At the end of May we were blessed to be able to go to Virginia Beach so Dw could do a wedding for our friend’s daughter. They paid for Dw, myself and our four youngest kids flights, rental car and even gave us two waterfront hotel rooms in Virginia Beach. It was such a blessing from the Lord as I had been praying that the Lord would provide a really nice vacation for free. =) (That in itself is a miracle!)

While there we decided to rent these little bike/car thingys that are used to peddle up and down the boardwalk. Some of these things seat more than 6 and have three seats. One of the nights there we rented one and we all climbed on and peddled all the way down the boardwalk to the complete opposite end. It was lots of fun and we had plenty of laughs.

At some point on the bike ride Dw took off the hat/ballcap he was wearing and put it inside a sweatshirt that we had tucked on one of the back seats. Now the ballcap that Dw had been wearing was not just any ballcap. It was an Army Ranger cap that Tyler gave him just before he deployed – making it full of sentimental value!! It has an American Flag on it that velcros on….incase they are captured, then they peel the flag off….And to top it off, Tyler was deployed during this time we were at Virginia Beach. March 08 – Saying good bye at the airport – right before Tyler Deployed- Dw is wearing the treasured hat Tyler had just given him

This particular night there was also a free concert going on at the far end of the Boardwalk and so there were zillions of people streaming up and down the Boardwalk. After going the entire length on that bike thingy we arrived back at the hotel and Dw went to get that extra special hat of his and it was nowhere. I mean nowhere. The sweatshirt had been unwrapped and it was gone. Dw was very upset, almost crying. He loved that hat and it felt each time he wore it like a connection to our precious son.

We prayed immediately and asked God to show us where it was. We rode around and looked for it. But this was not just even a normal night on the Boardwalk. It was a psycho night on the Boardwalk and it was now dark. I told Dw I just knew that I knew that I knew that he was going to get that hat back.

So we prayed some more about it and eventually drove in the rental car up the road. I got out where I sensed the Lord was leading and looked around all the while praying for a mighty miracle. As I prayed I just KNEW that we were going to find that hat. I knew that I knew that I knew.

God’s word is clear, “You have not because you ask not.” It also says that, “Nothing is too difficult for Him.” Well this would be right up there as near impossible and I know that there is NO GOD LIKE JEHOVAH…and so He just gets a big kick out of answering our amazingly tricky needs.

But we didn’t find it.

The next morning I still was 100% confident we would find it. Dw rented a little bicycle and rode the entire Boardwalk while I stayed in the room with the kids and prayed. I interceded big time as he peddled away. I told him to look at the top of fences and poles as I could just picture it on those. I prayed, “Lord you know exactly where that hat is, would you please put it somewhere where we can find it.”

Inspite of his riding up and down the beach and all our prayers, still he did not find it. Hmmmm. That day we left the beach and headed up the coast to Liberty’s birth mom’s home to celebrate Liberty’s birthday and have a reunion with Liberty’s birth family. I felt sick to my stomach that we did not have that hat in our car.

Days passed and we eventually headed back to Colorado. We thought about that hat. It truly was so very special to us and we just really felt the loss of it.

Well there are times in life where I am so sure of something that the Lord is going to do, but then it seems that I am thrown a curve ball. This was one of those times. I had been absolutely confident that God was going to do something miraculous and we would rejoice and praise His name when we found that hat. After all, it would be a miracle to find it on a normal day – but a crazy day with a concert going on and zillions of people there – even more miraculous.

I remember shaking my head in confusion. I had felt He was going to do something big and yet we didn’t find it. I am not a person who just “claims” it. I have to know that I am confident that what God is speaking to me or impressing upon me, He will do. I had had that confidence that night we lost the hat and even the next day.

You know how it is, there are times that the Lord will impress things upon your heart and you know that you know that you know….no matter how the circumstances look – it is going to happen!! I think of my sweet friend Marianthe.

Infact just today, over breakfast, Dw and I were telling a close friend of ours about Marianthe’s miraculous story….Marianthe and her husband had been in the midst of a Guatemalan adoption for their son Creighton Gideon. (Infact her blog is listed in my favorite blog section.) Anyway, several things happened in the midst of it….(1)New Guatemalan adoptions were halted because of fraudulent practices. Although Marianthe’s was “safe” because they were already in it, things became complicated. (2) Their agency went under investigation and the director of it had charges put against her. You might recognize the director’s face from the Prime Time and 20/20 investigations….definitely not a good thing when your little one is being adopted through her agency. (3) Creighton’s birth mom had disappeared shortly after his birth and had not come for DNA testing. (4) Time was running out. (5) Marianthe, with their agency now under investigation could not get any answers out of them. (6) Time was really, really running out. (7) If something didn’t happen sometime around July 1st Creighton would be put in the orphanage and not be able to be adopted – EVER! (8) The birth mom had not been seen or heard from in months and months. (9) Time continued to run out and the birth mom was no where.

At this point the situation for Creighton looked desperate and actually, from a human standpoint, it looked impossible. EXCEPT GOD. Yes, EXCEPT God. Only an Almighty, All Powerful, All Knowing, Miracle Working God could do something, and probably to many people that wouldn’t even look like there was much hope.

As Marianthe and I talked and prayed we were reminded of the words that are in the song listed below in the Playlist on this blog….”Days of Elijah”…and in that song it says, “There is NO GOD LIKE JEHOVAH.” Whenever we listen to that song our faith is built up and our hearts are so very encouraged…and I knew that I knew that I knew that Creighton would come home. I had no clue how God was going to do it, but I had the faith to believe it because God had spoken it to my heart that He was going to move. I had no idea HOW the Lord would do it and at one point I told Marianthe that Creighton might just be dropped from the sky to her doorstep, but God WOULD do it.

Now it does seem over and over in my life that Jehovah loves to show up at the last second….when to many there would be really no hope left….and for Creighton this was no exception….Jehovah of the Last Second showed up BIG TIME…supernaturally the Birth mom came out of hiding (literally) – ON HER OWN – and did the DNA testing and signed the papers and we will never, ever forget what ALMIGHTY God did – and before long Mr. Creighton Gideon will be in his mommy’s arms and come home to his forever family…and even our family living in Colorado will throw a party here to celebrate!!!Yippee Jesus!

So back to the hat. I had the same confidence that I did with Creighton, only it didn’t happen. Despite our best efforts searching, we came home to Colorado without it. I was perplexed. I know His voice and I know His promptings and I was 100% sure – and yet we didn’t find it.

UNTIL…two weeks ago – I was cleaning in our bedroom. I was in one of those, “move everything in the room and vacuum under it all.” I was upstairs in Dw’s and my bedroom and we have a hope chest that sits at the foot of our bed. I decided to even push that heavy thing out of the way to vacuum around and under it. As I pushed the hope chest aside I looked on the floor and (I am laughing with a giddyness that only comes with miraculous happenings as I type) there, on the floor was that hat!!!

I am not joking. I screamed. I yelled to Dw. He came running as I stood there giggling and staring at that hat in absolute shock. There is no mistake – the hat is here!! Now we have no explanation other than that God took that hat and had angels put it in safe keeping and then carry it to our bedroom for yet another modern day miracle – 2 months after we lost it!!! We have laughed in awe as we have looked at that hat….THERE IS NO GOD LIKE JEHOVAH!!!