It's Halloween Miracle

Several weeks ago I bought a henna kit at Michael's and my niece, Jessica, did some lovely designs on my scalp to try it out. I thought I would have some beautiful head art for Halloween and wanted to see how it would work. Well, not so well. Jess spent so long,, and the design was beautiful, but after waiting about 6 hours and removing the cracking henna, the design ended up very light and didn't last for more than a day or two (the box said it would last 10 to 14 days). It may have been our inexperience or a cheap henna, or probably both. But in the end I decided that sharpie markers would be much easier and less expensive.

When the kids asked about Henna, I told them a little about the tradition in India and showed

them some photos on line. SC declared that she MUST be an Indian Bride for Halloween. I thought, "sure, no sweat. I'll find a plain dress, drape her with some lovely fabrics or scarves and it'll be great." But, as the time grew closer, the costume was definitely NOT great. The closest type of dress we could find was a bridesmaid dress from my sister Nancy's wedding reception which was light blue and glittery, but it had a puffy skirt. All the pictures we'd seen had these gorgeous gowns bedecked with a million jewels, and nothing like a puffy, princess skirt. I had

already declared that we had to save money and we were NOT going to buy any costumes this year. Aunt Amy came up with a great little SWAT costume for Loumy (Mia wanted it but once it arrived in the mail it was too small so she gave it to us. Thanks Ampse!). Deedle had lots of choices from past SC costumes, options from cousins, and friends. She decided on a cute witch costume from friend Elle (thanks Patti!). But SC was adamant on the Indian Bride. We went and

dug through Kathy's bins of past costumes and I tried to talk her in to something else, but she would not be dissuaded. So, we put the blue, princess dress back on and I started draping some of my scarves across her shoulder and she looked in the mirror and we both seemed to think,"Oh well. Okay." Did it really matter? I guess not. It would be fine.

Some years are great costumes. Some are not.

On Tuesday night (or Monday?) I was in Riverdale to pick up Deedle's costume from Patti. SC was at a friends house and Loumy and Deeds wanted to play at Patti's house for awhile so I went to run a couple of errands. We needed colored hairspray for "crazy hair day" so I went to a local thrift store, "Savers". Savers is usually just your standard, used fare. But on Halloween they carry lots of new costumes, wigs, face paint, sprays, etc. So, I decided to check there. The only color they had was fluorescent yellow (which happens to work great for Loumy's hair). While

there I decided to look around to see if there were any scarves or anything I could drape on SC that would look a little more Indian. I was about to give up when I saw a rack of used costumes at the back of the store. On the ground I saw a beautiful, long, drapey, yellow scarf-type thing with embroidered flowers, jewels, and a lovely ribbon sewed around the edge. It was old but

looked perfect! I picked it up but it didn't have a price tag. Only something that said, "2X". Even though I'd said we weren't going to buy costumes this year, I had said, "new costumes", so an old scarf would be fine. I started browsing through the costumes to see if there was anything else similar to this lovely wrap I'd found. Old, dirty bunny. Homemade knight. Busted Spider Man. Then I saw it. Could it be? It was something reddish, orange, covered in jewels and sequins and looking very much like what I would picture a girl to wear to some sort of celebration in India. It was indeed a tunic of some sort. Long with slits on the sides. It was obviously old and some of the jewels were missing but it looked to be very well made and was even nicely lined inside. It was

beautiful! Price: $6.99. I took it up to the counter and asked about the price on the scarf. They said that the 2X meant it came as part of a 2-piece set. I told them I found it on the ground and hadn't seen anything else it would go with...except this tunic...but it wasn't marked 2X. So the

cashier called over the manager, she marked the dress 2X and gave me the scarf for free.

Driving home I just couldn't believe it. I felt this overwhelming feeling of peace and calm, like Heavenly Father was truly aware of me and my daughter. At home, I took off the Saver's tag and looked at the real tag attached to the dress. It had an old, yellow sticker, which was about to peel off the back which read, "Vipons Rs 2090". Could Rs mean Rupees??? No way did this tunic ACTUALLY come from India. I am sad to say that I have met very few Indians in my life. When I was 16 and had an actual job, I called "Save the Children" and began to sponsor a beautiful little

boy from a city near Calcutta. His letters were amazing to read but even more enchanting was the Hindi handwriting (which, of course, had been translated for me). Chancho worked and

became very good friends with several guys from India while working at Tomax. But I honestly have never lived near or had the opportunity to become friends with anybody from India. Strange. MELBM is married to a Ram, who is from India and seems super cool, but I've never met him. I've seen lots of movies and especially documentaries based on the country. I've had family and friends visit there. I find what I know to be very fascinating. I'd love to know more and I'd love to visit, though it is a vast country and I'd want to spend months in different areas. Anyway, that is mostly to say that there is not a big population of Indians in Northern Utah, so its not likely you'll find lots of cast of Indian garb at a local thrift shop.

Anywho...I gently peeled off the Vipons sticker and this is what I saw underneath.

Of course there is the English writing, but there is a foreign telephone number and, in pen, some additional writing that looks like it could be Hindu. In a shaking voice, not-unlike Jimmy Stewart's, I said to myself, "Its a Halloween Miracle!"

I know it is such a silly thing. Would God really care what SC wore for Halloween? Did He really worry that much about us that He would have a little miracle like that happen? Well, I believe that He did and He does. I believe that He often allows or causes little things like this to happen...often it is through something that somebody else does or says, or it could even be by "chancing" upon something to thrill your 8 year old child and make her feel super special at a

Thrift Store. Its called a Tender Mercy. And this Tender Mercy really helped to make for one gorgeous, enchanting Indian Bride, if I do say so myself.