Seriously.  No kidding.   I won an igloo (I know you are desperately fighting off jealousy right now…but please try to be happy for me!) 🙂  It happened this last Thursday night…the evening before the last day of my kids Vacation Bible School.  Now, I have to tell you…I never win a thing.  I’m good at the “I’m happy for you…you won a Disney cruise…again!” face because I’ve had to do it so many times!  When I was 22, I won a motor coach tour to Laughlin, Nevada once…but somehow, that didn’t quite feel like a “win” to me.

Each year, the church invites all of us parents to come and listen to our kids sing songs followed by an outdoor party afterwards.  You know…root beer floats, dunk tank, popcorn, games…its a ton of fun!  Well, this year they added something new.  A raffle!!  We entered the building and were handed a raffle ticket right before going underneath this enormous white tent (the theme was Mt. Everest…snow, ice, polar bears…the whole thing).  We sat down in the sanctuary, enjoyed the program, and then the raffle began!

They raffled off tote bags, t-shirts, a huge stuffed bear, several really colorful kid tents (I wanted one of those!), and other things that they had used that week, but probably didn’t want to have to store.  Then the final and “grand prize” was announced.  “Our next prize is an igloo!!!”  Now, somehow, I knew I was going to “win” the igloo.  I don’t know why I knew it…maybe it just felt like a “Laughlin, Nevada motor coach tour prize”…I wanted one of those colorful tents…but then I pictured that huge white tent we had all walked through to get into the sanctuary, and my heart skipped a little beat!  That would be so fun to set up for the kids in the back yard!!  That must be the igloo!!! It’s so big, it could be the “guest bedroom” I’ve always wanted for our home!!  The next thing I knew, they had called my number and I jumped up (yes, I did!), and with arms up, I exclaimed, “Igloo Winner!!”

Don’t laugh at me, but when they showed me what the “igloo” REALLY was, I wanted to cry.  The true igloo “prize” was on the other side of the patio outside.  It was constructed out of 200 empty milk gallon jugs that were hot glue gunned together to make an igloo.  Yikes!??  THAT?  That is what I have to…I mean “get to” bring home?!  Oh no!!  Finding the woman in charge after the party, I tried to politely get out of it…but my kids were pleading for the igloo!! I said, “We can’t fit that in our car!”  She said, “That’s okay, our custodian will bring it to your house!”  I said, “Oh, that’s so sweet of him to do that for us, but we live 45 minutes away!” She said, “Perfect!  He lives in the same town as you!!”  Ugh!  I could not undo this igloo winning thing!!  I finally said, “Well, let me think about it overnight and I’l let you know tomorrow.”  She was happy with that.

I was torn. My kids wanted the igloo.  I knew, however, that in 10 minutes in our backyard, my kids would topple the igloo. It would be broken apart and I would have to collect millions of milk jugs, cram them into my car, and get them to recycling!! I pictured my car full of milk jugs while I tried to see through my back windows and drive safely.  No.  I would have to tell them in the morning that we couldn’t accept this lovely and generous gift.

In the morning, however, I dropped off the kids for their last day, and hustled back to my car trying to draw the least amount of attention to myself.  I wanted to avoid anyone who might know anything about my igloo winning.  Why did I have to jump up and yell, “Igloo Winner” for?!  I was hoping they would just forget about it, and we would drive away igloo-free!  But at pick up, the woman in charge found me and gave me the news.

“We are so sorry, Tami…” she began. “…the igloo was destroyed by some boys today who climbed on top of it!!  We feel so bad about them ruining your prize.  Instead, we’d like to give you one of those colorful tents…”

I tried to hide my excitement.  “Oh…darn…well, okay.  Sure.  We’d love a tent.  Thank you so much!  You really don’t have to give us anything…” Outwardly, I tried to look humble and gracious, but on the inside I was squealing with delight!!  A tent!!  I won a colorful tent!!  I will have to find those boys and thank them later! 🙂

I’m just thinking of Romans 8:28 today!  “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” 🙂   He turned my igloo into a tent!!!   He cares about the little things too…