The gift of surprise service and the overflow the follows
My last two weekends have been VERY FULL! So full that I have not had the time to just clean house and do the normal things I do on the weekend. Two weeks was ok to skip the cleaning but by this last week my house was in need of serious lovin. Now most of the house is always straight but the kitchen and my bathroom always need special attention.
Yesterday.......my kitchen was very VERY BAD. I mean dirty dishes stacked up on the counter and in the sink. I was so ashamed but I knew I had all day to clean up and get the house under control and I would no longer feel overwhelmed...........
Well, at 9:30 my door bell rang.......i was still in bed ha.....then the door was pounded on.....so I threw my robe on and head for the door.
And there she was................
my amazing, fantastic, and wonderful Mother! I stood there in complete shock as I rubbed my eyes to see if it was really her.....................she was standing there with her cute apron on from Miss Judy and Chickfila breakfast in her hand. She said..."I'm ready to clean!" Glory!!!!!!
......then I remembered what my kitchen counters looked like.....oh I would HAVE NEVER ,EVER, EVER let anyone ever see my dirty dishes everywhere and especially NOT MY MOTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I quickly apologized to what she was about to see........and you know what.......she didn't even care. When she was praying, over our breakfast, I just began to cry. It is not too often that I
a. get surprised with someone at my door
or
b. have someone show up to help me.
I just cried. I could hardly believe that she had driven over an hour that morning in order to help me clean!
WHO DOES THAT????????????
MY MOM DOES!!!!
and for someone that is not on the receiving end of a lot of acts of service......I was beyond grateful and beyond relieved....and completely shocked! What joy it was to have a helper and to have a day where the cleaning responsibility was shared! Oh I just love her so much!
Here is the Cleaning Queen herself.......look at that clean kitchen!
the woman even cleaned my microwave....which sadly looked like chili had exploded in it! Not kidding...just being transparent with you haha! ...but now it looks brand new!
She even brought her AMAZING vacuum cleaner.....i have a terrible one....and I was able to really get all my tile cleaned and the baseboards! By lunch time the house was done. Later, when she had already gone home, I noticed that my precious mom did not leave a single thing in the dishwasher or washer and dryer.........fresh start for the week........I mean seriously........she is amazing!
I kept thinking that this would have all gotten done if she had not come...it was my mess to clean....but I would have missed out on being blessed by someone's selfless action that meant more to me than words can ever describe!
Because Mom had helped me........ the cleaning time was cut in half and we were able to then spend the afternoon around my precious Waxahachie town!
First stop........the delicious Catfish Plantation.....
the weather was perfect so we ate out on porch......
The Catfish Plantation goes ALL out for Halloween so here are a few of the things we could see from our table......
We ate cajun catfish, YUM, and then shared a bowl of Pecan Cobbler. While we were eating a woman behind us asked us if the cobbler was good.......we started talking to her and then a woman, at the same table, asked me if my name was Caroline....I turned to look at her and said "Yes". Well her name is Stephanie and she is from Plano and she reads my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was soooooooo excited to meet her......here she is with her cute twin girls.....
and a photo with me....she has a blog too! Is that not so fun? I have never run into a blog reader in my town hahahahaah most of my town doesn't even know what a blog is! ha! So that was the second portion of my blessing for that day!
then it was time to make my mom take pictures with all the scary things ha!
look, she is even holding his hand hahahhah so funny
i have no idea what this is.......we just stuck our heads in it.....maybe ghosts???
other decor outside
Then we headed to the town square for the festival......the festival that i had NO idea was going on and would not have known because I would have been at home still cleaning hahahahahhaa....Praise the Lord for sending Mom so that we get outside and enjoy the beautiful day! AMEN!
ok this is so fun....the lady on the stage is Karen Borta...channel 11 night news anchor..........My parents LOVE her........I mean love her. They said she would be signing autographs so Mom and I made a beeline to the stand and waited to get a picture!
AND WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was so nice and way more fun in person.......we met her daughter too! Then we called Dad because we knew he would be SOOOO excited for us hahahha!
We walked all over and looked at each booth. We then headed to our dearest and ever wonderful Dove's Nest to check things out............
Christmas was already up and looking good!!!!!!
Mom and the penguin hahahaa
on the way out we stopped by the farmers market area where we saw beautiful pumpkins and mums......
and yummy eggplant
then it was time to walk to the car. This picture is on our way back......is it not beautiful or what?????
WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!
what a beautiful, glorious day.
Mom, I love you. What you did for me today spoke to the deepest part of me. May have been something simple to somebody else but not simple to me. I needed help and you came without me even asking. Thank you for reminding me about the power of serving others. What a blessing it brings to both. What joy you can bring to the one you serve and how it brings a contagious "pay it forward" feeling. I love you. I love being with you and I love that you surprised me yesterday! What fun it was to open that door and see your face! Thank you for helping me start my week clean and caught up! Oh how you helped my cup runneth over! I Love You!