Best Friends and Winning

Show me is Braylen's new statement. Example:


Me- "Braylen come here for a second."
B- "Show me."


B-"Where are you mommy?"
Me- "In here buddy."
B- "Show me."


Yesterday evening while Guy was at class, I was "showing" him how to plant flowers. He liked pulling them out more than planting them. And of course playing in the dirt. 


After his lesson in "gardening", we walked over to the park behind our house. Braylen slipped his arm around my leg while we were walking, and said "we're best friends mommy." I said best friends forever and just gave him a little squeeze. Then he said, "watch out for the dirt!" and the moment was over. :) I just love that kid so much. And I hope we will always be BFF. Even when is 15. That happens, right? 


In another note, Charlie Sheen isn't the only one winning around here. :) The Lord has been incredibly gracious and soooooo very intentional with our family. I know that he is ALWAYS present and ALWAYS constant in my life, but I've never experienced him being so.............obvious. I guess that's the right word to use. I don't really know how to explain it. I just know that I found myself in awe of his love. 


About 3 weeks ago, our family vehicle (Mazda MPV) completely died. We took it to the mechanic and they said that a foreign object had found its way into our engine and completely destroyed it. It would cost us a mere $5700 to replace. Are you kidding? I just cried as our mechanic told us-which by the way, they called us and asked if we would come up to talk about the damage. I felt like we were saying our last goodbyes or something. very strange! Anyways. We just didn't know what to do! We were stuck. That same night, we drive to Furniture Fair to return fabric samples for the couch that we were hoping to purchase with some of our tax return money. We knew that it wasn't the right time to buy furniture anymore now that the car was ruined. 


The next few days we really felt like somehow the Lord was going to provide and we just clung to his promise that he is faithful and good, no matter what happens. We were thankful that our bad news was just about our car and not something worse. It's only a car! And we still have our silver bullet-'99 Honda Civic! Going on 180,000. Love that little car. But we had put a lot of money into the van because it had so many problems. That was hard to swallow!


That Wednesday, I called our insurance company and explained the situation. It was a long shot but we didn't know what else to do. By that afternoon they had someone investigate the damage. The next day they called and said they were going to cover the cost of the damage! Actually they were counting it as a total loss vehicle and were going to give us the money for car! WHAT!! Thank you Lord! Seriously. So crazy! It gets better.


That same afternoon, I read an email that said in the subject line "2nd Attempt at reaching you-grand prize winner." I was thinking it was just a scam but I clicked on it, hoping it wasn't. :) The email said you were picked as our grand prize winner at Furniture Fair. Call so and so to claim your $2000 shopping spree. WHAT!! So I called. 


"Furniture Fair, this is Jenny. How may I help you?'
"Well I just got this email saying I won the shopping spree???"
"Oh my gosh! Congratulations! That's so exciting. Hold on and let me get Rick."


Ha! I was literally pacing the floor and cracking up. Could this really be happening? Who wins a $2000 shopping spree? Well it's for real and our new furniture will be delivered in 3 weeks. :) Remember when I turned in our fabric samples? While I waiting for our salesman, I entered into their contest not even thinking that God had something very special in mind. The drawing was from all 8 stores too. So very crazy.


I wasn't sure if I wanted to share this story or not. God is good and faithful without these extra blessings. He still would have provided for us in a great way. It's just this experience has been so shocking and awesome that it has greatly affected how I view how intentional he is with all of us. I hope that I always notice how he is moving and working in my life and in the lives of my family and friends. 


We are so thankful for our friends and family who provide such a great support system. We are constantly surrounded by people who love and serve us. This weekend my aunt and uncle are letting us borrow their car while they are out of town. We are still down to one vehicle while we are waiting for our check from the insurance company. It's just awesome how willing people are to help! I hope that these special gifts that God has given us will be used for his glory. 

So long MPV! 

We will miss you but not that much. 

I wonder what we will be driving next......

Braylen wants us to drive a yellow truck.