The Lord sends the neatest encouragements!   The children and I have been working nearly non-stop on cleaning and packing to get this house ready to sell.   Today, it became evident that the Rug Doctor rental machine thing was great for exercise, but just wasn't giving the results we'd hoped for, so I reluctantly began calling professional carpet cleaners....one more thing to spend money on, i kept thinking.

Finally, there was a company willing to come out today - he kindly squeezed us into his busy day.   At the end of the cleaning (my, the carpets look great!) came the usual  "Do you accept a check?" etc. conversation.   However, to my astonishment, he handed me a business card and said,  "I also own a restaurant here in town.  What I want you to do is this:  take the children and go have a nice dinner at my restaurant, and we'll call it even for the carpets."

What was that again?

I must have looked dumbfounded, because he added, "I just think you all could use a break, and, well, I'm not going to miss any meals by not charging you for the carpets.  You just take the kids, and have a nice evening."  I thanked him through my tears..... and remained astonished.

What he didn't  know, is that he was an answer to prayer.  You see, this morning my eldest son and I were talking about things being tight financially, and i said, "John, it's all God's - we just need to ask Him how He wants His money spent, and trust that He'll take care of things."  We stopped together and prayed about finances.  Obeying what He has put before us (getting this house ready to sell) included the carpet cleaning.  We never would have thought in 100 years of this blessing!!  It strengthened my son's faith; what a precious gift.

So, we are all excited about our family date night -- especially fun after all the work the children have done.  This afternoon, we had another fun memory:  polishing the floors with our feet!  I cleaned the floors by hand (thanks, Geanine, for the wonderful homemade polish recipe!), and then the children helped me buff them out!

Sibling Skiing was next...!!

What a great day! :)  I love being a mom....

About the lady who called...

Well, there was a lady who had called on the house, then she and her young son were feeling a bit under the weather.  She was to call yesterday and hasn't.  Hmmm.  Perhaps the Lord used her to motivate us to get everything done?!  :)   We'll see.  It is sooo comforting to know EVERYthing is in His hands, and we can, well, go have a wonderful dinner together and celebrate His faithfulness!

Blessings,,

kim