Yesterday, I saw God work in our lives...
Day started out like a normal Sunday. Matt drinking coffee and starting to wake kids, me grabbing a shower and frantically going over in my head what each child will wear and what needs to be packed in the diaper bag.
I hear Matt in the living room with a very irrational and whining Vance. I came down briefly to see if I could help, but ended up putting him back in bed to fuss til he worked it out. I went in a little bit later and began to dress him. Finally had the brace and jeans and short on, only to have him begin another fit about something, so laid him in his bed, only to have him kids sit up and gag and throw up.... Arg!! Puke! My worse nightmare. I immediately begin stripping him of all the clothes and shoes and brace, thinking we will all have to stay home and I'll be probably doing this for the next 2 weeks (big family problems... They all seem to get it one after the other... Never all at once) but he did not appear to be sick really, other than indicating that his throat hurt a little.
Let me interject here that we had PLANS! Plans to attend a Newcomers meeting at our new church to learn about them and learn how to get involved... This would mess with THE PLAN! 😬
I kept my cool, explained the situation to Matt and he wisely suggested that the girls and I go and he would stay at the house until his mom got there (the plan was for then to come after church and watch kids) and then he would, if van was doing ok, come to church in time for the meeting. So plan changed to now I was driving to a church that is fairly new, alone, wondering if I was making the right decision. Church was great, afterwards a her excited Kitkat told me all about her time and meeting a new girl.
The Newcomers meeting was at 12:30... But now Matt wasn't sure if he would come or not... I texted several times suggesting maybe he should and still could (this was my insecurities talking... Sitting there alone just felt weird) and really wanted him to hear things first hand. Its never alms good when I try to explain it.
The pastor saw that my girls had nothing to do, so suggested if they wanted to go to another room and watch a movie on Netflix... He started the Secret Life of Pets and they were thrilled! This little thing was so helpful to me!
So the first half of the meeting was each of us sharing our story of what brought us to LCBC Berks... I learned that the couple next to me was devout Catholic and had had their kids in the Catholic school... But something caused some great hurt and the left both the church and the school and were seeking. They share that LCBC was VERY different than the Catholic church! So they were a bit in shock I think. They have two kids, a boy age 12 and a girl age 10. He asked if those kids and a few others wanted to join mine in the other room. I checked on them once and found that kitkat and the other girl were chatting away. How awesome!
Meanwhile, I was still waiting for Matt. To arrive, afraid he was going to miss all of it... He arrived just after the person testimonies were done, but just before they began to share the vision on the church! Ended up being perfect timing! It was the part that spoke to him the most. Their moto of how they want to run their church, reminded me very much of Matt's moto for running his business! Very much "excellence in everything" and "stay relevant" & preach God's word... I was very excited to think about becoming involved.
Afterwords, I approached the pastor and asked if I could have the words to one line (fill in the blanks... And I had missed one line... OCD side of me needed it filled in!) Matt came over then and was introduced since he had missed that at the beginning. I explained that he had been home with one of our boys who wasn't well and he asked their ages... After telling him, he shared that he and his wife have boys of similar age and wondered if we would like to join a life group that he will be heading up in January! My heart nearly jumped! I had specifically been praying that God would help us find the right group to get connected with to meet people. And I was so glad that Matt was there when he asked, because it is so much more awkward to have to try to explain it later and not feel like you are talking them into something. So hopefully in January we will start attending that! 😀
As we walked out, the Catholic couple walked out at the same time, and the lady snagged me and said we would probably see then next week... That her kids were already begging to come back. What a praise. Kitkat was so excited too... She had met two different girls and was very excited to continue getting to know them. My heart was happy! ❤
If we had gone "according to plan" KitKat and Cede would not have been there, I may not have had that unique opportunity to introduce Matt at the end and get invited to the life group... Who knows... But I definitely felt as this God was telling me "chill! I got this".
Happy to report that Van has shown no more signs of sickness. He ate and drank and played the rest of the day!
Thank you God.
