December 9

A local shopping center hosts Santa and a horse-drawn carriage this time of year, so we had our annual ride and chat with the Big Guy himself after lunch today. It was pretty much the highlight of a day that was mostly a downer for me, so I'm going with the good over the not-as-good for my memory here. (It's not a particularly flattering image of me, but at least I now know I shouldn't pair those pants with that sweater and jacket again. That's a win.)

With that said, I think I failed a lot today. It's not so much that I woke up in a bad mood; I'm just sensitive to Adam's moods, and he seemed overly quiet this morning and I didn't know why, so over time, I wound up feeling frustrated. I'm not saying that it was his fault at all because my reaction to someone else is entirely up to me, and I let myself get mad over a succession of really silly and trivial things. I'm not proud of it, but I'm human and it's why I need Jesus.

Frustrations aside, I did see God moving more than once in my personal mess. There was the sweet moment pictured above with my family. There was the amazing song I heard on the radio as I took my second consecutive trip to the same shopping center in the next town over that I wouldn't have heard at all had I not forgotten my purse and had to drive back home to get it. There were the two friends I ran into at Target during that very same trip --who, again, I would've missed out on seeing had I not had to duplicate my trip-- who commiserated with my forgetfulness and the busyness of being a mom. There was the moment when I took a wrong turn in a store and came face to face with something I remembered Abby wanted for Christmas -- and it was on clearance.

So yeah. Not a great day for me mood or attitude-wise at all, but God orchestrated some moments of greatness for me anyway. The hymn is spot-on: grace is indeed amazing.