Oh Holy Night and the case of the missing gift card

Last night at church we had our Christmas celebration and talent night. The night was filled with celebration, candles, choruses and Christ. There was a mixture of solos, dancing and reading of scriptures. I would say it was one of the most memorable Christmas services I have ever been apart of. I sang an acapella version of Oh, Holy Night and boy was I nervous. I have never sang acapella in public before and didn't know how it was going to go. We sang several of the most popular Christmas songs and lit our candles during Oh Come All Ye Faithful and walked to the front of the sanctuary and then sang Oh Holy Night. The presence of the Lord was evident and I know that He was smiling down upon us.

Afterwards we socialized and ate finger foods and dessert. Once the evening was over, we proceeded to leave for the evening. Alexis has been begging me to take her to Walmart to spend her Christmas giftcard. We have been trying to put it off for a while and I decided it would be okay tonight. She is set on purchasing Hannah Montana: The Movie. I am okay with this purchase because we actually liked the movie as well. We strolled to the electronics department and she found her movie, it was actually cheaper than I thought it would be. Soon we were at the self check-out stand and Alexis was about to get her gift card out of her purse when she said, "It's not here!" We looked all through her purse and sure enough it wasn't there. We put the movie aside and walked back out to the car where tears began to stream from her eyes and it was followed by the wails of sorrow. My heart broke for her too as it seemed the gift card had either been lost or stolen. I said a prayer with her asking God to help us find it and we were on our way home. On our way I decided to pass several homes lit for the season to get her mind off of things; it worked.

We arrived at home and I informed Michele of the situation and it was determined that we would check her room for the gift card, but were not going to promise we could find it. We did a thorough cleaning of her desk and still nothing. Earlier in the week, Michele had a women's ministry at the house and several kids came and were watching movies in Alexis' room. I texted one of the mom's who had kids over and her daughter said she saw a gift card on her bed and she put it on her headboard shelf. That gave us a great clue, but still nothing after looking there. I received another text from the mom who said Micah and his "girl friend" were jumping on the bed. With this clue we immediately thought it had possibly fallen behind her bed. Michele suggested we check under the mattress first and as I lifted it up, there it was...the missing gift card. Case solved! It wasn't stolen...just had been misplaced and then misplaced again. It definitely made us all feel better and the gift card was soon placed under the protection of mom and dad until further notice.

Have a wonderful Monday. Only 4 days till Christmas. Remember, JESUS is the REASON for the SEASON.