Out of Nowhere

Not often am I surprised by something. I almost always know when my husband has something up his sleeves and I can usually guess what he's bought me for gifts. Maybe he is just bad at keeping secrets but he did pull off a pretty good surprise when he proposed. I'm still in shock that he and my friends were able to pull that off. But other than that, I can't think of the last time I was really surprised by something. Until yesterday.

You already heard how I threw a little fit because I had missed the deadline for the CKC Matchy Matchy Easter contest. We won't rehash that. So you can imagine how surprised I was to get a message from Robin Hill of Create Kids Couture telling me that I had won the contest. I was a little confused and thought that maybe my lack of sleep was causing me to hallucinate. Did I really win? Did I deserve to win? Had I been wrong about the deadline the whole time? Where had I seen that anyway?

I was truly surprised and knock-my-socks-off, pee-in-my-pants happy. It's not about the prize, although I'm looking forward to 12 new patterns from the Pattern of the Month Club. And while, at first, I thought it was about recognition and validation for this crazy, unexpected path my life has taken, it's not even about that. It's that when I was giving up and at a very low point I heard God whisper, "Don't you remember that I have a plan and a purpose for you? Don't you remember that I long to bless you and give your the desires of your heart?" Yes, yes. I know these things. Time after time God reaffirms his promises to me - I just need to get them through my thick head.

(UPDATE: I had, in fact, been correct in my original thinking that I had missed the deadline but Robin and the others at Create Kids Couture realized it the next day and announced an additional winner to make it fair).