Yesterday my friend Amy told us that we had to visit a certain garage sale today. She said it was filled with Matthew stuff. So this morning with the ground still wet from the morning rain, Matthew, Nolan and I took a long walk through our neighborhood to check it out. Matthew was
geeked beyond belief before we even got there. I had mentioned the magic words:
dinosaur stuff.
And he was not to be disappointed. There was more dinosaur stuff than any little boy could ever dream of. A sweet nine-year-old boy was personally selling off his
Imaginext collection -- most of them for only 50 cents. We also found a beautiful, glossy, five-foot long dinosaur puzzle, a Land Before Time movie, a doctor kit, and a Discovery Toys foam shape learning game. And some dinosaur
pjs. All for next to nothing. It felt surreal. Like a mirage made just for us.
And the homeowner was the nicest woman. With two of the nicest kids I've ever met -- Joshua and Courtney. We talked forever. Her seven-year-old daughter dreams of being a children's book illustrator. How weird is that. It was exactly that kind of amazing day. She ran inside to grab her sketchbook and proudly shared her drawings with me. We exchanged info and she's going to come by one day and look at my stuff and talk about her artistic future.
Bob showed up in his car just in time to meet the wonderful family and help us get our loot home. Matthew was overjoyed all day. We now have a massive dinosaur world going on over here. And my little boy is
lovin' it.
If that wasn't enough blessing for one day, the craziest thing happened at about 5:30 p.m.
There was a loud knock on the door. Generally no one drops in -- especially at that time. So Matthew and I ran to check it out. On the other side of the door were three people. A man, woman and their daughter.
"Are you Shelley?"
They had boxes in their arms. Which they were handing to me.
"Some friends wanted us to bring this to you."
I didn't know what to say. I don't know what I did say. Their arms were full of all the things we need most. Diapers. Wipes. Two huge cans of baby formula. Two huge jars of peanut butter. Jelly. Wheat bread. Cereal. Mac -n- Cheese. Bananas. Trail mix. And a giant container of animal crackers.
"God will take care of you guys," the man said.
If I wasn't sure before, I am now. There are only a few people who could know exactly what we would need. That Matthew exists only on PB&J and Mac-n-cheese and loves bananas for breakfast. Or that Bob's favorite snack is trail mix. They say they didn't have anything to do with it. Either they aren't fessing up or this is evidence of Matthew 6. We are worth more than the sparrows. And God knows what we need and knows how to provide it.
"Why are we getting a delivery?" asked a curious Matthew.
Because God is good. Because we have beautiful anonymous friends.(Thank you! whoever you are...)And because, sometimes, God likes to knock our socks off -- just so we know that everything is going to be okay.