Tender Mercies

The recent hurricane here on the East Coast has caused Riley and I to really pause and count our blessings.
It has become more and more clear that The Lord knows us, hears our prayers, and is mindful of our situations.
The other day I decided to venture out with Mason to the local Walmart. I have only been brave enough to take him out by myself a handful of times, but we really needed groceries and with my only other option being to sit at home alone all day, I decided to go. I knew I was pushing it with his feeding schedule, but I was sure I could make it a short trip and be in and out before he was hungry.
Ha! Boy, was I wrong!
The place was an absolute zoo but Mason did great for the first half. I ran up and down isles trying to get everything I needed before he woke up. Finally my cart was full and I was ready to check out. When I got to the front, my heart sank. There were just four registers open, and lines were no less than five or six people deep. And more people were coming. I moved to the line that seemed to be moving the fastest and that is when Mason started to cry. I rocked his car seat in the cart, put his binky in his mouth, and with my (slightly unrealistic) fear or germs did everything I could not to take him out of his car seat. After about two minutes, he started to scream. I picked him up and tried to snuggle him back to sleep while still pushing my cart forward with my foot. I dropped his binky (which meant the germ covered thing was out of commission), and as I went to pick it up, the diaper bag fell from my shoulder and hit the ground. For a minute, I though about aborting the mission, abandoning my cart, and running to my car to hide.
Just then, a sweet voice from my left said "Honey, I'm up in line, why don't you and that little one come take my place." I won't lie, big crocodile tears filled my eyes. This kind woman grabbed my cart, pushed it to the line next to mine, unloaded it for me, helped me get out my wallet and debit card, got all the groceries back into my cart and then pointed to some poor bagger and said "What are you doing there? Nothin! Come over here and push this lady's cart to her car." She then put her hand on my shoulder, smiled at me and said "I would trade places with you any day honey. You're doing a good job."
Needless to say, when I got to my car I called my mom and burst into tears. That woman was so kind, and while it probably didn't change her day a bit, she was a huge answer to my prayers.
Obviously our housing situation (which I previously mentioned) was another huge blessing. And with Hurricane Sandy wreaking havoc here, it has really become more of a miracle.
When we heard Sandy was headed for New Jersey, I didn't think much of it. We rode out Irene last yet after all the hype it had. I assumed Sandy would be the same way... A good rain storm, some howling wind, and a few days of paid leave for the Coasties. But as the storm started to hit here in Virginia, it became clear this was no small storm. I immediately thought of our dear friends in Jersey, and of our little blue house on The Shore. I waited anxiously to hear any news, or reports as to the condition of Station Sandy Hook. Yesterday, photos started to show up on various Facebook pages. As we had suspected, the Coast Guard Base took a pretty hard hit.
My heart aches for our Coast Guard family up there. Sure, there are technically homes to return to, but they are in poor condition, if livable at all. And while they eventually will be able to go back, we have no way of knowing when. I am sure it's not anytime soon.
Then our thoughts turned to our current situation. What if Riley and I had been there? Or worse yet, what if it had been just Mason and I while Riley was at school, as it was supposed to be?
Another huge tender mercy. Words can't describe the gratitude I feel for the past few weeks. Things have been absolute madness. A move is never fun, especially with a new little baby. But I am so thankful to have a loving Heavenly Father, who knows our situation, and the blessings we need, and delivers them in some interesting ways.
And again, another unbearably long post, my bad! I really should work on paraphrasing!
Below are some photos of Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook. I'm sure they would appreciate some prayers.
Xoxo