A Sweet Little Story of Providence, in five parts

Part I. Last year, pending a major move, our sole car was on its last wheels. It was completely unreliable.  I once even drove to a friend's house with one of the doors of our car being held shut with DUCT TAPE. Numerous times I had to take a taxi in the snow with my infant and toddler to the Nanny's house and then take a taxi from the Nanny's house to work. Reverse, rinse and repeat when work was over.

We were praying for some kind of windfall because we just could not afford to buy a new vehicle. As in., we couldn't afford to buy a new wiper blade.

Part II.

My Nana Stanton, with whom I was very close, left me an inheritance. I thought it would just be some mad money, but in March of last year, I was cut a check for enough to buy a new car outright. I had never owned my own car before.

My benefactor:

Part III.

I felt a burning conviction in my heart to use the remnant of my inheritance to support young people and music. My nana had only a high school diploma but she was a brilliant singer and loved music and investing her time and energy into young people.

I called a children's choir in Boston that I had supported in the past; many of our neighborhood children were a part of this choir. I left a message indicating that I was interested in making a donation to their organization.

No one ever called back.

NO one.

Um, donor knocking! What non-profit would not answer the door?

I continued to pray about how I should use the money.

Part IV.

The Nanny that was watching the children had a granddaughter that she also cared for along with my children. Her granddaughter, Z, was very special to us and showed tremendous promise with her violin--at the prodigious age of 4!  Our nanny asked us if we knew of any scholarships available to support her granddaughter doing a summer program at Berklee College of Music.

I went home and asked Loverpants what he thought.

Part V.

Z went to Berklee on a full ride. I'm sharing this not to inflate my contribution or stroke my own conceit. I felt the money wasn't mine in the first place; I was just a steward of it. I just wanted to do right by someone who was so incredibly good to me.

Oh, but there's more.

I just received an e-mail from Z's mother. Here's an excerpt:

Kendra, I hope you all are doing well. I see Tate's getting very big these days along with Maddie . I was reflecting on what Z was doing last year and where she has been since and i just could not help thanking God for the blessings...Sending her to Berklee was such an amazing opportunity for her. While at Berklee we met another lovely soul who runs a violin camp and told us to come along and join then at her camp. Since then Z has completed a Eurhythmics class and started playing cello for a month now. After this she will go to a program called Project step. The woman we met at berklee last year called me a month ago and told me that Z was all set to go to Berklee. I did not even fill out a form or pay any tuition yet. I asked her what do u mean Z is all set to go? she said Z is going tuition free because God just does things like that. He is just that kind of God! I cant think you enough for letting God use you and giving Z a chance to play her little violin...Your blessing for her had poured over in many areas in her life and i just wanted to say THANK YOU !! Sorry for the long message but i HAD to let you know what a blessing it had been for us over the last year. God bless and please send our love to Maddie and Tate!