Strange Lemonade Stand Visitors and a Unique Meeting

A couple of funny stories to share over the past weekend....

Story 1

On Saturday, my daughter took matters into her own hands and decided to raise funds for a library fine she had.  I didn't even realize she had this debt as it was on her own card.  Ok, good for her, I thought.  So she figured a fast and easy way was selling lemonade.  We have a busy touristy location as wineries are on either end of our road so we get lots of fancy cars as well as cyclists going by all summer.

As the afternoon went on, we added eggs to our selling features and then even candle holders my son had made.  She made $12 in a couple of hours so she raised the money to pay the fine.  We weren't expecting more than that with the juice costing only 50 cents a cup!  Then, a neighbor drove by.  He had to stop, he said, because he used to sell lemonade when he was a kid and he wanted to support anyone doing the same.  After he left he said he would tell others.  I mentioned it was all in the name of paying a library fine.  He laughed.

Around 4:30, the traffic was dying down, so she closed up shop.  Around 15 min. later, I noticed 2 vehicles pull up in front of our house.  I ran outside to see if they were looking for eggs as we still had the sign up.  Suddenly a bunch of very happy women piled out of the cars, pulling out their wallets and with their slurred speech started saying, "No....we don't want lemonade.  We don't want anything.  We just want to help pay the little girl's library fine!"  Turns out these women had run into our neighbor at the winery (they had clearly had more than one wine tasting!).   He had told them about our little booth at the side of the road and they were going to come and help our daughter out whether we had lemonade or not!

I called for my daughter to come back out with the lemonade and eggs, which she did, but they would not take it, although a few took some eggs.  Instead, they just started handing out money into her hands!  It was the most bizarre thing to watch!  I can only think they were more than just a "little happy"!  I tried to get them to take something in return which was why some ended up taking the eggs.  Free money was just not something I was used to!

After they took off, we decided we would definitely be running a lemonade stand next weekend!  We went in and counted the money - $30!!!!!  That was nuts!  My daughter had a kind heart and she divided it up evenly between her younger siblings as they had been out by the side of the road with her most of the afternoon.  What a crazy way to raise, or should I say, more than raise, money for a little library fine! 

Story 2

The next day at church, we heard a visiting family play their violins and classical guitar as a prelude before the service.  When they were introduced as being from South Carolina and I noticed that they had 6 kids all sitting in a row in front of us, I knew I would have to meet them after the service.  Sure enough, they were homeschoolers, visiting their grandma, here in town.  We connected really well and even exchanged information if we were ever in South Carolina.  At the very end of our talk, the mom wanted me to meet her mom (the grandma) as she was a new believer attending our church on her own each week.  The mom of 6 had told me that her mom was living on the street where we had built 6 years ago.  What a coincidence, I thought.

When she saw me, she immediately seemed to recognize me and I her.  She said, "I stopped you one day and asked you why your kids weren't in school." (This was when I was still living in the house we were building)  Suddenly I had a major flashback.  I remembered that one day when we were still living on that street I had taken all 7 kids for a walk (#8 hadn't been born yet).  We had passed her house and I had been stopped by her, when she had asked me that question about not having them in school.  It led us to the fact I homeschooled.  She then told me she had a daughter who homeschooled in South Carolina.  I said, "Really?  I'd love to meet her!  If she ever comes up, please introduce me!"   Little did I know I already had, minutes earlier....so funny!

Well, of course, I never met her as we moved away to the farm.  Then, yesterday, there she was, without me even knowing it, all those years later!  I had met her without ever realizing this was the mom I had wanted to meet that day on the walk.  It was definitely a unique meeting.  I'm convinced we were supposed to meet as her mom attends our church, without her husband as he is not saved...yet...and that it was yet another confirmation we are at the right church at the right time.  We can now provide fellowship and encouragement for this lonely new believer.  My new friend can now feel assured that her mom has someone watching out for her.  Only God could have orchestrated that.

This is a very quick little post....that's all for now!