Perfect Timing!

God and I have been having a little dialogue about timing lately. I've been wondering if His watch stopped...because of course things don't always happen when I think they should. He has been teaching me patience and giving me so much joy along the way, but the other day I really felt like He said to me so clearly, "Don't you think I know?? Don't you think I love you and I know exactly what I'm doing. My timing is perfect, have you forgotten?" And he used this picture in my Nana's house to do it...

This picture is from 2005. It was taken about 4 weeks after my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. We were in a whirl wind. She found out she had breast cancer, her amazing doctor suggested chemo before her double mastectomy to shrink the tumor, and within no time her chemo began. It all happened so fast that we hardly had time to process the fact that our mother, who didn't seem sick at all on the outside, was very sick on the inside. And in a few short weeks, all the world would know when she lost her hair.

My mother is so loved and many people were asking what they could do. For the most part, it was a fight she had to fight. We knew it was her and God against the cancer, but an idea was born and they were about to be part of God's perfect plan. My sister, Nana and I decided to throw a surprise "Hat Party" for mom. We asked her friends and family to come together to celebrate her and bring a hat or scarf if they so chose. The invitation read:

A wardrobe of leopard and feathers galore

she's dressed to the nines to go to the store

A true diva is the word to describe

A Woman we love who has touched all our lives

During this time you've all been so dear

But let's not forget our humor and cheer

Fun times and fun memories are sure to be made

As we dress up, laugh, and sip lemonade

Come celebrate Vicki's Brand new "do"

With hats and scarves and friendships too...

We asked mom to get ready for the day and we were going to go have lunch and a girl's day. That morning was a devastating morning. She took her shower and as she washed her hair, it began to fall out. We talked in great length about it after the fact and she said she really thought she was prepared for it. But I'm not sure you're ever quite prepared for that moment. She was obviously upset by the events of the morning, and we (my sister and I) were nervous because we had this party awaiting her only 45 minutes away! What had we done?

We hadn't done anything. God knew exactly what He was doing. She got dressed and we went to "pick up Nana" and all of her friends were there to comfort, support, encourage and love on mom and our family. Not 5 minutes after we arrived, the morning's events were a thing of the past and the love of mom's friends far out shadowed the sorrow of losing her hair. We laughed so much and of course we cried a little too. But the main message of the day was, "I haven't forgotten you. I would never ask you to do this alone!"

Sometimes I don't get it. Sometimes I think I know everything and I forget that God is so, so sovereign and He has not forgotten me. I'm not the ONE that got away. He blessed us on that day and He showed us that in the midst of one of the hardest things (if not THE hardest) that my family has faced, that he was there all along. And on that VERY day that her hair fell out, she was having a hat party! What a perfect, perfect coincidence. ;)

Look at her face! Y'all know she loves leopard print!

This one is hard to explain, but ever since she was a little girl, she twirls her hair. She twirls it every night before bed, when she is relaxing, when she is tired...she does it subconsciously. One day she looked up from her chair and she had been twirling her hair and she said, "Oh my. I'm not going to be able to twirl my hair!" Her friends know her all too well and Deborah brought her a piece of twirling hair that fastens to a scarf or bandana! ha!

Me wearing one of her wigs! I'm definitely not cut out to be a blond!

Look at all of these fabulous hats and scarves!

The party crew! Her wonderful friends. (PS....it was on a Saturday before the Texas football game and most of these women have season tickets. They aren't just crazy Longhorn fans! ha!)

Thank you to all who came on short notice on an October Saturday. You were part of God's perfect blessing to my mom and our entire family.