God Thing

Ever have one of those things that happens to you, and all of the explanation you can give is it was just a "God thing?" Within the past week my family and I have experienced a few of these. I feel like these moments happen whenever we are least expecting them.  When we have our hearts open, and God decides to really blow our minds. I don't know about you, but I love those moments, and I want to share one of the recent ones with you!

Each year my family and I take a vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains.  It's one of my favorite places on earth.  Being there is such a sweet reminder of my loving Savior.  The way the mountains are formed.  The serene sound of the creek flowing. I just love it. Almost every visit we stay at the same hotel. This particular hotel offers special deals with one of the pancake houses in the Smokies.  I absolutely love pancake houses! I can even make myself get up a little extra early just to go :) Last year, we went enough times that we become familiar with one of the waitresses in there.  She was our server almost every time, and even though she saw many people come in and out, she began to recognize us too. However, we never really got to know her well, and had somewhat forgot about our encounters with this young lady until we walked back into that same pancake house last Monday! We immediately recognized her, and even got to sit in her section.  We told her that we remembered her from last year, and although she didn't exactly remember us she was very pleased to have been remembered.  From one Monday to the next Monday we become very close to Crystal. She told us bits of her story, and how life was growing up in the Smokies. Before the week was over she knew to bring me a coffee, water, and those delicious chocolate chip pancakes. Every since I was a small child I have been very intrigued by people who grow up there, and have always thought it would be the coolest to have a friend from there.  We were only fortunate enough to get to talk to Crystal on a few mornings for only brief amounts of time.  I am very thankful the Lord brought her into our lives, and allowed us to get to know her.  I hope and pray our friendship with her will continue to grow although we are back home. 

As you all know, I absolutely love telling stories from the Philippines. The majority of my blog is filled with things about the Philippines, and I love it that way.  However, while I am back in the states I want to share with you all things going on in my life here.  I want to tell you about all of the things the Lord continues to do in my life, but I'm not willing to stop sharing the Philippines with you....so here's what I'm going to do.  Once a week I want to share with you a story and pictures from one of the trips in the past four years.  I think it will be fun to bring back some of those wonderful memories to share with you. I look forward to sharing more and more with you in the future. Much love!