Surprises

Pleasant Surprise: Last weekend I traveled to Western Washington for work. It was a great trip- I got to see my parents and grandma, two of my siblings and my sister-in-law, and all 7 of our nieces and nephews. (They are the COOLEST kids. All of them are on track to be much smarter and taller than me). Both of the fairs I attended for work were great, too- it was my first time at the Latino Youth Summit and the College Bound Conference, and I met a lot of amazing students at each event. Plus I got to hang out with some awesome alumni at the Latino Youth Summit. I had to work straight over the weekend, but overall it was a win! I ordinarily travel out-of-state and fly when I travel for work, so driving and getting a mileage reimbursement were new. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, after the mileage reimbursement, there were some extra funds left over in our budget this month.

Unpleasant Surprise: This morning we had to take Sasquatch to the vet because she was limping so badly she could barely walk. We think she sprained her foot last night playing with our friend's dog in our apartment, though she never yelped or did anything but limp around and twitch her little paw. It was much worse this morning, though, so we took her in. It took up the whole morning, and the visit (including x-rays) cost several hundred dollars. The good news is that she doesn't have any broken bones, so she just needs to be bandaged up for a few days and won't need a cast. But, in the words of Travis, it was a lot of money to pay for peace of mind.

It's exhausting hopping around on three legs!

And then I realized something. If Sassy had been hurt first, and then I would have gone to Tacoma and found out I was earning some extra money this month, I would have immediately realized that God was providing us with exactly what we needed. Because it happened the other way around, though, we had already become attached to that small amount of extra money and decided it was ours. But in reality, it's still God's money. I received a gift and assumed it was just a "random blessing," but it actually had a purpose. Our God is not a random God.