At work today a lady and her little girl came to check out. The girl was five but looked 3 or 4. I had noticed the mom signing to the girl earlier. After talking to the mom she told me her daughter was deaf and also had been having heart problems. She had already had open heart surgery in August and was having complications with that and wasn't sure how many more Halloweens she would have, so she wanted to make it special. I could tell she was having a rough day and I really felt for her especially with mom in the hospital and possibly having to do surgery in the future. I rang up her stuff and while she was chasing her daughter who had run off, I quickly paid for her things. She came back with one more thing and I rang it up and the total was like 5 something, so when I said the total was 5, she looked up confused. I told her I took care of the other stuff and she put her hands over her face and started crying. I came over and gave her a hug. I'm so grateful for what we have been blessed with and I am grateful that I was able to do something so little that meant something more to them.  The girl showed me her heart scar and her mom told her daughter I was her friend. I leaned the words beautiful, thank you, and you're welcome.  I hope things work out for them.

Rough Rough draft of my experience I'm putting in story form.

We pulled up into the driveway after coming back from Will's piano lesson. Joshua had fallen asleep in his car seat and I decided it would be best to let him sleep a bit longer. Will got out and headed inside while Maddy stayed to wait until I got out too. So we sat. We sat and we waited. And then, suddenly, Maddy started making noises and I whisper-yelled for her to get out or be quiet. She then proceeded to fake cry and whine loudly, so I opened the car door and told her to get out. "You're mean," she says to me. As she stomps into the garage she turns and yells, "I'm running away!" I roll my eyes and sit there for a few more minutes before I carry Joshua inside. As I walked into the front room, there was Maddy with her stuffed backpack ready to leave with a "humph" escaping her lips. "Where's my cat and my jacket with the hoodie on it," she asks? In a concerned voice I said, "How are you going to make it out in the world if can't keep track of your things?" She ignored me and went on to find a different coat while I sat on the couch in the front room. She looked at me with an I-am-independent expression and headed for the door. "Can I at least get a goodbye hug before you run away," I say. She clears her throat and mumbles, "fine," and comes to give me one last embrace. As she heads for the door I ask her if she'd like to have dinner before she leaves. She answers, no and leaves. I watch her out the window as she walks to the curb, stops for a few seconds, looks back, and takes one big step into the street. She holds her head high and walks down the street perpendicular to ours. She is friends with kids in almost every house on that street, so I figured she would go play at her friend's house and come back in an hour or so. As she walked past a car and I could no longer see her out the window, I began formulating a group text with all the moms on that street so I'd know where my little runaway would be. Before I had finished texting, I see Maddy walking back towards our house. I tried to stay out of sight and sat back down on the couch. Just then the doorbell rang. I opened the door, got down on my knees, and gave her the biggest hug. "I'm so glad you came home," I said. She held me tight and said, "I'm so sorry I ran away." I felt like the father welcoming back the prodigal son, and at that moment, what was a silly act for me became something much more. My eyes watered as I realized I was truly grateful for her desire to come home. I never wanted her to leave in the first place, but I felt the spirit telling me this was a teaching opportunity. I began comparing this example to Heavenly Father and all of the times I sin.  Even when we take that step away from Him, He waits for us to return and I believe sends angels to watch over us. Ultimately, it is our choice whether we turn to Heavenly Father or not. I believe Maddy came back so quickly because deep down she really knows I love her. Well, let me just tell you, that even though I've always thought I believed Heavenly Father loved me, that didn't really have much influence on choices I made until I really knew it. Until I could feel it and I accepted His love. Isn't it easier to come to Christ when we truly understand that God loves us? Well yeah, but I'm still not perfect, so I wonder if as much as I feel God's love, I wonder if I'm just unable to completely understand in this life exactly what perfect love is. Because maybe, just maybe, I would want to sin no longer.