Answered Prayers

As I get older, I find the answers to my prayers in the oddest ways.   Once I had someone in my life and started planning our wedding and married life and thinking about the challenges that couples like us might face, I said lots of prayers... After all, we are "oil & vinegar" - most times we mix quite nicely; but sometimes we can't mix, so we stay in our separate bottles! :-)

I prayed he come to mass with me - even though he isn't (and probably never will be) Catholic.  
          Today he gets me out of bed to ensure we are on time; during the week he talks about what "Father" said at mass; and is he is chairing the Fish Fry! (Granted, he probably has no clue how much work this will be! LOL)


As I have seen from friends who re-married, it is often difficult to blend families... Lifetime movies about the happy family where everyone gets along & step children are just happy to see their parents happy - well movies are just that - movies.  So I prayed for someone who would love my children, and who my children would love - knowing that their vastly different backgrounds and life experiences will sometimes puts my boys & my husband at opposite ends of an issue, so I prayed for love, knowing that "like"is part of love & "like" has it's ups and downs.

          Lately he's been asking "Well what restaurants do A&S like?" so he can get a gift card for them when we are grocery shopping.  He doesn't know them well enough to know what they like, but he knows that A likes to eat!  And there really is no special occasion coming up.  He is trying his best to say "trying to get to know you" in the only way he knows how.

          Or he will say "Have you talked to D? Is he okay?  Does he need anything?"  He knows I worry about my baby who is so far away... even though he is with his dad & family there, I still worry, and he knows if he gets me to talk about my fears that he will be able to calm my fears.

          Out of the blue, he will say "Do you want to go see 'the kids' after mass?"  When would I not want to go see "the kids" - only never!  And when we arrive, he rubs his hands with hand sanitizer and picks up Baby Girl J - the key to his heart - and marvels at how big she's gotten, how much she looks like her mom & how happy she is!  And then he takes a look at Baby Boy J - sleeping as normal & remarks "we know where he got that from" referring to how my boys and I all like to sleep!

You know, my faith isn't nearly as big as a mustard seed... but it's growing.  And each time I see these answered prayers,my faith grows just a bit more!