The Third Wheel

One of the things I really like about our elementary school is the emphasis they put on reading. You don't have to read every day, just on the days that you eat! I believe it. Reading is so important.

This week our school had their Reading Night. The school gets special funding through Title 1 for things such as these. It's a night focused on reading. Free books are distributed, snacks are provided, and a few larger door prizes are given. What makes it interesting is that they have local celebrities come and read books to the children.

My son wasn't interested in going. I was excited at the prospect of free books, but he didn't care. If he wasn't going to leave with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, his latest obsession, he didn't want to go.

I told him it would probably be more classic style books. Stuart Little. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I didn't think they would be new.

When we arrived they had a sign up for who was attending and all the students could put their name in a drawing for two different prizes. We didn't find out until the end of the evening what the prizes were.

Something we did notice on our arrival, the table of free books held all the released Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. It wasn't explained how we would get them, but they were right there. Things were starting to look up for Gabe.

The evening was divided into three parts. We would be able to choose three out of six celebrity readers to listen to. During the first session we got our snack, gigantic cookies!

We started off the night listening to Ronald Miller, the Police Chief. He appropriately read us a book about a policeman called Officer Buckle & Gloria.

Our second session we spent with Tom Hagen, the weatherman. He read to us Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs a story about the weather.

We saved our favorite for last. The principal my children have grown up with retired last year, so it was a treat to have her back for this special reading. She didn't specifically choose one book; she shared pages from her collection of popup books with us.

The most exciting part of the evening was the drawing for the door prizes. The first prize was Jingle, (an interactive dog with a corresponding book). This was for grades K-2. The second prize for grades 3-5 was the brand new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, yet to be released, The Third Wheel book!!!

If you remember my son only wanted to come to get a free copy of the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. I dashed his hopes and told him it wasn't going to happen. I had to play the mom card and practically dragged him there. I knew it would be good for him.

And wouldn't you know, God wanted to bless Gabriel. He gave him exactly what he desired. The school drew Gabe's name! I would question what the odds of that happening are, but that's not the point at all. That was the favor of God! Since the book is scheduled to come out next week, I thought it was impossible. God sure did show me.

What's exciting to me is the fact that they even chose that book to give away. Normally, when you give a door prize you have it in your possession. You don't even think twice about giving a door prize with the promise of receiving it later. I believe God wanted to bless Gabe with that book before we even made the decision to show up that night. God knew I would make the decision that day to attend the reading night. He set the plan in motion before the thought was even there for Gabe to ask. What a unique and powerful example of God's love.

We are so blessed by God! Every good thing comes from Him. "My cup overflows with blessings... Your unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life." Psalm 23:5-6