I have had some blood pressure issues come up over the last week and after lots of testing and lots of Dr. visit, my Dr. has decided it is best for both Harper and I if we go ahead with my c-section tomorrow.....TOMORROW!!! I have so many emotions right now, I can not even think clearly to describe how I am feeling at this point. Maybe the best word to sum up my feelings right now is ready. I am so ready to meet her. So ready to make this amazing addition to our family. So ready to come home and just be a family of four.
Matt decided to take me out on a date last night. He wanted to spoil me before we made our big transition into life with two. All day we talked about getting a delicious steak at a nice restaurant in town. We don't splurge on dates a lot, but he felt this was an appropriate occasion and I could not have agreed more. After dropping off Harrison, we made our way over to Stoney River. When we walked in, it was pure madness. The hostess politely told me it would be an hour and a half wait. We put our name in knowing they always exaggerate the wait.....well not this time. We waited an entire hour and forty minutes. Normally we would have gone somewhere else, but we both had our hearts set by this point. We started looking for a seat while we waited. A sweet couple offered their seats to us as they could tell I was ready to go into labor at any minute. It was hard for me to accept seats from someone older than us, it felt wrong to me, but they would not take no for an answer. We had some small talk with this sweet couple about Harper and Harrison and then they were called to their table. As Matt and I sat there for another hour, we held hands, laughed, and enjoyed some people watching. It was a date all in itself. Perfect. Finally, we were called to our table. We were so hungry we ordered our food before we ordered our drinks, but with one look at my belly, the server did not question us :) We sat and enjoyed one of the best dates I have had in a long time. Our eyes were bigger than our tummies and we definitely splurged (but we will have a pretty awesome lunch today!). After finishing our dessert (yes, we were totally living it up and being fatties) we asked for our check. Our server politely told us there was a note on our check. The note read "God Bless Your Family" and I noticed the dessert had been taken off. I smiled at our server and told him how much I appreciated it. He said, "It wasn't me. It was the couple over there (he pointed to the sweet couple that gave us their seats)." I told Matt the dessert was taken care of and the server interrupted me. "No, they took care of your entire bill!" I was shocked. Tears (yes, cue the water works) started to fill my eyes. The server explained that he was not supposed to tell us, but he was as shocked as we were that perfect strangers would pay for our dinner. We quickly made our way over to thank them. They were there celebrating their 17th wedding anniversary and with sweet smiles, told us how happy they were for us and that God was really blessing our family. I thanked and thanked them, but had to walk away before my tears flooded their table.
As Matt and I drove home, all we talked about was the love of this couple. They did not know us, and sacrificing their seats was more than enough of a thoughtful gesture to this huge momma. But no. They went out of their way to show amazing kindness, generosity, and love to us. I don't know their names, and I will never be able to tell them how much that meant to us. Matt and I talked last night about how those two acts of kindness changed our night. We were immediately challenged to not only look for ways we could randomly love a stranger, but we also talked about how we were going to intentionally raise our children to be loving, giving, and helpful people.
As our family actively looks for ways to show God's love to strangers, I challenge you all to do a little searching as well. We can share our stories together! Think of how these small changes could affect the life of a stranger. Who knows, maybe...just maybe someone will even be able to see the love of Christ through these random acts of kindness.
