Mission Accomplished

I shot up out of bed at 3:20 this morning, washed my face and brushed my teeth and threw on a sweatshirt and jeans. Didn't care about bed head. My friend Tracey pulled up in her van at 4:00 and brought her boys in and we nestled them in bed here with my boys. Eric agreed to watch the kids for us so we could go SHOPPING!!

We were on a mission to get this one particular item that she wanted to give her husband for Christmas before he goes to Iraq. We arrived at Toys R Us at 4:30 a.m. and got in line. Actually, the line wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, and no line seems long at all after standing in line for 7 hours to get into the Star Wars Celebration merchandise store.

As the crowd rushed in at opening time, before we even got into the store, a lady came walking out announcing that the item we were after was already sold out. Tracey and I were disappointed, but we decided to go on in and see what we could find for the kids. We found some really good stuff at outstanding prices, and only stood in line to check out for around an hour, spending a total of about two and a half hours in the store. It was fun to just visit with each other and the people in line around us.

We grabbed some breakfast on the go and headed to Target next. We found more great bargains and were really excited that this other thing Tracey hoped to get wasn't sold out yet. It felt really good to have most of our Christmas shopping done already, and we saved a lot of money.

After grabbing a Starbucks on our way out of Target, we noticed that Office Max was right next door. It had advertised that one special item we were hoping to get, so we thought why not. Of course when we got inside they told us that it had sold out within the first 30 minutes after the store opened. We were down-hearted but thought it just wasn't meant to be. We decided to head home, where we'd make one more stop at Radio Shack before calling it a day.

As we pulled into town, I watched the Home Depot sign, Best Buy sign, Office Max sign go by. Tracey and I both commented on how that new Office Max in town was now opened. I asked her if she wanted to stop there real quick, and I could just run in and ask if they were sold out of that special item we woke up at 3:30 for. She was hesitant and figured they'd be sold out but said sure.

I ran in and found the first employee I saw. " I don't suppose you have any Zunes left?" He said they did. "Where are they??" My heart was racing. It was 11:00 a.m., the sale had been going all morning, surely they were out of the brown Zunes on sale for half price. The sales associate pointed to the back left corner of the store. I raced over there. I found the Zune section. There was one black one sitting there, not on sale. Only the brown ones were for sale.

I hustled backed to the guy with the black Zune in hand. "I don't suppose you have any more Zunes in the back?" He said they did. "Any BROWN ones back there?" He checked. They had two! "Could I please have one?" I sure could! I was thrilled! I let Tracey know right away.

It was meant to be! After all that early morning seeking, at the tail-end of all the sales, we just happened to find a Zune that was on sale for half-price, an item that pretty much sold out everywhere else we looked within the first 15-30 minutes of the store opening. Really incredible, actually. I don't know if Jesus thinks Black Friday is bad and thinks it encourages everyone to be greedy, but I was thanking Him for providing that Zune. And thanking Him for the really awesome time I had with Tracey.

We pulled into my driveway, and I hid the gifts I got for the kids in Eric's trunk. When we went in the house, Eric was sitting in the chair watching t.v. The kids were downstairs playing in the basement. The house was CLEAN. He had cleaned the living room AND kitchen, did laundry, and he made the boys French toast too! And, I found out that even though we thought all the kids were sleeping when we nestled them in and left at 4:00 a.m., they actually woke up about 20 minutes later and were playing hide and seek in the dark on the stairs. Eric got them settled back in and back to sleep. What a HERO!

Today has been an absolutely awesome day. I had sooooooo much fun with Tracey. Tonite we'll see their family again as we celebrate Owen's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Ski ball tournament!! It just couldn't be a better day!!