Praying WORKS.

{emphasis mine}

First things first though. The Kindle edition of The Baker’s Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale is available for $.01 at Amazon today!!!

That said.

I’ll be back later to update this post and tell you how I know that praying works.

As if finding that deal on Amazon this morning wasn’t enough.

Afternoon Update:

Sorry about the above abbreviated post. We were on our way to a First Friday gathering, where the kids in our co-op had a lovely time eating pizza, watching St. Nicholas-themed DVDs, and listening to age-appropriate talks by our pastor.

In short, it was worth the abbreviated post. You got wind of the Kindle deal and I got to visit with lots of great moms.

And look at our little “Francis” on his name day! His wee little shoes weren’t forgotten by St. Nick; he got a be-ribboned candy cane and was truly grateful.

As you can see.

All of the kids seemed happy with their treats. Who knew that Santa shopped at Trader Joe’s? Except…”I was really hoping to get a whole bag of gold coins,” sighed Angela.

“You know what happened?” I told her. “True story. Saint Nicholas went down to his candy factory last night and said, ‘I need some gold candy coins for the Berns kids.’ The head elf told him that they were all out and really, shouldn’t he have stocked up on those coins a wee bit earlier? And then one sweet elf offered to check the store room and brought out a handful of coins that she gave to Santa for free.”

True story.

(Also? Angela knows that Saint Nicholas and I are a team. As such, she seemed to accept my overly exaggerated excuse.)

The scrolls were notes to the kids from St. Nicholas. They said things like “Have a great Advent!” and “Good luck with basketball!” and “Woops! Never made it to the store to get that RP card.”

(Teens. Insert mommy eye roll here.)

Anyway, I don’t want to keep you too long on a Friday ’cause I know you got weekend stuff to do. I did want to apologize for the grinchy tone of my last post; I have to apologize ’cause that Gaudete joy’s come early. It came after a really rotten morning this week–after using my “outside” voice at the classroom table *and* glaring angrily at the arguing child.

I left the room. I sat on the couch. Just sat.

And then…despite all that anger…I prayed. My words were calm though my heart was not. “Lord, I know I am loved by You. I love You, too. I need You. Please help.” Well, within the hour the storm clouds had passed and I felt a peace that I hadn’t since Advent began.

It’s still here. I’m not going to let it go.

(Oh the hubris! I’m kidding, Lord. I know it’s a gift and You can have it back if You want it.)

Later, I joked with the offending child. “You know, if you and I manage to get through homeschooling each other, it will be a beautiful miracle.”

“Mom,” she said warningly, but her eyes were twinkling.

A beautiful miracle, indeed.

How could they ever not be?