When "Thank You" Is Too Small

What do you say when "thank you" is too small?

This passed week our house has been blessed by generous, selfless people. It started with a community group from WACC (Whittier Area Community Church) asking me "What do you need?" Knowing that the simpler needs were being filled I threw out the desire for us to have new floors in the boys' room and playroom. To my pleasant surprise, this group said "We want to do that for you."

Whaaaaaaat???????

I was shocked.

Then came the planning. Crunch time happened fast because the doctors were talking about discharging Dempsey by Wednesday and this lovely group had just started.

We figured we were safe because my parent's house was an optional place for us to land for a few days while the floors were being done. Not only would it be a good place while the floors were in process but Serve Weekend (via WACC) had Kenagyville as a project that would be in full swing today.

God worked it all out. He has us remain in the hospital. The floors were finished last night with Tim coming back this morning morning to put the bunk beds back together and add felt to their feet. Serve Weekend descended upon Kenagyville around 10am this morning and finished a little after 3pm, I believe.

Y'all... stop and process this with me a minute. People, who are not related to us, gave of their time, energy, skills, resources to help us out. We didn't even ask them. They asked us! Then, when we gave them a HUGE goal they stepped up, worked together, and made it happen. On top of the flooring angels Serve Weekend asked what they could do to serve us and between our wish list, my best friend delegating, the project leader leading, and the volunteers burning through tons of elbow grease our house is IMMACULATE. There is just no word big enough to contain or explain the thankfulness, gratitude, humility, honor, happiness, blessings, joy that we feel.

Serve Weekend angels had their work cut out for them! They organized our garage, sprayed weeds, laid weed guard, planted tomato and zucchini plants, laid wood chips in the front and back planters, steam cleaned our carpet, put the boys' furniture and toys back in the rooms, washed curtains, washed/ cleaned kitchen and master bathroom. All that at no cost to us. My eyes are welling up with tears of joy just thinking about all of this.

The Lord has totally used His Body to show his love and support for us. HE IS WITH US. He is for us. He cares about us. These lovely people had nothing to gain by helping us in this way and they helped anyway. These people showed us love by helping us and sacrificing their valuable time and energy. Hard to find words to accurately convey thanks for that.

I sit here thinking: My baby is in the hospital and life as we know it has been turned upside down. While we are struggling to catch our breath and find our leukemia journey stride, our brothers and sisters in Christ are praying for us, serving us, supporting us. Many people from all areas of our life have banded together to lift us up, carry us through, and cheer us on. This place we are in is incredible. Indescribable. It's hard and scary but there is beauty in it. There is love, joy, peace, presence, friendship, support, faith, generosity, service, selflessness, thoughtfulness, intention, and a myriad of other wonderful words.

Truth: I am still scared. Despite the beauty, I'm still scared. I have fears. I worry. I also pray. I am also quickly learning to acknowledge m limits, respect them, and lean into people I have never had to trust before. It's hard. It's painful. It's also oddly refreshing- that there are people who can pick up where we leave off so the story continues, unhindered.

Pics: see the previous post for photos of what angels did to Kenagyville.

So, with these too-small words of gratitude I (we) say "THANK YOU!!