Just this weekend, I was pondering that I haven't posted anything about tender mercies lately. Have they not been around, or have I just not noticed them? (I know, it's a silly question, really.)
And then Sunday rolled around. After a rough night with the Temper Tantrum Queen (a.k.a. Sariah), Bob took the kids to church, and I caught up my sleep. When he returned, we ate a quick lunch, and then I took the kids down to Blanchard for the baptism of a friend's daughter while Bob took a nap.
It was a sweet experience for me. The baptism itself was exceptional, with lots of spirit and goodness.
But the real tender mercy of the whole thing came from another source. Bob grew up here in Oklahoma, and as a member of our church. There are so many people who have known him since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, as they say, in and out of the church. We ran into quite a few of those people yesterday in Blanchard. The sweet thing is that they clearly have a lot of affection for Bob, and extend it openly and willingly to me--as well as our children--with kindness and lots of heart.
I know many people from way back when I was little, most of them family, with occasional friends thrown in here and there. But I don't regularly associate, face to face or voice to voice, with anyone who has known me "since the beginning" (excepting my parents and brother, of course).* I'm sure Bob wishes his old friends wouldn't recall how he wore his ties when he was 12, or recount to our children what sorts of things he blew up as a youth, but there is something so comforting to me in knowing these good, good people who have influenced his life for better (or worse), and who still care so deeply about him and his life, and by extension, me and our beautiful little family.
Truly, it was the best way for Heavenly Father to remind me of His love for us.
* And let's not forget that part of the reason Facebook is so addicting is that it does allow you to reconnect with all the distant corners of your memories. It may not be face to face or voice to voice, but I so enjoy talking with old friends via Facebook.
"Like!" Also, even though none of these people knew me from way back when (except for one who was a Camp Fire leader with my mom), they make me feel like family too. That's why I'm glad we wound up in Blanchard, even though it took me awhile to realize it.
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