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Stuck in Saturday 2016

3/25/2016

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No one talks about Saturday.

Plenty has been said about Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified. A day of anguish and accusations, darkness and defeat. Friday was the worst, darkest day in the disciples’ lives. All of their hopes were dashed, nailed to a cross, buried in a tomb.

And Easter Sunday – we know a lot about that. Jesus alive! The grave empty! A day of joy, hope, and miracles!

But no one talks about Saturday.

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For the rest of my annual Easter Saturday post, go to this page on my blog: http://thissideofheaven.weebly.com/home/stuck-in-saturday2

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More than I could ask or imagine

3/12/2016

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Ever have one of those days that starts out one way and ends up like you never imagined? Today was one of those days for me...

I have been selling Lilla Rose products for about eight months now, and I love it. I do online sales, home parties, and bigger shows and sales. I especially love doing shows because I get to interact with customers and play with hair styles and talk with other vendors.

Today was one of those shows, and my eight-year-old daughter came along with me to keep me company and to help. I pay her $1 an hour to be my helper and about an hour after lunch she realized that she had finally earned enough to buy something. She found me where I was chatting with some other vendors and asked for her wages. "What are you going to get?" I asked her as I pressed the dollar bills into her hand. "I can't tell you because it is for you!" she insisted and bounded off.

Of course, the other vendors thought it was so sweet. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her at the table for Origami Owl and wondered what she could possibly afford there. Within a minute, she was back, bursting with pride as she handed me a tiny envelope with her treasure in it.

I opened it and burst into tears. It was a tiny charm from Origami Owl, meant for a locket that I didn't have, but it was all she could afford. The design on it was two tiny pink baby footprints.

Wednesday, March 9, was the seventh anniversary of the death of our second daughter, Naomi, who died in my second trimester. Our Sunshine Girl was only a year old at the time, but she knows all about her sister and the four babies we lost after her, and she knows that this week has been hard for me. Her sweet awareness and love just undid me, and I held her and kissed her blond head and sobbed.

The vendors with us could tell that this was more than just a sweet gift to a mom, so when I could speak, I explained a little of our story, and then they started crying, too. We finally went back to our table, my daughter begging me for some more money so she could get me a locket, and me trying to explain that it wasn't in our budget.

A few minutes later, the ladies who we had been talking with showed up at my table. With secretive smiles, they handed me a small package.

Inside was a locket.

These sweet ladies, moved by my daughter's generous heart, had decided to put their own money together to get me a locket to hold the charm my daughter had gotten me, and the Origami Owl vendor added another charm on her own for my oldest daughter's birthstone.

I told you that I love shows, but they are also stressful, because I want to sell enough for it to be worthwhile, in terms of the cost to be there and the time away from home. This one had actually been a bit slow, leading me to stress about making enough to cover my costs, and to wonder if it had been a good choice for this weekend.

But in the end, I was the one blessed by strangers (now friends!) who didn't even know my name, and by my daughter who is wise and sensitive beyond her years, and by God who over and over again graciously gives me more than I could ask or imagine.

I could have had a thousand dollar show and not have been richer than I feel right now.

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Stuck in Saturday 2016

More than I could ask or imagine

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