4 drawers in the dresser

yesterday i explained the Unexpected Christmas Store that Ridge did this month. it's been amazing. you can read that post HERE.

i've got my own thoughts from this experience of being able to bless others in our city, but below you can read it in the words of my great friend Spanky... who heads up our whole partnership with Piney Grove Elementary and this Unexpected Christmas Store. you can read it from his blog HERE or in full below...

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"I walked into Piney Grove Elementary this morning to drop off some presents that a family had left Saturday at the Unexpected Christmas Store and was reminded what a difference Ridge Church is making in this community. I was bombarded with hugs and 'thank you's from the principal and the administration as I walked into the office, because of the ripple effect the Unexpected Christmas Store and Ridge Church's partnership has already had on these families.

When I left there this morning I was reminded of one the most heart breaking stories that

has come from the 14 families that were able to come shop at the Unexpected Christmas Store. This family came to the store Saturday morning with a life story that would break the

average person and leave them with no hope. As this single mom came in I could again see the heaviness on her face but could have never imagined what she was going through. We began her shopping experience by piling bags upon bags on a table and all around the floor for her and her 4 children. When I brought her into the room to look over everything and she was in absolute shock.

"This is ALL for us?!?!"
"Yes ma'am. We wanted to make sure we could take care of your wish list and give you a bunch of household items that you could use."

Hugs and tears flowed but more than that smiles and joy began to appear. When she was done looking through all of it I told her that we still wanted her to go shop and pick out some cool toys and things her children would love to open from her on Christmas morning. But before she finished her shopping I told her that we had one more big item for her. I showed her a very nice dresser that The Black Lion had donated to the store for this family. She did not notice what a nice piece it was at first, she noticed that it had 4 drawers. "God must have known that I needed this since it has 4 drawers. Now we have one drawer for each child!" [insert realty-check-wow here]
This is when she began sharing her family's story with me. Her oldest son who is ten years old was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer last year. This crushed her and this journey was crushing the whole family. The only option for saving her son was to try and have another child. She did get pregnant and had a wonderful little baby boy, who was there with her at the store. The doctors saved the stem cells from the baby's umbilical cord to use for the older son's cancer treatments. So with the cost of having another child, having to pay for cancer treatments and becoming a single mother of 4 the family began to lose everything. They gave up their house, car, and sold all they had--even furniture, and now live in an extended stay hotel. The mother told me that this entire Christmas break they are spending their time at a cancer hospital in NYC. That was the extent of their Christmas until the Unexpected Christmas Store. This mom was so happy when she left that she went and got her children and came back. This time when she walked in her face was full of hope.

Most of us could never imagine having to go through what this family is faced with and most of us would never imagine being as generous as the small group was that took this family's wish list and went above and beyond. 

I truly believe that when we realize how blessed we are and the responsibility that comes with those blessings we can change the world and make a lasting impact...maybe one family at a time.

Thank you Father for allowing us to be apart of this family's transition from being crushed by life to a season of HOPE. We don't always see the effect of our generosity but thank you for allowing us to see just a glimpse of the reward this day and allowing us the opportunity to give!"

the coolest christmas store ever

the last 2 weekends have been pretty awesome.

Ridge Church opened a STORE at our new facility. it was a Christmas store & only 14 families were the shoppers over the 2 weekends. Tons of Ridge volunteers were there to roll out a red carpet experience for these 14 families.

these weren't just 14 random families either, but through our partnership with Piney Grove Elementary we were able to invite the 14 families who are most in need at this school where 81% live below the poverty level!

each of these 14 families have incredible stories of need & through the generosity of the peeps of Ridge Church were able to be a huge blessing to these families. we're only blessed to be a blessing. and that's what we've been doing.

it has been AMAZING to watch Moms walk through this Unexpected Christmas Store and receive car loads of all the clothes and home products they need for their family + needs that they didn't have hope of receiving - a refrigerator, dresser, bunk beds, etc...

this has been amazing to be a part of. i'll share a couple specific stories in the next posts.
i'm pumped to be a part of a community of people (Ridge) that is literally blessing and changing our community.

we're having a baby!!!

it still seems like some people don't know yet. they're gradually still finding out, so here's 1 more way to go public...

WE'RE HAVING A BABY! 

there. in all caps :)

it's wild, i know. i'm still dumbfounded a little bit.  
CRAZY EXCITED and FREAKED OUT still sum up our 2 main emotions... just as they did on that day we found out.

in fact here are a few pics from that day we learned the news ourselves. Crystal made darn sure with the pregnancy tests... 3rd time is a charm i guess.

i was actually on the phone up in my office when she came to talk to me with an extremely serious look on her face. she said "i need you to come downstairs right now." i figured either i was in big trouble or the dog, jack bauer was.

i guess i was kind of in big trouble! but in a good way. here is the 1st couple pics of us after we learned this news that will radically change our lives.

i remember we stopped right there immediately in the middle of the kitchen that night and PRAYED. couldn't think of anything else to do. i remember praying... declaring that we desperately needed God's help. and THANKS for this amazing blessing!

we're trying to pray together for this baby every single night. and we also try to pray for him/her constantly too. we pray that God use this baby for His renown to change the world! we pray that God would keep Crystal and the baby SAFE and healthy.
and we pray for wisdom because we have no idea what we're doing!

thankfully we each had awesome parents who modeled a lot of great things to do in parenting.

let the journey begin.