This is a picture of the hallway outside of the first and kindergarten classes at Hackleburg Elementary School. This is Tiffany's hallway. If school hadn't been canceled that day, this is where Tiffany and her students would have taken shelter from the storm. Thank goodness that they were smart enough to cancel school! Can you imagine how devasting it would have been if students were there?
I texted Tiffany earlier and told her to let us know of anything that her town needed. I told her we would do whatever we could to get it together. Yesterday, while I was at the movies, I recieved a text from her saying, "we need school supplies, any school supplies." I texted her bck and said, "done. we'll get them sent by Thursday."
I made a little goal of filling three boxes and sending them to Tiffany's school. Last night, I thought the idea of filling three boxes was insane-- I wasn't sure we could do it! I even told Holly, "Do you think this is too big of a plan?" She laughed and said, "No."
I sent emails out last night. I sent an email to the school I'm at now and the school I was out last year. I sent an email to my sunday school class. Holly sent an email to her school. We let our brother's mother in law know that if she had any extra supplise, we would take them. I came to school today with one box thinking that would be enough.
It's amazing how God can pour down His blessings in something as small as school supplies. As soon as the bell rang this morning, I had students from classrooms all over the building bringing in supplies. I had filled up my one box in ten minutes. I thought "Wow! That was a good turn out!" But the supplies kept coming. I had to search for more boxes, and could only find two! I now have three overflowing boxes in my classroom. And I mean over flowing. Bonnie has some in her classroom from my old school and Holly has some in her classroom. It's amazing.
Then my "kind of" sister in law emails me to tell me her school is collecting. Then Paula tells me that she has sent an email out. Tons of people at our admin building are donating. Some are even getting on amazon.com and ordering shipments to send! Many are donating money, and we talked about using it for shipping and if we had any left over, on ordering them a printer and paper.
Then I realzied-- shipping is going to cost an arm and a leg. I immediately started thinking-- "How am I ever going to pay for all of this shipping?!?" I mean, these boxes of supplies are heavy!!! I started getting bad anxiety about it. But then I just felt this peace come over me. It was amazing. And I could just feel that God was telling me, "Do not worry about shipping. Collect the supplies. I will provide." So I kept on collecting.
During lunch, I texted my dad to tell him I was amazed and overwhelmed by my district's outpouring of love to a itty bitty town they have never heard of before today. I told him about the tons of supplies I had gathered, and how I wasn't sure if Id be able to pay for the shipping, but that I'd figure a way out. I told him that it was simply amazing to see the love of complete strangers.
Then my dad said- "Don't do anything about shipping. Let me make some calls." I froze. If anyone knows my dad, he knows everyone. I thought, "This is it. This is how God will provide."
Sure enough, my dad knows someone in UPS. He called them, and they have offered to figure out a way to majorly cut down on shipping costs! I haven't gotten the complete details, but we'll be getting them tomorrow. I'm praying that it cuts down alot!! Otherwise we will be spending hundreds of dollars just to get this stuff out there. And the best part is, if this shipping is covered, we can use the donated money to order them new printers since theirs were destroyed!!!
I am overwhelmed. This little small town that means so much to me is getting small blessings. I know on the grand scheme of things in their town, boxes of school supplies may not mean much. But for me, it's the first thing I can do from here and feel like I'm actually helping. And the blessings that I have seen today from God are overwhelming. I just pray that the people of Hackleburg and all of the other towns affected are able to feel these blessings as well as many more and the hope of God as they continue rebuilding their lives.
These are tough times in Alabama and across the south, and many people are asking God, "why?" But if you take a moment and step back from the heartache and disaster... it's amazing to see the little things that God is doing for His people. And in the middle of this great disaster, it's the little things that mean the most.
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