Day 234: A Father's Love

I went upstairs today after helping Kayli with violin practice and saw that there was a message on the phone. I played it and discovered that the missionaries in our area were somehow under the impression that they were having dinner with us tonight.

What?!

Then I had a little flashback to several weeks prior when HH leaned over at church and told me he'd signed us up to have them over for dinner on September 21st. Three days after we get back from our trip?, I questioned. Awesome.

Fast forward to today. 4:30 PM today, to be precise. I went into a panic, called HH, and stressed out. Then I called the missionaries back and told them, "Sure, no problem!" And then resumed stressing.

But as I prepared dinner, I realized just how much I had been watched over by a loving Heavenly Father as I went about what I thought was a normal day. First off, HH helped me come up with a two-week menu yesterday and I stocked up on groceries last night. And then I ran to another store this morning to pick up a few great deals. Including ice cream, strawberries, green beans, soda, and tomatoes--all of which were used in our meal tonight.

And last night as Family Home Evening was winding down, I realized I'd forgotten to make treats. We almost decided to just go with popsicles, but then somehow decided to make brownies instead. So, we still had half of a pan to serve with the ice cream tonight.

And this afternoon I decided to go ahead and make the pizza dough and let it just sit until it was time to make the pizzas. I almost never prepare dinner ahead of time, so this was truly an inspired act.

But it was only enough dough for two pizza and three missionaries were coming. I ordered a pizza from Papa John's because on Tuesdays you can get a 1-topping large for only $7. So, tonight we had a pepperoni pizza from PJ's, a supreme pizza made by yours truly, and a dairy-soy-free pesto pizza also made by yours truly. For sides we had steamed green beans with olive oil, pepitos, and seasonings and sliced strawberries and bananas. We had soda to drink and brownies and ice cream for dessert (including a new dairy/soy free coconut ice cream I found today--yummy!).

As I was preparing everything and realizing how many ways I had been helped out today, I couldn't help but feel my Heavenly Father's love surrounding me like a comforting hug. And as I was appreciating His assistance, I realized that this is just the way my earthly father would help me as well. As I was preparing to host our family reunion this summer (and all throughout it), he was telling me to not stress and how great things would be and how proud he was of my ability to take care of things. And it was really neat feeling the love of both of my fathers during this somewhat crazy afternoon.

And that was my Joyful Moment.

Wishing you all Joyful Moments in being reminded that Somebody loves you!