Tender Mercy #23,098

Driving home from my mom’s house tonight, I wasn’t looking forward arriving at my destination.  Don’t get me wrong – I love our home, I love my family, I love being there.  Here’s more context for you:

My three older cherubs had graciously fallen asleep, which was great since it was way past their normal bedtime.  We always hope for that on the way home from visits to Grandparents.’  BUT – this trip I was flying solo since John (aka “The Bishop”) was at Temple Night.  Iwould be the one heafting them out of the car & up the stairs. 

More than that, though, Mr. Freedom (now a very plump little one-month-old) would be screaming the whole time.  I could tell.  He was waking up at every red light, complaining that he (a) had another sneaky burp (b) was hungry and/or (c) wasn’t being held.  Yes, it was another day like that.  Picky, picky, picky, he is. 

So I was bracing myself for poor baby having to suffer while I carried, walked, pottied, jammied, and put the other three in bed.  Rough time, being #FOUR.  They all take their turn being a little short-changed sometimes. 

Know what happened, though?  One of the awesome ladies I know from church just happened to be walking past our house with her niece & puppy *right* after I pulled in.  She noticed that the back hatch of our minivan was open, saw the lights out in our home, didn’t see me there in the darkness, and figured we’d just forgotten to shut it.  They came up the drivway to shut it for us (nice neighbors, huh!) so I was able to catch her and make her help me. 

Okay, so she was absolutely more than happy to hold Freedom for me while I took care of the others.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No screaming baby.  The beautiful 12-yo niece even brought in a box of heavy sewing machine I brought back from my parents’.  (Mom’s serger will greatly speed up the Tinkerbell-costume-making, which is good since it needs to be done by Saturday.)

I felt loved.  So loved that I needed to blog it instead of working on that costume.  Maybe I’ll regret my priorities tomorrow.  Maybe I won’t.  This is one of those random things that wouldn’t ever get written down if I put it off. 

These “little” coincidences happen all the time.  (Like another angel in our neighborhood bringing dinner the day after Freedom was born.  She just happened to bring John’s favorite meal & cake, though she didn’t know it was John’s 30th birthday.  I’d been feeling bad about not being able to throw a party, bake a cake, or anything like that for him… Perfect timing!)

  From my perspective they’re beautiful, tender mercies from the Lord to me, letting me know that He’s there, knows what’s going on, and is more than making up for all the time the bishop spends tending His flock.

So there you have it, folks.  The Lord loves me.  And I know He knows & loves you.  I bet your life is being blessed with “little” coincidences too.  Sometimes they’re obvious, but sometimes they’re not, so look out!