I believe God has a sense of humor and I mean that on several levels. First of all, David says God must have a sense of humor because he created giraffes. But I also think He has a sense of humor in how He brings things to pass and then opens our eyes to the incredible attention He pays to the details of our lives.

One January, about four months before I met David, I went to Talbots after school. I don’t remember exactly why I went there – probably because they were having a sale. But on my private school salary and part-time work with InterVarsity I really couldn’t afford to buy a whole lot there, especially at full price. But while I was there I saw a beautiful holiday dress I had absolutely adored when I saw it in the previous fall catalog and then in the store. It was a beautiful dark green velvet with satin trim. It had a small bow on the bottom of the slightly v-shaped back neckline. The bow had two long tails that hung down the back.

When I saw it this time it was marked down quite a bit because it was well after the holidays. I think it was something like 70-75% off making it actually very reasonable. I succumbed and tried it on. It fit me like it was made specifically for me. Oh my! But I had nowhere to wear it! Oh my! What to do! No matter. I had to have that dress. It was so perfect and so reasonably priced. So I bought it. And hung it in the closet.

Fast-forward to May and I met David. Fast forward to July 4 and we were seriously moving towards marriage. Fast forward to October 4 and we were engaged. We set our wedding date for January 25.

After buying the first wedding dress I tried on (another story!), my maid of honor (Katherine) and I discussed the bridesmaids’ dresses. I don’t remember exactly how this line of thought developed, but in the end I realized I wanted the women to wear the Talbots dress! Of course, they were long gone from the stores and no longer available to order. But Katherine was friends with a woman who designed clothes and patterns as a business. We went to see Jana and showed her the dress. She said she could definitely make a pattern and make them. So she went to work on them.

A short while after that I was cleaning out some paperwork and found a receipt for the Talbots dress. And do you know what I discovered? I bought the dress on January 25th – exactly one year before my wedding day. Before I ever met David, God was orchestrating the whole thing – right down to making sure that on the same day of my future wedding I bought that dress I adored so my bridesmaids could wear it.

Why do we ever doubt that God cares about the littlest things?

Post script: In continuing the blessing of January 25th, on our ninth wedding anniversary I discovered I was pregnant with Caroline.