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Well go figure. God always has a plan. Even when we aren’t looking. I was hurting yesterday, both physically in knee pain from an injury and emotionally in my heart as my assistant passed away. It’s surreal.
She’s been off work since Sept 13, the day she asked if she could leave a half hour early to go to quick care because her head was bothering her. I nonchalantly said “you know they’ll give you a Z pack that’s what they do” and left it at that. I somehow remember maybe missing a call from her but there wasn’t a message so I figured it was a butt dial. I think I was out running errands or at a school event that night since it was Friday and that was that. By the Sunday morning following, less than two days later, a co-worker friend called hysterical that my assistant was in the middle of brain surgery. Yes brain surgery. On a Sunday. I didn’t know what to think. Well I did. The first was I was terrified for her and her family. Both of her twin daughters were getting married within months to a year. The second was “man I must have sounded like an ass based on my comment about quick care meds”. But then I thought long and hard. Were there signs. Did she hint she wasn’t feeling well? I’d say yes and no in that order. There were a few signs looking back -having to repeat things, longer to process conversations, etc. but never indicated feeling that ill or off. Needless to say, Jesus gained a FIERCE, CHRISTIAN angel and I found some pennies when definitely needed.
I had in my head that day that we were going to run some errands and included my obsession of finding a Slush Puppie machine, Slurpie and Icee to compare for a reminiscing blog post. After two locations that listed the actual brand of slush puppies online, I read a blog post of a visitor to our massive city who desperately sought the same thing to no avail. Our second stop was unproductive, but as I rounded the corner after leaving the building, with the chaos of cars pulling in and out and traffic on the major road, a penny glistened next to a tall cactus-like plant. The randomness of this was like seeing a lightning bug light back up when you go to swoop it up for the jar in front of your kids. God’s perfect timing.
So, after conceding to the powers that be- for now, since we are not quitters ;), we hit the gas station with the fireworks booth, grabbed too many snacks (always happens), and found my penny walking back to the car with my less than favorable multi pack of light up goodness. Sorry there’s no photo – my hands were kind of full!
“Flash” forward a day – 4th of July. Oh yeah, baby. Some excitement and anticipation of lighting the new fireworks – lighting is the key word. Why is it that you realize you should test the lighter BEFORE you begin the night. Not at 9pm lol. Thankfully ours worked all night unlike in years past. Prior to that I ran the kids to dog sitting twice then we dropped off books for one of our special needs students who I thought might be missing the library. She was my student aide in the library and when her aide duties were done, or if she needed a break (or incentive), she would voraciously read Disney short stories to me as the perfect transition from work-chill-work. My daughter Megyn was also her student mentor and with this whole COVID-19 virus, this was definitely good for our souls!!! If you ever have the opportunity to support programs for students with special needs, please do so. These amazing parents deal with more in a day than most people realize and the COVID-19 virus exponentially complicated so many more things. I’m glad we could be a little ray of sunshine with two fun books The Art of Up by Tim Hauser found here, and and Super Heroes Storybook: Bible Heroes who changed the world for Jesus found here. Both available from my Recommended products on my Amazon affiliate page found here. Remember: a little art and a lot of Jesus is good for the soul!
Next up was stopping by the store for some last minute groceries. For some reason, I could remember my mask for three and a half months straight, but today kept getting out without it. As I approached the crosswalk, I came across a glorious penny in the newly paved parking space. The sun shone down a bit warmer and I knew why. A true gift when my heart needed a sign.
I tucked that shiny sucker in my pocket, pivoted, and did the walk of shame back to the truck for the mask. I glanced to my left and saw the people who backed their cars into each other at the same time still exchanging information. Totally been there. I prayed for them as I marched back to the grocery store entrance fully masked. As I approached, a gentleman was getting ready to return his electric riding shopping cart, so I jokingly said “here, let me get the door for you” and waved my arms at the top of the door frame. The doors have motion sensors so I actually wasn’t holding anything and we had a good laugh. I quickly grabbed what I snuck in there for: chips and dip, cookies, and corn on the cob. My kind bagger, Jacob, handed me my bags and away I went. Just as I left and got in the crosswalk area of the parking lot, my feet came to an abrupt halt like a child learning to use hand brakes on a bicycle for the first time without flipping over the handlebars. Thankfully there weren’t any cars to witness my not-very-graceful bend over to snag the third one- a beautiful WHEAT PENNY which made me do a little dance even more!!! I love wheat pennies, and you will be able to read about that in another post. I don’t think my penny trifecta was a coincidence. Thanks God, and hugs to our dads, Uncle Mark and Kellie for blessing us from above.
Apparently I got 2/3 of the bags and didn’t realize it til it was time to eat. No dip; no cookies, however Megyn did learn how to take the silk off of corn before I tried my hand at grilling it in the foil wrapped husk for the first time.
Buttery goodness! Dinner was great but fireworks were sub par. Not impressed with what was offered this year, took forever to light anything but memories in the books with time to spare to get to the store and get our missed items – but we were still too full even to eat a cookie! Who knew that was possible! We called it a night, thanking God for my pennies from Heaven and reminders that He is truly everywhere! I pray that the next time you find a penny or any kind of change, your soul will be fed!
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” ~ Isaiah 41:10