Last I left you we were going to go to Bentleyville. However something big and huge happened the next day on Dec. 13th that I'll remember forever. I had been listening to a radio station that would normally play all oldies rock/pop stuff bat Christmas time they play 24/7 Christmas music. For the 12 days of Christmas (or in this case, the first 12 days in Dec.) they played games to get you qualified for a grand prize drawing. Now, as some of you may know, I like to play games and I can get a little competitive. So on Mon. the 11th one of their games was a trivia question. In order to win you first needed the answer and to be caller 5. The question was: "What is the name of the magician in the movie Frosty the Snowman". Now I knew, that I knew the answer but couldn't quit remember, but a quick yahoo search confirmed that it is of course Professor Hinckle. I dialed figuring there was no way I'd get through, but the phone rang and I had won because caller 5 didn't have the right answer. At the time I was just excited that I had won because it was fun to play. I didn't even know what I had won other than the qualifying for the drawing, which I quickly dismissed and went on with my day. So 4:06pm on Wed. the 13th I turned on the radio, because I wanted to hear the person win. The drawing wasn't until 5:00 but I didn't want to miss listening. About 10 seconds after switching on the radio the phone rang. The conversation went something like this:
"Is Gretchen there?"
"This is"
"Please hold..."
I got switched to hold with the same music that was currently playing on the radio-The Little Drummer Boy. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was on hold with the radio station. My hands started to sweat, there was instant shaking in my body and my mind was going about 20,000 miles an hour-"why would the radio station be calling me?" "there's no way I could have won, the drawing isn't for another hour" (by this time I'm pacing and feeling some butterflies) "maybe there calling because I didn't pick up my other prize yet" "that's dumb, why would they do that" (I hate having conversation's with myself) "(I was doing the math in my head, 3 qualifiers on air for 12 days plus any number of qualifiers in the local sponsoring stores= any body's guess as to the number of entries)"why would they put me on hold on air?" (if you've ever called a radio station you would know the difference between the office putting you on hold and the on air putting you on hold) I could tell that the "someone" was waiting for the song to end, I waited with lots of anticipation. The rest went something like this:
"Hi, who's this?"
"Gretchen...?"
"Gretchen, guess what?"
"what? (somewhat hesitantly)"
"Santa Claus has chosen you to be our grand prize double cash shopping spree winner!"
by the time the word "chosen" was spoken: "OH, MY GOSH! THAT'S INCREDIBLE! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU"
"We hope this helps make your Christmas an extra good one."
"Oh my gosh, you have no idea..." (lots of crying, shaking thank yous-you get the picture)
I couldn't believe that I had won this amazing prize. God had been looking out for us, because at the time it looked like buying anymore presents was out, as our finances were on the rocks (all ok now).
The prize was $2000! 4 $250 gift cards to spend at the 4 local stores that sponsored the contest and $1000 cash! WOW!!!!!!
So about a week later after calming down and receiving the gift cards (the cash was to come later) Scott and I went shopping. We both got new winter jackets. We got a beautiful pine coffee table. I got arch supports for my feet. I also got an alpaca fleece pullover, and a sweatshirt. We spent 3 certificates in an hour. It was really fun picking things out without batting an eye, $200 dollars for a jacket? ok-get it. 75$ for a sweater-sure! 250$ for a table-no problem-great idea! We had to spend the money in the stores so it was really fun. The stores were Duluth Pack, which sells all things outdoor related plus The North Face brand (which is what my jacket is). Columbia clothing downtown, which sells mostly men's Ralph Lauren, Polo, Columbia (that's where Scott got his jacket and my alpaca fleece-boy did we feel out of our league in that store). Unpainted Sawmill Furniture, which of course sells all natural wood furniture (obviously where the coffee table came from). And The Good Feet store, which sells arch supports to correct your arch's and to help with problem pain issues, such as your back, neck, knees, feet etc... (I got a pair of supports and found out that one of my arch's is flatter than the other and is the reason for many of my pains). I'll take pic's of some of our fun stuff when my batteries recharge. With the cash, we were able to get new cell phones, and finish our Christmas shopping. It was a lot of fun and I'm extremely grateful!
Here are a few pictures from Bentleyville. More topics to come in the week.
Waiting in line for the bus from the parking lot (the other girl is Jocelyn, our friend-in case your wondering, she's one month YOUNGER than Luke who is 10)
Oh' yeah this one's gonna get us the best picture of the year award (or get us qualified for makeovers :)
This is the entrance
Downtown
Inside the cookie house
What's better than smore's in the summer? Smore's in the winter!
Look, this is how to be a seal
Holding the world in their hands
2 comments:
Yea I am so glad you are back, thanks for the update. Congratulations!!! what an amazing prize, it couldn't have gone to a more deserving, hard working girl!
Sarah
Yo, G! Loved hearing your story, again! God is so amazing to meet your needs in such a fun way! And what a great memory to pull out when it gets hard to remember His provision...
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