Good Timing

Our Van has filled the measure of its creation.
On April 20th, I shuttled 13 young men and women and one other mom to Ogden for the final Speech and Debate tournament of the year.
I had a wonderful visit with a wonderful friend all the way there.  She is a good listener, though I wish she would talk more because I sense she is a well of wisdom.
It was a privilege to get to be a judge for parts of the tournament.
I could have lived without judging impromptu as I'm not a huge fan of arguing.
But it was incredible to judge oratory. 
What amazing young people and what incredible things they chose to speak about!
It was true excellence. 
Some of these youth have only been in the class for a year and they are truly amazing!
It was a long day, however, and my head was throbbing when we left the event.
The van was slightly noisy...quieted only momentarily by ice cream cones on the way home.
We left at 6:30am and got home after 8:00pm
Quite a remarkable day!  I'm so thankful that Sullivan was happy at home with Dad and the other kids.
The timing all worked out as he mostly nurses every hour or two at night.

We had some other notable experiences that witnessed to us that God is in the details and His timing is just right:

The following Monday, I knew I needed to get groceries as it hadn't happened on Saturday like usual.  Nathan had an afternoon orthodontist appointment as well as a game.  When a neighbor stopped by with a nametag one of our cats had lost in her yard, it seemed right to stay out and visit with her for awhile.  My visiting teacher stopped by unexpectedly and we had another visit. By then the shopping trip was looking impossible.  But it was my only day to do it.  I had about an hour to drive to the store, drive home, unload groceries, and pick up Nathan.  The girls helped me go quickly at the store.  Ruby came in the house with me to make sure the perishables made it into the fridge.  The rest was dropped on the floor to be put away later.  We hurried back down to the school to pick up Nathan.  How surprised I was to see that we were headed into Spanish  Fork with just enough time to get him to his appointment!  I hadn't had time to think about what the rest of us would do for that hour and a half.  I decided to call a friend from our old ward and she just happened to have some free time for us to visit.  The kids were thrilled to spend time with old friends, and I loved the chance to catch up.  We met Dallin at the orthodontist and drove up to Highland for Nathan's game.  We dropped him off, tried to find a geocache, and headed to Grandma Millington's for dinner.  Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us with pizza and veggies, ice cream and cookies, and the usual fun in their basement and  yard.  Linda and I had a great visit while we crocheted little animals.  Kent and Dallin and Brandon went to the game.  We were so glad as we drove into town late that night that the grocery shopping was done!  We felt like the day went so well, and we were full of gratitude that a potentially hectic and stressful day was smooth and calm.

I found out a couple of days later that the pageant Daisy had been asked to participate in was a month earlier than I thought...and I only had a couple of days to come up with a dress.  I had really looked forward to making her something fancy, along the lines of Ruby's baptism dress.  Daisy's dress was purchased from the store on a great sale, and though very lovely, was not as fancy.  The mother of the neighbor who asked us to participate said she had some fabric I could look at.  I knew I only had 2 days, so I decided to give it a shot.  The fabric I found was some lavender curtains that were sheer.  Daisy has always loved purple, so I decided to go home and see what I could figure out.  The idea of putting together a whole dress was still pretty daunting.  As I looked at her baptism dress and Ruby's and some other dresses and the patterns, I got a great idea!  Instead of making a whole new dress, I made a pullover skirt for her baptism dress.  I made it in the style of Ruby's baptism dress.  The ideas flowed, and I hardly had to re-do or take out any stitches.  It was miraculous.  I had just enough white satin roses in my stash to accessorize it.  I made a purple flower to pin on the bodice to tie the dress and the new over-skirt together.  It was lovely, and finished in time to show it to the neighbors the night before the pageant.  In the middle of this project, I was asked by Brandon's Shakespeare teacher to help with some costumes.  She came over for a couple of hours and we had another similar session of inspiration and things working out just right.  We designed and finished Puck's costume and worked on several others.  Brandon's authentic peasant shirt, doublet, and fake boots were ready just in time for his dress rehearsal, and he looked awesome! 
It was tempting to be frustrated by having all of this to do with such short deadlines, but I soon realized that it is such a gift and a joy to be creative and helpful.  I do love to sew!

It was fun to get Daisy all dolled up and have a girls' night at the pageant.  We weren't super-impressed with the pageant, but it was fun to have Daisy escort Morgan on the stage.  We were impressed with Morgan and glad she gave Daisy the neat opportunity to appear in the pageant as her "Little Miss". 

Brandon's Shakespeare play was really fantastic!  He did a great job and the whole thing was just as fun and silly as A Midsummer Night's Dream should be. 

I am so grateful to have had all of these great things work out with such great timing!  So grateful for each little miracle!  We are in Good Hands, for sure.

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