The Christmas Miracle

I can honestly say that there are still a few good people left in the world. This morning I experienced a true Christmas miracle and in the light of this economy it makes what happened to me all that more significant.
Early this morning Scott and I went to Macy's to return a few things and check out some of the after Christmas sales. We shopped for about 2 hours going in and out of many dressing rooms while I was trying on a bunch of things. The dressing rooms were so disheveled and cluttered that it was hard to see what was yours or not. We went upstairs to the children's area and I saw a sign for the bathroom. I asked Scott to hold my bags and realized as I was doing so that I was not carrying my purse! I literally nearly passed out!! I HATE loosing things! I had all my credit cards stolen from me in the spring while I was staying at a hotel, so all the frustration and inconvenience of that came rushing back to me. NOOOOOO NOT AGAIN!!!!! I frantically started running through the store going back into every dressing room. I'm not kidding you I went into EVERY ONE! By now they were all packed with women trying things on. I was literally yelling over the stall doors asking all the women if there were any purses in them. The one I suspected leaving it in was naturally the first one I went into when we started our shopping trip. At least a good half hour, if not more had passed by since I had been in there. With every passing moment and every dressing room that I went into my outlook became more bleak. My silent prayers became more and more fervent, I was begging Heavenly Father at this point. I was really confused about which dressing room was the first one I went into also. I think my frantic panicked state was making me more confused. Meanwhile, Scott was calmly following me telling me to calm down. Finally, I found the dressing room that I had been in first and I asked the women if someone had handed in a purse. She said YES!!! She told me they had taken it to customer service. As I sprinted up the escalator and prayed to myself again, this time that the found purse would in fact be mine, and that all of the contents would still be there, I got a warm wave of comfort. It nearly brought me to tears. When I entered the customer service area I saw my purse sitting there and I couldn't hold it in any longer. I started to cry. The lady just stared at me and asked me why I left my purse in there! DUH! (I was secretly hoping it would be stolen and all my personal belongings gone!) I just said that I had so much in my hands it was hard to keep track. I opened my purse and EVERYTHING was still there. The money in my wallet, my phone, my ipod, a movie that I was planning to return, it was all there untouched! It was Absolutely and answered prayer and a true miracle. I thank my Heavenly Father for being there for me and watching out for me when I was completely oblivious that I even needed Him at the moment. Someone that was really in dire straights could have found that purse and just silently taken it and said nothing to anyone, no one would have even seen. I'm so grateful that the person that found it was honest. I pray for their blessing and when they get it, hope they know their good deed didn't go unrewarded.
You know, the other thing I noticed, when the realization hit me that I had lost my purse, it was right after looking at the sign for the customer service area where the bathroom was. I was right next to it all the time and thanks to God and an unbelievably honest person, was safe the whole time. Im humbled and greateful to know there are still good people out there.

Christmas with the "Krickies"

"Watching The Grinch!"

I don't even know quite where to start. The last two weeks have been so busy! Chris, Gibson and Kallie flew in from Australia on December the 1st and boy oh boy it was fun. I can honestly say I gave them a true taste of the Arnett house and then some.
Poor Chris got thrown into it head long on December the 2nd.
Gib had to fly in a day after the girls so we were on our way back to the airport to get him. After checking my girls out of school, we were really running late and were in a super rush hoping that Gib wouldn't be stuck waiting for us. We were a little worried because he is only 13 and that airport is a big place. The airlines had already called Chris a few times and we knew that they were sort of giving him hassle for being a minor traveling alone. There are a lot of rules and they don't generally transfer from one airline to the next. Anyway, we were in a hurry and we were all really anxious to see Gib. As we were about 10 minuets from the airport I had realized that I had forgotten to check which gate he was flying into. I started to call Scott so he could look it up and lo and behold Gavin decides to puke! So were in a hurry because Gib is waiting, we don't know what gate to go to, and now Gavin has puked and Chris is turned around in her seat trying to get him out of the pool of puke that was formerly his car seat. At this point no one is in their seat belt because they all scrambled away from Gavin and I'm speeding to the airport and my toll tag decides that it isn't going to work.
Scott comes to the rescue with the gate number and wouldn't you know it is in the new international terminal. When we pulled in we could only see signs that said "no parking". We also found out from Scott that Gib's flight was one hour late and our mad rush was all for naught. Good, that gave us a little time to clean up the puke mess. With dirty looks from all the other drivers, I pulled into a spot that was reserved exclusively for limos(but I think my Suburban qualifies), and got busy cleaning up the rest of the mess. By this point we have all the windows rolled down because of the stench, and Isabelle is screaming at the top of her lungs because she was the only one that was still buckled. Gavin is naked, I was dismantling the car seat trying to take the pukey parts off and at least conceal them in a plastic bag, which I incidentally always have in my car, just for moments such as these. And Kallie and Bailey are running in and out of the airport with car seat parts that I had sent them in there to wash. The police and the security guards were standing at the curb just across from where we were de-puking the car, and they could only stare with mouths wide open at the mayhem unfolding in front of their eyes. We kept joking that they didn't DARE approach us. They knew better than to cross two moms covered in puke with 5 kids hanging out the window screaming "Merry Christmas" to every passer by and fighting for the two spots in the front of the window. I can only laugh when I think of how we must look to the innocent bystander. I don't know if my family is one of a kind, but I rarely remember ever coming upon scenes like the ones I am frequently apologizing for, or refereeing. Its like my family is a little ant hill. Everyone is just scurrying about constantly on their own mission but sort of working as a team, but instead of bringing things to the Queen ant, they are always asking for something and taking things.
Its comedy in its purest form. I think my family was put here for the sheer enjoyment and entertainment of everyone we come in contact with or maybe the annoyance, depending on your mood. But be careful, you might get carried off by one of us. We need all the help we can get and if your standing too close we'll put you straight to work. And that includes cleaning up my childs puke while I drive. (That's actually the second time that has happened. The first poor curse was my best friend, she was the one turned around in the car cleaning up puke. Man! I have good sisters and friends!)

I hope my sister wasn't too traumatized by my family. I hope she will dare come back for another visit. We are amusing if you can look at it from a fresh, "cup half full" perspective, which at the end of the day, is all I can do. Its the only way I stay sane when its all said and done... :)

"the cousins bonding time"Sweet