Responding through love – The great pumpkin patch giveaway

In early October we launched a community outreach opportunity we called The Great Pumpkin Patch Giveaway.  We were looking for our followers and extended community to nominate families they felt were deserving of some stress free time with their family.  Our children read the entries and chose this family who graciously said we could share their response.

I continuously want to be real and honest so to say I was a little beside myself at the lack of response we received, that would be a lie.  I was beyond frustrated at the lack of response.  For days we had no nominees than a few came through.  I often look at all the sadness, all the anger and overly passionate responses that are not out of love, and here we are just trying to love on another family, and a huge hush falls over the land.  As only God can do, through the responses we did receive he laid this sweet sweet family before us.  A family that took a part of another community and brought it selflessly into their home.  A family that reached out in love and never looked back.  We called it The Great Pumpkin Patch Giveaway, but honestly we just wanted a deserving family that had faced diversity this year to have the opportunity to spend some time together as a family.

The nomination:

I would like to nominate a family of eight…they are dear friends of mine through adoption and they have 3 biological children and 3 adopted children from Ethiopia. Their last two children just arrived home from Ethiopia after nearly THREE years of waiting for the government to release their paperwork. These children, who are in 7th & 9th grade, waited YEARS in their orphanage, waiting on a family. My friends family said yes to them and enfolded them into their family in a beautiful way. Praise Jesus they are home now and adjusting to a family of 8! Their mama had to travel and stay in Ethiopia for two months to fight to bring them home. The financial and emotional burden was great. This giveaway would bless their family in an incredible way as they continue to adjust and bond to their beautiful family of 8. Thank you for your consideration.

Their response:

Dear Bassett family,
Our family would like to thank you for your generous gift. We had so much fun using this gift card at the Kuehnert Dairy Farm Fall Festival. We just brought home two teenagers from Ethiopia 9 weeks ago. This was their 1st experience with anything like this. They both had the biggest smiles on their faces the entire time. We wouldn’t have had this great night together if it wasn’t for your generosity and my sweet friend Heidi nominating us.
When I read the part that your kids choose the winner it melted my heart. What a great way to show your kids how to love others ( even if you don’t know them) and give. Thank you for your kindness and love for Jesus. Thank you for your serving heart. Thank you for being an inspiration to our family. My wheels are turning, ha!
Jesus sees your acts of love in everything your family does. As you carry out your work, the Lord shines through it all.
I pray that God will bless your family, as your family has blessed ours.
God bless,
Steyer Family

Looking back at all the frustration I experienced during this time, I am reminded to keep my focus on Jesus, continue to do His work in whatever way we can, and never, never allow the response of others to determine your own.  He has laid a vision on our hearts, and it’s responses like this that not only keep us going, but help to fuel our passion.  As we move forward we continue to pray for this family, their children and that they will be blessed over and over again.  We thank the Steyer family for the opportunity to serve their sweet family in such a way.