A much needed surprise

Twice a year I clean, iron and tag all of the children's used clothes from the previous year and send them to a local church for a consignment sale. It is a LOT of hard work to make them look their best, but I make enough money this way to buy the next season's clothes. (Usually $300-$400) Well, this week is consignment week. Last night I stayed up until 2 am tagging clothing and making an inventory sheet. This week will be tedious and I will get little sleep. The two times a year that I commit my self to this seeming insanity, I am challenged in every way. I begin to beg God for little sweet ways of showing me His hand amidst the mess and work. This morning it was a beautiful sunrise that drew me closer to him. And this afternoon, it was a college student from our church. He is the nicest guy that my husband and I both adore. We have had him over to our house many times this past year and he and my husband go to a local pub several nights a month. He is like a younger brother to me. Well, tonight he came to help our family out at the last minute. I have a meeting and we realized it is our family's night to help out at the homeless shelter. (Just mentioning homeless shelter makes us sound so pious. We would probably never have the gumption to seek out this opportunity on our own. A friend at church organizes it all, and we just pick up food and serve. Just thought I would mention that as I read over it and see that it paints a picture of us that is inaccurate. We only serve there two or three times a year.) Anyway, our friend Peter is taking my place. As they were getting ready to leave the Lord blessed me through this dear friend. They called me into the kitchen and my husband said, "Okay, what's the plan again for tonight?" I knew something was fishy because he doesn't need a plan, being the free spirit of our family. As I was questioning him, I turned around and saw these on our table, snuck in by Peter. It was so encouraging I almost cried: