What present did you get for CHRISTmas that you oh so love?
Sisters, I wanted to share with you my favorite Christmas gift. A gift so awesome, God is just continuously blessing me days after Christmas. So awesome, that I had to literally stop in the middle of the Target parking lot and sit in my car just so I can write this email!
For a while now Jaden have been looking for a bike. It had to be green his absolute favorite color or blue his second favorite. Plus, it couldn't say anything "uncool" or have any "uncool" pictures on it.
Mid November, we went to Nellis AFB with Jaden's Gram for lunch. It was there that he saw his dream bike!
The bike was green. It had a stealth airplane picture on it and the word "stealth"....COOL! Plus, it had camo colors (which reminded him of his good ole mom). That was IT! His dream bike!
Jaden even saw a shark helmet! (If you know my son you know he absolutely LOVES sharks. He is famous for his shark sunglasses which never leaves his head). The helmet was the color gray and a bit tight but it was a shark. So, to him it was cool!
I told Jaden maybe we should keep looking on the helmet because it was a bit snug & he doesn't really like the color. (I felt there was something else better.) But Jaden insisted he liked the color now and said it fits him just fine. He wanted the helmet & bike!
Anyway, both were going on sale the day after Thanksgiving. So all of us, including Jaden, were all going to wake up extra early to buy the bike & the helmet for him as an early Christmas present.
Side bar note: Jaden's father absolutely HATES the thought of standing in line, in the cold, for ANYTHING just to save a couple of bucks. This would be our very first "Black Friday" shopping experience...Every one of us...EVER!
That night Jaden slept on his warm "going- out & ready to tackle the long lines of Black Friday clothes" to buy his bike & helmet.
So the day after Thanksgiving, Jaden, his dad & Gram drove to the base early but by the time they got there it was too late! They were all gone!
Jaden was disappointed but tried his best to be grateful for his old bike which was WAY too small for his growing body. He really was a champ. Better than I would be at eight!
Every chance we got we continued to look for a bike. We continued to look all the way up till Christmas. We drove to all the Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us in the greater Las Vegas & Henderson area. But none of them would do. He truly fell in love with that green camo bike & shark helmet.
During one of our shopping trips at Target we found another shark helmet. It was different than the helmet we saw in the base. The helmet was the color blue, had shark teeth and it even had the famous "Jaw's fin" sticking up like a mawhawk. It really was a hoot! Too funny! He absolutely loved it! His eyes were just big with excitement. LOL!
But then sadness hit my 8 year-old yet again when he saw the sizes they came in. They only had size age 3+ and age 5+. The age 3+ was too small and the age 5+ was too tight!
He even took off all the safety padding inside & kept insisting it's was ok to wear without the pads. Eventually, the realization hit him. It just didn't fit.
Now he was really disappointed. First the bike...Now THIS!
What Jaden didn't know was that his father woke up extra early, while he was still asleep, that November day and bought the bike without him to surprise him for Christmas. It was stored in his grandparent's shed the entire time! And his mom kept taking him bike shopping to make the reveal of surprise even greater :)
And the blue shark helmet? Well, they actually came in his exact size (age 8+) but only on-line. His mother already knew this info before we "accidentally" saw it in Target. The helmet had actually been stored in his mother's closet for weeks now. The shopping trip to the helmet section of Target was intended just to prepare him for the great reveal!
Ladies, why am I telling you this story? Because isn't our God just like this? Doesn't He have a plan that He already set up in motion behind the scenes waiting for the right time to reveal?
Don't we as His children often insist on contorting our bodies into something that doesn't fit. Insisting that this " ____" fits & will try but nothing to let it fit when we know there is a God that knows our exact size & measurement? A God who knows there is something else better for us (in our favorite color) far more than we ever expected!
We often forget that our God loves us SO much that His greatest joy is...To enter our joy!
Just as my absolute favorite Christmas gift was literally seeing my son ride his brand new green bike with his blue shark helmet...Jaden's joy was "MY" joy!
Oh what an awesome wonderful God we have! Just thought I'd share that with you ladies & hope this blesses you too!
"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him." - Matthew 7:11 (NIV)
... Shay Benitez is a dear friend, sister in Christ and amazing woman of God. She is the wife of Matthew and mom to their beautifully blessed son Jaden.
Shay also serves as part of the Well Watered Woman Prayer Team.
2 comments:
This is such a wonderful story! Yes, God does, indeed, set the time and place for everything in our lives - even when we don't see or understand. . .
I hope you'll stop by my blog from time to time and to learn about an adventure I've begun on.
"My Christmas counter indicates there are only 361 days until Christmas 2012! This countdown concept creates a sense of urgency for me--urgency to do something more, be something more, think and pray more. Because, after all, there are only 361 more days remaining of my plan to "live Christmas every day."
Mary I actually JUST read your post on a year of Christmas living. I LOVE it and it caused me to tear up. I pray it is contagious and God uses you and your blog to start a movement to share the Gift of all gifts.
Blessings,
TonyR
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