Providence

It’s funny how God wants to bless us sometimes, but we get too busy and caught up in our “to-do lists.”  I struggle with this SOOOO much!  (I think a lot of it has to do with always having a million things to do at once as a high school teacher with sometimes as many as 4 preps and 100+ students. And it doesn’t help that I married a man just like me!) 

Teaching high school for 17 years produces quiet a habit of “task master” mode.  I think about the year I taught AP Calculus for the first time in addition to Pre-Calculus.  While I absolutely LOVED the challenge of learning the calculus concepts, it took a tremendous amount of time—during school, after school, and well into the night after we got the kids to bed.  I wonder how many opportunities I missed that year that I could enrich relationship with my students.

Don’t get me wrong…I did try to have fun with the kids, but I always had this nagging checklist in my brain that I HAD to teach this, this, and that by the end of the period each day.

God has been trying ever so patiently to change this stubborn girl’s mindset for the last couple of years.  I’m trying, but man, IT IS HARD!

I’m learning that knowledge for simply knowledge’s sake is not nearly as important as rich relationships and true life experiences.

I’m learning that memorizing math facts by rote is not nearly as meaningful as discovering how to create a simple machine or why something works that way.

I’m learning that each child learns differently (especially my own two boys) and it’s most important to discover the way they each learn best.  And it’s ok if it is not MY way of learning. (Ouch!) Learning about my own children is especially important because they are the two children that God entrusted into my care to effect eternity.

So last week was so educational for me as we took our first official fall vacation since we started homeschooling about a year and half ago.  (We were supposed to take one last year but God called us to move to a new church and a new life instead).  Hmmm….now that I think about it, maybe God knew I wasn’t ready last year to learn all that He wanted to teach me this week.

I’ll have to share more lessons soon, but I just had to share this BIG ONE today!

Eric and I tired really hard during our vacation week to RELAX and enjoy life on our vacation.  And we’ve done fairly well, I do believe.  Until this morning…

But God taught me a HUGE lesson and gave me a BIG BLESSING.

We were kind of in a hurry to leave so Ethan could get to Aunt Shellye’s school Fall Festival at noon—3 hours down the road.

Eric and Evan wanted to find three more Geocaches before we left town.  I didn’t mind because we all are having fun with them.  But…we were running a little behind schedule.

Eric wanted to stop at Betty’s Kitchen to eat breakfast in Aubrey because he’d eaten there before and loved it.  I kept saying, “we need to eat fast and get on the road!”  He even placed his order and left to go gas up the van to save time.  The waitress was reasonably quick too!

We finished eating, so I took Ethan to the restroom to wash his syrupy hands.  By the way, there were very few people in the restaurant at this time—it was already past 10 am!  And I did notice that a family came in after we did.  As I passed that table, I noticed the young many quit talking to his family and just stared at me.  I thought that was so strange…I was thinking about how weird that was the whole time we were in the restroom.  I was planning to tell Eric and was thinking he must have been sharing some type of secret story.

As we came around the corner from the restroom, the young lady at that same table said, “KIM!  I’m Sondra!”

OH MY GOODNESS!   I haven’t seen Sondra in nearly 15 years!  We had lost contact!

SONDRA!  My sweet, sweet friend!

SONDRA! Really more like my long lost little sister!

SONDRA! My favorite child that my mom ever babysat for when I was growing up.

Although she’s 13 years younger than me, we were the best of friends!

We hugged so tightly!

It brought tears to both of our eyes!

It was neat to meet her husband and son and see her dad again.  (Our little boys are only 2 months apart!)

So time stood still for a few moments and I forgot about the hurry we were in…I had found a long lost friend (really family).  And we both vowed not to lose touch again.

And when we drove off, I started thinking about God’s providence.  His timing.  His sweet blessing.

If I had insisted on not eating there or if we had gotten there just a little earlier, our paths would not have crossed. 

Thank you, Jesus, for letting me find Sondra again!  Thank you for her sweet friendship!  Thank you for Your wonderful blessings!  May we never lose touch again.

Sondra & Me...so happy to be reunited!

Sondra's son & our boy...I thought it was funny that they both have blonde hair & were dressed in brown.