Wife.Mother.Runner: a christmas miracle

it was a Christmas Miracle for sure that we actually made it to a church service on time!! we seem to arrive about 5 minutes into every church service :(

But that's not the only Christmas Miracle that happened on Christmas Eve... it was something that I didn't expect for sure ---- before church we went to a local nursing home for Graham, Jayden, and Ross to play a few Christmas Carols on the piano. we pulled up to the nursing home - got the kids out of the car and unloaded our keyboard. as we were waiting in the lobby for one of the nurses to guide us back to the gathering area where we were supposed to set up - a lady comes walking out of the nursing home putting on her hat, gloves, and winter coat (i suspect she was visiting a family member)..... she walks by and smiles.... helen and jayden (without being prompted by anyone) - smile, wave, and say "merry christmas!". she says merry christmas back to them and proceeds to walk out the front door of the nursing home. shortly after that, the nurse arrives to guide us back to our "concert area". we get there and get all set up - then turn around to find this same lady who greeted us with a merry christmas tapping on my shoulder. she came all the way back through the nursing home to say that helen's smile had made her christmas! tears filled my eyes. she said she walked all the way back just to tell us that helen had made her christmas and that she was filled with the joy from helen's smile. we invited her to stay for the "concert" - she said "no, i must get home - i'm in a hurry". then she proceeded to stay a few more minutes to tell us again (several times) how we had made her christmas. i invited her to stay again and she said no - i must go. then turned around - said merry christmas and thank you and walked away :)

here are a few pictures from our christmas eve and christmas day: