For 5 brief minutes we got to share our story to a room of over 400 of "San Diego's leading corporate and community philanthropists". Wow...what an experience!
The event was located at a private country club in La Jolla. The night started with appetizers in and outside the clubhouse. It was a time for mingling and silent auction bidding. We were nervous, and slightly out of place...but hey we did our best to fit in ;)
We were then escorted to the main tent by an awesome ringleader...he was hilarious! The tent was beautifully decorated, the pictures don't do it justice, and our table was immaculately set with more silverware than I knew what to do with! The evening started with various entertainment before the live auction during which time Steven Tyler came to join our table. Kind of weird having a rock legend sitting across from you...but pretty cool =) Joe and I were called backstage about halfway through the auction where people with way more money than us were bidding a whole bunch of it! Backstage I was all nerves. Im not a public speaker...not even close. Joe and I said a quick prayer before walking up the stairs to the stage and well...God took it from there. As nervous as I was before, I felt a peace on that stage and I know that God used our words to not only raise money for a worthy cause, but to touch hearts. I was overwhelmed with emotion when toward the end of our speech the audience erupted into applause at hearing that "Stephen is now 2 1/2 years old". It was incredible. 
We were disappointed when we found out we were not allowed to mention "Christ" or "church" in our speech. While I get it...it is such a vital part of the story (and our lives) that it is rather difficult to convey our true hope without it. We had to stick with words like "clung to our faith" "blessed" "hope" etc. When I shared that with Joe I remember thinking as much of a bummer it is, God is bigger than those words and He will shine through. Imagine my surprise and delight when a woman came up to us after and stated just that! She literally told us she could tell we were believers..."it just shined through". Wow! Praise God for that! It was just another reminder of how big He is. That no deletion of words can keep him from being shown. I will always smile and chuckle to myself when I think back upon this. The world can try...but He will always win.
After the speech so many amazing individuals came up to us through the night thanking us for our words and offering their prayers. This was by far the best part. Being able to freely share our true hope and joy with so many people was the highlight of the night for me. We literally couldn't walk to get water or use the bathroom without being stopped and each time we got to share a little more with those who asked. I am still in awe of all the wonderfulness of the night! I seriously didn't want to leave! And to top it off the doctor who delivered Stephen was there...it was icing on the cake to be able to thank him again for the part he played in bringing our sweet boy into the world!
 |
| Dr. Daneshmand |
Directly after our speech was a paddle raise...yeah I had no clue what that was either. Basically the ask "who here wants to donate $25,000," and you raise your number and give freely with nothing in return. They went through various amounts and raised over $230,000 during the paddle raise...remarkable!!!! I teared up. I know firsthand how much that money blesses and supports families with children hospitalized during a medical crisis. They might not have understood all of the good they were doing...but I sure did and it was truly touching to witness it.
Then came the main entertainment...Steven Tyler. The dude is 66 years old and can still rock the house. I was brought to the front row by one of the committee members and I have to say...it was pretty cool. He played classic songs like "Dream On" "Cryin" and "Walk this Way" which you can't help but sing right along to. (I was however completely embarrassed for all of the slightly crazy older women who were fawning over him, it was just weird, but aside from being creeped out by their advances at him it was pretty awesome). All in all it was an incredible night. Seriously amazing to see where God has brought us and how far Stephen's story has gone. I pray that God will continue to use sinners like us to bring about His glory and that Stephen's story heart will continue to touch the hearts and lives of many.
I smiled this week when reading Ephesians 3:20-21
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"
The night we found out about Stephen I quite frankly asked God to not forget His promises and to "show up". I was broken and scared and wanted to know that some good would come if our son was going to have to suffer. Well, not only did He let me come to him honestly, but he exceeded all my expectations and has done immeasurably more than all I could have asked for or imagined. I am in awe of His work in our lives and I pray that we would continue to follow and trust in Him and that He would continue to make so much beauty come from something so painful.
Pray for us tomorrow as we have an interview with FOX 5 San Diego for the whole "Passing it On" campaign...seriously this is getting crazy big and awesome. "Immeasurably more" that is my motto right now. God is bigger than we imagine. His ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts. His plans far exceed ours and I look forward to seeing where He takes all of this in the future!
And again thank you for all of your continued prayers for Stephen and our family over the years. I LOVE it when people tell me they still have the heart magnet on their fridge and they pray for Stephen. Please know I have no doubt of the power of all of your prayers and through them all of this is made possible!!!!
Here are a few more pictures from the evening!
With Much Love,
Kim
No comments:
Post a Comment