Unbridled Generosity

If you haven’t read it, there’s an awesome book, The Five Love Languages which helps you identify what makes you feel the most loved. In turn, you identify how to better speak the “love language” of those you love. It could be words of affirmation, quality time, shared time, receiving gifts, acts of service or physical touch.

For example, since my top “love language” is receiving gifts, I’m always quick to give my husband gifts but it’s just about last on his list. In short, he could care less for most of my gifts. I have to work hard at speaking his language of shared time. Yep, even if it’s tossing a football. yeck.

I’ve mentioned in some previous blogs that we’ve hit a bit of harder time financially yet we have seen God provide in so many cool ways. In the past few months a lot of folks have been speaking my love language and I’ve been blown away by the gifts of love and acts of service.

May this list inspire you to love others well as it has for me…

One of our supporting churches has gone above and beyond to help us get our leaking roof fixed and redone. It’s a giant thousands-of-dollars project that they are helping us to afford & coordinate with local volunteers.
A few generous donors are giving sacrificially to help some of our students get to InterVarsity’s Urbana Missions Convention.
Our daycare provider, Marilyn offered to take Ransom day or night, weekend or weekday whenever I went into labor until my mother’n’law could come pick him up.
My in-laws, Fred & Sara took Ransom in for 2.5 days while we were in the hospital having our little Reesey-Bear.
The hospital staff loaded us up with free stuff when we left to take Rhys home. They gave us 3 big packs of infant diapers, 4 containers of breast milk, tubes of vaseline for Rhys’ circumcision, tons of sample stuff, etc. etc. I left with a giant bag of things to care for my ‘wounds of labor’ & for Rhys. All in all, it probably will save us about $50-$75 buck-a-roos. (In comparison to when I had Ransom, we got less than 1/3 of these items).
When I was as big and uncomfortable as a fat pig in a tiny pen, my mother’n’law, Sara came and helped us defrost our freezer.
The weekend before that one of my best friends, Jean came and cleaned out and organized all of our kitchen cupboards while she cooked a giant pot of Chili, White Chicken Chili, 2 big pans of pasta & a meatloaf. How she did all of this in a little less than 3 hours still remains to be seen. Honestly, I think it was a miracle. 😉
A few weekends before that, our good friends Dave & Jessica Fick came for a long day of cleaning out our basement & other house projects. (Jess is also the one who came along for the ride at Rhys’ birth & took some amazing pictures of my labor).
A few months ago, my friend Ally made me this beautiful custom-made baby carrier which I got to take advantage of for the 1st time today.
AND it's reversible! 🙂
I received such an outpouring of love, hope & encouragement over on facebook as I tweeted my labor and posted the aforementioned pics.

I have felt so loved & cared for…

Thanks for speaking my language e’erybody!