April 3, 2012: I Love Surprises :)

3 gifts surprisingly found:

• a bunch of daffodils from my husband
• time to finish a scrapbook I've been working on for months
• a fun (free) new game for my touchpad

February 19, 2012: The Gift of Change

3 gifts that were 'Plan B's':

• Lunch. Really planned to make soup for lunch today, but since it was such a beautiful sunny day my husband offered to grill, so we had some delicious chicken instead.  A surprising treat to grill in mid February!
• Time.  I always like to be ready ahead when I am having people over.  I make lists so I don't forget anything and have the house clean ahead and the food prepared in advance.  Instead tonight I found myself throwing everything together at the last minute, cleaning the bathroom moments before the doorbell rang, still dressed in rumpled sweatpants.  All because my daughter was over and we were making seafoam candy while she did her laundry.  Not the way I normally prefer to roll, but I wouldn't trade the time with her for anything.
• Friends.   What a blessed time tonight with some dear friends in our house church discussing both the Holy Spirit and our attitude toward our material possessions.  Good stuff and good people.  Love them and love journeying with them.  But as I was thinking about this 'Plan B' thing, I realized that they are second string. When we first joined a house church, it was a completely different group of people.  After a while, we merged with another house church and now, many years later, none of our original group is left.  Everyone in our house church is either from that merger or is completely new.  See, change isn't always bad, sometimes it's very good.

January 10, 2012: The Gift of Laughter

3 times you heard laughter today:

• at the pharmacy.  The cheeriest pharmacy tech helped me today when I picked up a prescription.  She was kind and had a good sense of humor, and didn't seem to rushed to chat for a moment.
• in my car.  I was driving home and there were some people in their front yard with their dog.  The dog was absolutely loving the fresh falling snow, jumping up and down, very excited.  It made me laugh out loud.
• at a restaurant.  My husband and I went out for dinner tonight since we had some coupons that were about to expire.  We took advantage of one, but had another we wouldn't be able to use.  It was for $10 off $30 but all of the tables around us were couples and since the prices are inexpensive, I knew their tabs wouldn't be that much.  I peeked into another part of the restaurant and spotted a large family,  went up to them and gave them the coupon.  They were thrilled.  It was so much fun to be able to randomly surprise someone like that.  The highlight of my day!

February 9, 2012: Small Graces, Largely Unexpected

3 gifts that were surprises--unexpected grace!

• 2 of the members at the church where I work who were more than happy to fold the Sunday bulletins for me today.  It's one thing to have people be willing to help you out, it's another thing entirely to have them be so glad to do it.  That's servant love, a reminder of God's love to me.  Micah 7:18 tells us how God delights to show us mercy.  I might begrudgingly show mercy, but when is the last time (ever?) that I delighted to show mercy to another?
• Plans for a girls' night out with one of my sisters-in-law and our daughters.   Surprising, but pleasing, that they are willing to hang with the old ladies (especially on a weekend). Of course the fact that we are footing the bill probably doesn't hurt!
• Grace from a staff member at my church when informed her of last minute changes in the schedule for Bible study next week.  She couldn't have been any nicer about it.

January 7, 2012: Surprised by Grace

3 graces from people you love:

• Much grace from my husband today as I got rather irritable while we tackled the task of painting one of the bedrooms.  Emptying the room and taping are a big fat pain, but he was very patient and tolerant despite my moodiness.
• Grace from my dad, who called to give me a report of the visit he and my mom had with my son.  I love knowing  all the details of what they did, and you just know you aren't going to get them from your kids! 
• Unexpected grace from my daughter, who came over on a Saturday night to visit.  I think she was pretty curious to see how the paint looked in her old bedroom, but it was still a bonus to see her tonight. 

When I saw this dare for today,  I thought, "Great.  My husband and I are going to be home alone all day painting.  How will I come up with three graces from three different people?"  Should have known that God had all kinds of gifts in store for the day.  Really, I could have listed more than three as my brother-in-law and nephew also ended over at our house today--2 more people I love.

The song that ran through my head all day is "Grace, grace, God's grace.  Grace that is greater than all our sin."  Truth.

Just in case you're wondering and want to join in, tomorrow's dare is:
Light that caught you, a reflection that surprised you, a shadow that fell lovely
Hmmm...