September 9, 2012, one year ago tonight; Nicki, the kids, and I received a wonderful blessing. This was the night of our adoption fundraiser. A wonderful group of friends and family coordinated this party for us and planned the entire evening filled with a violin concert, Chinese acrobatics, great food, and a Chinese auction.
I can vividly remember driving over to the "Guy's Party Centre" early to help get things set up for the evening. I had been praying throughout the day that God would use this fundraiser to not only provide for us; but use the event to show His presence, His grace, and His awesome authority over everything on the earth. On the drive over, God began to reveal his plan for the evening. The kids love Toby Mac, and Nicki had just acquired his newest album, Eye on It. Listening to it on the way over I heard Steal My Show for the first time. I sat in the car listening to the song and then looked up and read the words (http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=0J91MJNU). "Steal my show... my life, my plans, my heart, It's all yours God, my dreams, my fears, my family and my career, It's all yours God, It's you I wanna live for..." God saved that moment on the drive over to the party center to reveal this song to me, which was the prayer I had been praying for the last year leading up to Camellia's adoption.
So we set up, and the event started. While the room was set up for 200 people, we were praying to just have 100 people show up and celebrate with us and at the same time hopefully bring in enough money to pay for the plane tickets. God blessed us by having over 300 people show up. It was standing room only for some, some of my cousins were piled in storage rooms and dressing rooms to eat, and we had some of the best entertainment! We began with a simple thank you and just bewilderment in how much God was blessing us. We were shocked how many people were there!
Nicki has often said that the venue for the fundraiser was nicer than many wedding receptions. I must admit that she was right! From the linens and colors on the chairs, to the wonderful food, and strolling violins that would play table-side during dinner.
There was no shortage of entertainment during the evening. There was a full violin concert.
Followed by a wonderful presentation of Chinese acrobatics
I have two favorite artists. Like the kids, I really enjoy Toby Mac and was blessed by his song at the start of the event. My other favorite band is Third Day. The ladies coordinating the fundraiser didn't know this. However, we finished the evening with a song from my favorite band, Third Day. The worship band from the Chapel performed "Children Of God" by Third Day. The group even made the "Adopted" t-shirts for all the children to wear during the song.
So by the night's end, not only did we cover the cost of the flight, God blessed us with the rest of the funds we needed to bring Camellia home. The fundraiser produced $8,000.00 in one night. In addition to the $8,000.00 we had a $4,000.00 matching grant provided by the Brittany's Hope Foundation, bringing our total for the evening to $12,000.00! It was an amazing night. God overwhelmed us with His grace and made it possible to bring Camellia home!
On that evening, this was the only picture of Camellia that we had. This terribly grainy, sad photo of an empty-eyed little girl with no real hope in this world.
And this is Camellia just one year later.
Look how pretty you have become!
On that evening, we were saddened to realize that the following day we would miss Camellia's 4th birthday. One year later, through a wonderful idea of Nicki, we caught up on all of the birthday parties that we missed.
Camellia will be turning 5 tomorrow!
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