Just call me the "Surprise Queen!"

First off, Joe was out of town this week so it was up to me to hold down the fort on my own... and wouldn't you know, the first day the toilet clogs! I bought a plunger and fixed it all by myself...I was pretty proud.



Okay, on to the big surprise news!
Since Joe was out of town, I had a plan. Maybe your man is like this too...he works SO extremely hard and provides for you but never does anything for himself...well that's my Joe. He recently bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer that i absolutely love and since his birthday is coming, I wanted to surprise him back. Mind you, I am terrible at surprises, so this one was really tough to pull off! Well, Joe recently gave away his little charcoal grill to the neighbor across the street who needed one, and since the weather is getting nice, I took him to Lowe's to look at the new grills. He put his hands on one after looking at them all and said "THIS is the dream grill, but this one is more in our price range." So when he left, I snuck off to Lowe's to buy my hubby his grill (and no, Dave Ramsey, this is not a step towards our snowball, but I did pay with cash thank you very much). As the man at the counter was looking for the item in top stock, I noticed a paper hanging up ( I had prayed before I walked in that if I was not supposed to get this grill that God would make it very clear)...the paper was a safety recall for the very model I was about to buy and listed numerous problems and fire hazards. I showed the salesman, Steve, and he was shocked and said they weren't even supposed to have this out on the floor and for fear of lawsuits, they would not be selling me this grill, understandably.

Saddened, I got my things together to leave empty-handed and Steve said, "Ma'am, can you wait one minute?" He came back with a big grin, put his hand on my shoulder and said "Ma'am, can I ask you a personal question? Are you a Christian?" I said well...yes, why? Steve informed me that this never happens, but the manager had agreed to sell me the DREAM GRILL at the same price since they messed up by having the bad grill out on the floor!!! He said, "You looked like you were praying, that's why I asked." WOW! I was so blown away! Now not only did Joe get a grill, he got THE DREAM GRILL!

So I got a neighbor with a truck to help me get it home, since Joe had taken our truck to the airport, and it took four of us to get it out of the truck and into the house. When Joe got home from Ohio last night, this is what he saw!


He was very happy...he SO deserves it! Happy Birthday, Love!







When my biological father left us when Chris and I were very young, God looked after us every step of the way. He took a homeless, single mom and her two young children and helped us to find a home at the Texas Baptist Children's Home where we were able to get back on our feet- God bless those people! We had nothing- we even went to the commissary for food, but God always provided and we never went without. I remember one year, it was time for the famous Lamme's Candy chocolate-covered strawberries to come out, but a freak ice storm left the trucks unable to deliver their shipments, so they donated them to the Children's Home. Ever the teacher, my mom used this time to teach us a wonderful principle about God; not only was He providing, but He was providing for our every need according to His riches and glory...after that, we always said "God is a God of chocolate-covered strawberries."

When the salesman at Lowe's came out and said they wanted to give me a grill twice as expensive for the same price, I began to cry. I hugged him, hugged the manager, hugged the person helping me check-out. They probably all thought I was an emotional basket-case, but all I could think is "God, you really ARE a God of chocolate-covered strawberries!"