3 more things

I had wanted to post about 3 things but hadn't had time until now.

1.) Ketchup's Tata left sweet notes for Nana at our house since they stayed with us at different times, so Ketchup was inspired to leave "I love you" notes under all of our pillows on several nights. She left a big heart for Benjamin under his pillow the night before his surgery.

2.) We surprised the kids by telling them we are going to celebrate their birthdays in Disneyland this year. They were so excited and Ketchup started to well up tears of happiness. She's going to be a crier like her mommy I'm afraid, but now they both understand what it means to cry when you're happy; they just didn't get that before.

3.) After Bounce's surgery, he was in pain. He told me his tummy hurt, but he didn't want me to tell the doctor. It didn't make sense to him that he felt fine before the surgery, then after the surgery that we explained would fix something in his tummy, he actually felt worse. How could he be hurting if he was supposed to be "fixed?"
It made me think of how God has to prune us of things in our lives. We feel fine; life is good. We are perfectly comfortable, but God knows that there is something in our life that needs to go; it is keeping us from being "better." So God has to fix us by doing surgery, or pruning us of that thing or person that is not His perfect will for us. After the pruning, we are in pain. We hurt and it doesn't make sense to us how this is supposed to be better. Only He knows and can see the perfect, completed picture of our lives. I'm glad He knows best even if I have to be painfully pruned, but you'll have to remind me of that the next time I get cut by His scalpel.