my blessed Sunday!

I have been teaching Sunday School this year to the 3rd and 4th graders...I am always surprised by them, but not as surprised as I was this morning.
One boy I have "M", has some developmental issues, but is generally sweet, has a guitar (he just got a REAL one for his bday) and listens lots and is quiet. Today, he set a Christmas present on the table at the end of class...
"THANK YOU M!"
"I got it for you"
"Did you want me to open it?"
*big grin* "YES NOW!"
"But M, it's not Christmas yet!"
"Open it now!"
We have been learning "God is loving" and you know what HE picked out??
A bracelet...the design is a heart that has the letters G-o-d in the center of it.
I told his Gma thanks expecting SHE was the one that had picked it and she said OH NO! It was ALL HIM!
And here I wondered if he "got" anything I was teaching!

AND...
This afternoon, we had Chad's mom and step-dad up for lunch. It was truly yummy (pictures to come)...I surprised myself. After we visited a bit, we met the choir at a local retirement home where we sang carols and then one of the elders of our church gave a message...
He asked the elderly to recall any memories THEY had from Christmas that stuck out....one woman shared how she had been the youngest so she remembered being babied, but how as her siblings got "too old" she was able to care for them. She said how her father had been a pioneer preacher...in the late 1800s and had apprenticed another pastor til he had learned enough and then as a "renegade" type, he preached things that weren't comfortable for cowboys and pioneers to hear...but that didn't stop him. She said he was gifted in speech and she always liked to hear his messages around Christmas time.
I felt like I was in the presence of some sort of royalty! How nifty-neato (not even CLOSE to describing my true feelings) is it that this woman, now blind and living out as best she can her faith where she's at, was the daughter of someone who helped found this country-MY country-on the ideals of faith!

And now we will be playing our new toy...what a fun Sunday!