We are mid-way into November and the normal “Brrrrrrr!” most of our local hometown residents should be exclaiming is no where in sight. (Yet!) But the traditional hustle-bustle of preparing for the Winter Season is everywhere!  Snow-stakes are being installed and Christmas lights hung (ready for the annual Thanksgiving Day  lighting,) and you can find bags of Snow Salt in every hardware store displayed proudly at the check-out counters.

November for me is an annual cleaning of closets, office-folders & such.  It is an opportunity to de-clutter and begin the preparation for starting a New Year with a clean slate!  So yesterday found me going through my office folder labeled “TO DO,” which contained scribbled messages of ‘this & that’ stuff I hoped TO DO during the course of this past year.  I was happy with the small amount of remaining projects needing completion before the hustle-bustle of the holidays rolled in:  one more crocheted wedding blanket to complete for a very special December Wedding, a shepherd & sheep yard project that’s been swirl-twirling through my creative mind, and organizing a….well, sshhhhh– I cannot say because…it’s a secret!

And there was one little note, scratchily-scribbled on a piece of bubble-gum pink paper reminding me to make a visit to our local Catholic Gift Shop for a gift Dan & I hoped to donate to a special organization.

When I stopped in to the Catholic Shop today I had no idea that not only would I be able to toss the TO DO note in the waste-basket once I made the necessary purchase, but with the twinkling of a surprise I also happily discovered I could cross off an item from my Bucket List to boot!  Alas, God had heard a spoken desire I’d made many moons ago!

Lo & behold with every person I came upon within the shop they personally greeted me by name!  Who’d have thunk that this would be the place that “EVERYBODY KNOWS MY NAME…AND THEY’RE ALWAYS GLAD I CAME!”  God is so funny how he wraps up our wishes sometimes, isn’t he?  He knew I’d hoped for & needed a place that felt like a homecoming...and He delivered in a way I hadn’t quite expected but deliver it He did in a far better way! (I guess God was keeping a secret too!)

And so began my 3hugs&blessings for the Week:

1.  Crossing off item #14 on my Bucket List,  Have a special place where “everybody knows my name. And they’re always glad I came!”
2. Finding a delightful spot to host a special bridal shower for our daughter.
3. The peace & strength that has enveloped me by focusing only on what lies ahead! “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philipines 3:13-14

(All that’s left now is to make a fresh new folder…TO DO it all!!)

hugs n’ may you find 3 bubble-gum pink surprise blessings too!