Not to interrupt, but a break in the story is needed.....

I know you're asking the question, "Why is Bethany posting a picture of a wreath and interrupting the flow of her 3-part story?"

Well, something really cool happened today and I thought I'd share it...and add to the suspense of the Philippine story! :)

See this red wreath? Well, I got it two years ago from Zellers and though it was cheap, it gave me that "it's-time-for-Christmas" feel.....Tim LOVES it when I hang it up in October! NOT!!!! :) But I really love the warm welcoming feeling it brings to our white, somewhat plain front door!

Anyways, I put it up at the beginning of October, well, that's not actually true....it might've been late September.....I really love Christmas. But VERY shortly after I put it up, it disappeared....stolen by neighborhood hoodlums thinking they were cool, showing off to their hoodlum friends. Ya know the type. Poo-poo-heads!

So I sent Tim and the boys we had that weekend on a scavenger hunt to see where my wreath got dumped.....they came back with a few beat up berries and a swag of berries and leaves...clearly from my beloved wreath. I was quite upset. I was hurt that someone(s) would just take a thing of beauty and destroy it for no reason....my hope was that at the very least, they would've given the wreath to their mom or something......I gave up hope that my wreath would ever return.

So I stuck the old green ivy wreath from Easter up onto the door and figured I'd buy a new wreath closer to Christmas.

Weeks passed and Friday, Tim took me to Mandeville Garden Center to take a look at their Christmas wreaths...I had a COUPON!!!!! But they were all too expensive...even with the coupon....I thought that maybe I needed to "work on" the ivy wreath at home and see if I could make it look "Christmas-y". We got a cheap wreath-like thing from Zellers, just in case and went home.

Today, Sunday, I took our three boys to the park for some soccer and on the way home ya know what I saw?? Yes....my red, berry tattered wreath hidden in a bush 8 houses down the street from ours! It had definitely been there since September....pill bugs crawled out of it as I picked it up...I shook it a bit.....leaves and mud slid off of it and I was overjoyed....I nearly cried! The boys were pretty excited, too! "MY WREATH!" I exclaimed excitedly. And despite it's poor state, I was able to clean it off and it now looks close to new! YEAH GOD! I am soooo thankful! God takes concern in the small things, ya know!?

What struck me, though, was that in September the leaves on the bushes were full and you couldn't see through the bush. So when the hoodlums took it and threw it there, they didn't take into account that when fall came and the leaves fell, that the wreath would be exposed and found! Without the bareness of the bush, I would've never found it! I had passed that same bush numerous times before and it had been there all along. Wow.

It's symbolic of the journey we've been on....things thought to be stolen from us for good only to be found through God's timing and provision. What satan meant for bad, God turned around for His pleasure and mine, too! He gets all the glory and I have a freshly decorated front door for Christmas! Anything been stolen from you? Pray this over yourself and your fam!.........

Zechariah 10:6

"I will strengthen the house of Judah (or Tim and Bethany...'cuz He has!!) and save the house of Joseph (and Tim and Bethany, 'cuz He has!!) . I will restore them (and the things stolen from them: Psalm 14) because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them (and He has, time and time again...He is sooo faithful!)."

Be blessed and part 3 is coming soon!