided to bring some food to the food bank on our way to go hiking.
   So....we started openeing up our cupboards and filling a box with things, honestly, things that we don't use or really need. As the box started to fill up, I started thinking, "Is this really what the food bank needs? Food that is sitting in the back of our cupboard, that we haven't needed? Extra boxes of pudding mix, strange mustard sauce that we haven't tried etc?" On one hand the answer was "Yes, it is food" but on the other hand, we could go and buy the things that they have asked for like beans and rice, sugar and flour....so we started putting our not really needed items back on our shelf and got in the car with an empty box ready to fill at the store.
     We pull into the parking lot of our local grocery store and it is packed! They were having a customer appreciation day. Doug took Georgia in to use the potty and get some food while Parker and Ravenna and I stayed in the car. Well, we kept waiting and waiting and waiting...and then there was a tap on my window. Doug's Aunt Sally was standing there and she said, "I was just in shopping and saw Doug, he wanted me to let you know that he will be out soon but he just won a free cart of groceries!"
    Yep....a free cart of groceries just as we were on our way to the food bank! We still got the beans and rice, sugar and flour but were able to give away almost a whole cart of groceries as well!!!!
     I think in my Memorial Box I will put a few grains of rice to remind me that God can take my tiny gift and turn it into something so much more!
   You can read more about what a Memorial Box is and also find tons of other stories of God's awesome faithfulness at A Place Called Simplicity it is well worth your time!