God's Providence and Friends

God's hand is everywhere. I seem to notice it most acutely when it steps in and saves my children from certain death or injury. Like when Scott hydroplaned off the highway and totaled his car. Or when he fell off a moving car and was run over. Or when Emily jumped off a floating pontoon in a very deep lake with a T-shirt tied around neck and tried to swim to shore and she is not a strong swimmer (I still have nightmares about that). Or when we almost had our own luge accident yesterday in the snow. All the kids were sledding and Amy was taking Grace on the sled. Before making a run down she had to move some dog stuff out of the path and while she was shoveling it away, Grace decides to get onto the sled herself and go down the hill - it was quite a big hill. Well she went shooting down like a bullet. I happened to look up and my brain put together the danger and I ran and tackled her as she sped across the icy cul-de-sac heading toward the neighbor's brick tower of a mailbox. I am thankful for God's daily providence.

In a different way though before Christmas God providentially brought together several things to answer prayer in a dramatic way for us. Scott has worked at a Christian camp for the past two summers - this is a camp that the kids have grown up going to. Actually it is a camp I grew up going to, then worked at and then was on the board of for many years. So it is dear to our family. However, in desiring to go to med school, Scott knew that he needed to move on from camp and do something closer to his occupational goals. However, his heart desired to work at camp for one more summer. Eric, Scott and I met for lunch on a Friday to discuss this issue as Scott needed to give an answer to the camp by that Monday. He had no options in sight for any kind of internship in the medical field, but was willing to give up camp and look. We had prayed about this and did not know how to make a decision by Monday. Well that Sunday, Scott and a friend came to our church. This was not a normal occurrence. Scott plays piano for our church but the weeks he does not play he attends a church closer to campus. This was not a week he was playing so it was odd for him to show up (our church is quite some distance from campus). On that Sunday a couple was visiting the church. We found out that the husband loves football and so he and Scott started talking football. Then he asked Scott what his major was. Scott said "biochemistry". The man, Andres, said that he worked at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and if Scott ever wanted an internship there to contact him. I was standing close enough to hear this and almost fell over. One thing led to another and Scott found himself with a much coveted internship at the CDC. Not only that, but the internship was set up for spring so not only did Scott land a wonderful experience, but he also gets to work at his beloved camp again in the summer. We soon found out that not only did Andres work at the CDC, but he is in charge of a lab there and is internationally know for his work in rabies. (I found that out when I put my foot in my mouth and asked how he came to leave Mexico and work for the CDC - his wife proudly told me that Andres was invited to come and work at the CDC!) So Scott has found himself in a fascinating lab situation with a really great guy. (Andres' wife, Nadia, also works at the CDC.) And then the wonderful part for us is that we have become friends with this neat couple. In fact we spent this afternoon at their house eating an authentic Mexican dinner (great food!) and having wonderful fellowship. Nadia told me that Valentines Day in Mexico was to celebrate friendship rather than couples -so that is what we did today. We celebrated friendship and God's wonderful working in our family. Happy Valentines Day to all of our friends!