An Easter Story

Happy first Easter to Quinn! Although it will be years before Quinn will understand just how glorious this day is, Ben and I tried to give him a good start. We spent the last week reading the Easter story to him- a very brief, very simple, kid-friendly version a la board book fashion. We attended our neighborhood egg hunt on Saturday and Quinn got two eggs! I won't comment on the how most of the parents raced to gather the eggs up for their kids. This particular hunt was for kids ages 0-2. Now, you know 2-year-olds are not coordinated enough to search, run, pick up eggs AND put them in a basket very quickly. It took less than 3 minutes for all the eggs to be gone! But I digress...


This is kind of a long story, but really worth sharing. Bare with me. It has nothing to do with Easter, but it confirms to me that God has a plan!

In 1998, I worked at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center. For a few weeks, I worked the Night Audit shift (11pm-7am). The night auditor that trained me was named Chad Boswell. Super nice guy. He and I actually had many friends in common from college. He soon left the hotel and I did not see or hear from him for 11 years. Fast forward to the present. We reconnect on Facebook. We have the usual Facebook conversation: "How are you?" 'Where do you live?" And so on. He mentions that he knows someone in Houston (there are 4 million people in Houston, so what are the chances I will ever meet his friend?). Somehow the conversation turns towards churches and I tell him that Ben and I are looking for a home church and that we are going to try out Second Baptist. Well, guess where his friend goes to church! Second Baptist. Her name is Eva Wilson. He gives me her email address so I could contact her. But before I even have a chance, Eva sends me a friend request on Facebook. Chad told her about me. Eva and I swap a few emails/messages and she helps ease some of my worries about taking Quinn to the nursery (it was the first time we would be leaving Q). Ben and I attend several services, but never meet Eva. Then TODAY....

As soon as we drop Quinn off in the nursery, he absolutely loses it and has a complete meltdown. Those of you that have met Q, know that meltdowns are down right unheard of. Ben and I wait for a minute and Q continues to scream. One of the nursery workers tell us she will page us if they can't get him to calm down pretty soon. So Ben and I go to the service. Just as the pastor begins his sermon, the pager goes off. I panic. Ben tells me to stay and that he will go check on Quinn. I wait 10 minutes, thinking that Ben will pop his head in and tell me we need to go home. 15 minutes goes by, 20 minutes goes by. I try to pay attention to the sermon. Finally, the pastor extends invitation and I decided to duck out. As I walk out into the lobby, I see Ben and Quinn talking to a couple. As I get closer, the lady produces a HUGE smile. I immediately know that it's EVA!! Ben was hanging out with Quinn in the lobby (apparently, the nursery ladies wouldn't take him back :) ) and Eva and her husband, Barry, just walk up to Ben to introduce themselves and to see Q (cause he's so irresistible). Once Ben introduced them to Quinn, Eva put the entire thing together (she recognized Quinn's name from my Facebook page). The foursome looked like fast friends as I walked towards them. Wait...it gets better!

So Eva and Barry take us to a welcome reception and introduce us to several folks. Conversation brings us to Auburn and just as it ALWAYS happens, someone says, "Auburn! I know so-and-so from Auburn or my so-and-so went to Auburn." Well, Barry says, "Auburn! One of our members coached baseball at Auburn. Steve Renfroe! He just moved to Houston last August." So Ben and I meet Steve Renfroe today at church! Now, what are the chances?

Side note: Ben and I spent many a spring afternoon going to Auburn baseball games. Once we graduated and were married, we continued using our student IDs to get student tickets for $1. We would scrape up change for a hotdog, peanuts, and a drink- all to share. That's how poor, but how amazingly happy, we were!

So....thank you, God for bringing Chad Boswell into my life. Thank you, Chad for introducing me to Eva. Thank you, Eva for "finding" me on Easter!


By the way, Chad and Eva are singer/songwriters. Check out their sites!

http://www.chadboswell.com/About_Chad.html

http://www.evawilsonmusic.com/