Little Miracles

I’m joining some Blended Blog buddies today as we share little miracles in our lives, similar to Monday Moments of Gratitude I used to do. In other words, pausing to focus on things we are thankful for. Here’s what I’ve been thankful for the past few weeks.

My Little Miracles

Easter

In years past, we would spend Easter with both sides of the family, no matter who hosted. This year things are very different. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law no longer live in the same city as we do so we had to decide: my family or Michael’s? I’m so grateful that for YEARS that had not been the case but alas, the time has come.

Change is always hard, isn’t it? Michael’s mom has moved back “home” to Ocala where Michael grew up (but not her home. She’s originally from Chicago.)  She bought a beautiful house and restored it almost completely. I helped her move back in February and Michael had stopped by to visit once, returning from a work trip, but the kids had not been.

It was a gorgeous day to celebrate resurrection day. I missed not being with our church family but thanks to a friend who lives in the area, we attended his church and listened to a lovely message! Just what we needed to hear! (Thanks Bartow!)

Graduation

I was also grateful that our friends’ son and his girlfriend were able to join us. We have known Monica and Eduardo since college when we picked them up from the airport to deliver them to their hotel. They were Brazilian Ph.D. students who quickly became our great friends. Their children, Daniel and Gabi, were born in the US but the family eventually moved back to San Paolo. Then when it was time for Daniel to go to college, he came to Jacksonville to attend Jacksonville University and then later transferred to the University of Florida as part of a dual diploma program.

Over the years he has been in school he has celebrated several Thanksgivings and Easters with us as well as my father-in-law’s funeral. We were thrilled to be his “second” family in the US while his family lived so far away. I clearly remember what that was like since my parents lived in Italy while I attended the University of Florida and I had to celebrate Thanksgivings and Easters at surrogate families’ homes.

Well, the time has come for Daniel to graduate AND be commissioned in the United States Navy. He gave us an invitation to his commissioning service which is in a few weeks and we are thrilled to be able to attend with the rest of his family! We love this boy like another son and his family like family. (And we loved his girlfriend whom we gotten to meet for the first time! She’s just lovely!)

Prom

A few weeks ago was my daughter’s junior prom. Remember when I said some change is hard? How can it be that it’s already my baby’s prom? Time is speeding by! We had a fun day of prepping and pampering: nails on Thursday, breakfast at our house Friday morning, hair at the salon followed by makeup at our house, then “the donning of the dress” at a friend’s house, followed by pictures at Memorial Park.

On the way to the park to meet the photographer, we were running late. Annie was driving three couples in the Flex and we were meeting them down there in the Odyssey. Our GPS directed us one way but Annie’s GPS had her going a different way. When we arrived at the park, Annie called in a panic: she had just hit a guy, they were pulled over and the police had been called! OH NO! Although it was not fun for my daughter to be involved in a car accident, it could have been so much worse.

#1: I was thankful no one was hurt.

#2: There was very little damage done to both cars. Scratches on the bumpers. Granted, the car she hit was a new BMW but the bumper wasn’t even dented. PHEW!

#3: My brother is a police officer. You know I called him right away. He called a buddy and what could have taken hours took 20 minutes. The officer that showed up? Yeah. He used to be a youth group kid! Thank you Officer Winfree!

#4: She and her date were able to make it to pictures and to prom. Despite being shook up and not wanting to drive she had a good time at prom and she’s back in the (driving) saddle again.

I tell ya! So much to be thankful for! Be sure you check out Deena, Leslie, and Shaunacey’s Little Miracles posts too! And if you have a similar post, you can join the link up on the Blended Blog! (Here’s the schedule if you want to join in the future too!)