I needed a hug and God gave me one!

Well, this day started with a major downer. I finally took Kate to the dentist. We would have gone earlier, but we thought it was important to get the surgery and recovery behind us before taking on anything else. We suspected that she had a broken tooth with a cavity in it, but we were wrong. She has 4 teeth with cavities!!! Three have huge ones. UGH!!! This outcome means more doctors , more pain ,and more money. UGH again!!! So, if our second opinion agrees, next Thursday Kate has a date with a drill. Anyway, i thought i was handling the news fairly well( by God's grace) but my emotions were much closer to the surface than i realized. Between a visit to the pediatrician for a suspected sinus infection (yes, that makes 2 doctors in 1 day) and a trip to Target's pharmacy for an antibiotic for the sinus infection, Kate and i stopped by a local children's consignment shop just for the fun of it. While i was looking through clothes and Kate was tooling around with one of those toys that sings while you role it, I met a woman shopping for her granddaughter. We struck up a conversation and she commented on Kate. I told her that Kate was adopted and she shared that she had a grown daughter who was also adopted. She made the comment that adopting Kate had undoubtedly changed her life in ways we might never know. At that point, with my eyes tearing up despite my best effort to hold tears back, i told her that Kate had already been through major surgery and that i had just found out that she was in for more with her teeth. With a warm hug from her, we talked further and realized that we were related! We were sisters in Christ Jesus:) A few years older and with grown children, she was brimming with Godly counsel and encouragement. She was the hug i needed from the Lord after a hard day (and a hard week). It was one of those times when God whispers, "I have been here all along and i have caught every tear that you have shed over this."
I thank God for this woman and her willingness to serve a perfect stranger.(She reminded me of my mom in this way.) Kate was so enamored with the push toy she had been playing with that the lady bought it for her along with the bathing suit that Kate is sporting in the photo above. It was quite a day, quite a day.....I really needed a hug from God and He was faithful to give me one.