blessed to provide blessings

sometimes the Lord allows us to be blessed by blessing others.  our Heavenly Father LOVES us, so much.  thinking about how much He loves us brings tears to my eyes, to be perfectly honest.  thinking about what He gives to me, personally, even tho i'm not perfect.  i'm a sinner, i could need forgiving every single day. i don't set out to need forgiving, but it happens.  and He does, He forgives, every time i ask.  He forgives, and then He provides such blessings!


my plan for today was pretty fluid.  i just knew i needed to return Soul Surfer, and i wanted coffee.  : ) 


i woke up an hour earlier than i'd wanted because of a leg cramp.  an intense leg cramp which started in the dream i was having & continued into my waking!  :(  thank the Lord it stretched out fairly quickly, but made it so i was UP.  (it's still sore right now, many hours later!)  i toasted a bagel thin, added cream cheese, and had a yogurt (potassium!) for breakfast.  read People.  this week's has the September 11th tribute/feature.  hard to believe it has been 10 years.  an entire decade has passed!  and yet, i read that the memorial for flight 93, in PA, has been struggling for funding?  what's that about?  i know the WTC towers were the larger target & whatnot, but COME ON, ppl!  whomever is in charge of memorial funds should be giving a good portion to the PA one.  in my opinion, of course.


anywhoo.  mom called to see if i wanted to play cards.  i wasn't sure.  i mean, it's just so NICE to have peace & quiet... but i hadn't seen grammy in awhile to play cards, and i felt like i should go.  i did want to finish burn notice first, tho.  i'd missed my michael weston fix!  : )  i may have watched another episode of neal as well.  i can't remember if that was today or yesterday.  LOL  


i headed to grammy's & stopped for coffee on the way.  : )  YUM...!  the game was intense and fun and grammy accidentally hit her life alert buzzer in her excitement over a hand she had.  *laugh*  her life alert thing started buzzing & then said "help has been called."  we all looked at each other like, "what?"  heh.  i noticed where her hands were at & said, "oh, she accidentally hit it!"  so when the dude came on the line, grammy apologized & he said he was happy she was okay.  : )  


i proceeded to win by 2000 points.  : )  wooohoo!  


mom & i left to head to her house for some big brother fun.  instead of going straight to mom's, i stopped at kwik shop for a fountain soda.  when i pulled in, i saw a group of kids sitting in front, looking fairly dirty & whatnot.  i say kids, but they were probably early 20's (man, i'm old!).  i went in for my soda & a cheese stick.  talked w/ the cashier - he's a former army ranger, so we chatted a bit.  when i left, i said hi to the group outside.  one guy asked for a favor & i said, "i'm sorry, i can't, but be safe!"  and they said that's okay & thanked me for being nice about it.  i was like, "are ppl NOT nice about it??"  and we talked for a second.  then i left.  


as i was driving, i just felt prompted to pray for them, for their safety & that someone would be able to help them - they had a dog w/ them & had said they just wanted to get her some food.  so i just had the thought that i was sorry i didn't have enough cash on me to help them out, but then - and i truly think the Lord gave me the thought - i thought that i could write a check & get some dog food.  


so i turned around & went back.  as i approached the kwik shop, i got a tingle of anxiety.  how was it going to look, my going back?  would they be grateful or would i seem a crazy old broad, coming back?  would there still be a parking space?  i didn't let the anxiety get to me (again, thank You, Lord) and there was ONE spot left in the lot.  i parked & went back over to the group & said, "i'm back!  i don't have any cash, but i can go in & buy some dog food, if you'd like?"  


they were all very nice & a few of them went in w/ me to pick out the dog food.  i told them they should get something for themselves, as well, so they got hot dogs for everyone, and some tea and coffee.  i tried to get them to pick some fruit & chips & whatever else, but they didn't want to buy too much.  as we chatted, i learned that they were riding the rails.  they'd just disembarked & were trying to get some food for the puppy before jumping on the train to minnesota or north dakota.  


i felt so blessed to have been able to bless their evening a little bit.  and i'll have to tell leyton i met some ppl who ride on trains all the time.  heh.  i missed 15 minutes of big brother, but it wouldn't have mattered if i'd missed the whole thing.  helping these kids out, in the little way i could, was worth anything!  and i thought of brandee, and her experience with the rail kids.  (you have to scroll down because for some reason i cannot link to the separate post!)  this blog post of hers inspired me, along with the fact that my grandpa used to ride the rails.  i think he would take my cousins sometimes.  they have stories.  i'll have to ask!  : )  


i pray that the group of 6 are okay tonight as they ride those rails to minnesota or north dakota.  i pray that their gluten-allergic puppy will take to the food we bought okay, and that everyone gets a good night's sleep with full tummies.  i pray that they will bless others on their journey as they blessed me, and that the Lord will make Himself a presence in their lives.  


i pray that you will be blessed to bless someone today.  : )  


oh, and i did make it to mom's for BB.  was a lovely put-together episode.  and nice to hang out w/ mom!  we might go see a movie tomorrow.  i came home & ate grilled chicken for dinner & watched The Protector.  now i'm going to watch AGT before bed.  


TTFN!  : )