Sometimes I amaze myself. More often, life amazes me!

This is the view of one of my two spare bedrooms yesterday morning. It’s a mess, of course. Until a few months ago, all of this stuff — yarn, craft supplies, photos and memorabilia, etc — was neatly stored in boxes and bins, ready for me to deal with this summer. A few months ago, on a rainy weekend, I decided to get a jump on the chore. I began unpacking boxes, but life interfered mid-way through the task, so I shut the door and ignored the mess.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours finishing the job. That’s not the amazing part. But to explain, I need to go back in time just a bit.

In a blog post from over a month ago (Taylor Swift and Me), I shared that on May 30 I would be making an announcement.

My daughter had just told me she and my son-in-law are expecting their first child (and my first grandchild!!), and I was bursting at the seams to share the news. But I couldn’t.

Their plans at the time were to tell close family only, but to hold off on telling extended family and friends until May 30. That meant I could share the news with my own friends on that date — 05.30.  That was to be my exciting announcement.

I should have known better. My daughter, by her own admission, has never been able to keep a secret. Family lore is rich with cute stories of her spilling the beans about Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, Mothers Day and Fathers Day gifts . . . I think you get the point.

So I wasn’t all that surprised when they decided to share the good news on Mothers Day.

As I began sharing with my own friends and on social media, I realized I now had nothing exciting to share on 05.30, but I figured something would come up.

It did. And as a result, I spent a couple of hours yesterday sorting through the stuff on the floor and in the boxes and bins in the spare bedroom. I packed some things back neatly, put quite a few items in the garage for a sale in June, and discarded a large trash bag full of stuff. Now the room looks like it did before.

I didn’t sort through all the stuff and tidy the room in order to create room for a crib and other baby supplies.

My daughter and son-in-law have asked if I’d be willing to move to where they live and babysit their precious little one after he/she arrives. After prayerful consideration, I knew it was what I needed and wanted to do!

So I got to work on the spare bedroom and decided late last night to write this blog and share the news today.

And then I looked at the calendar. I was amazed.

You see, I’d given up on having something exciting to share on 05.30. I was planning to sort of slink on past the day, with no announcement, hoping that nobody would call me on the fact that I didn’t deliver as promised.

But now I do have an exciting announcement — I’m going to be selling my house and moving!!

A little thing perhaps, but I see it so often when I pause and look back over even the simplest chain of events.

I make my schedule and my lists, and I think I have things all lined out.

Then something or someone comes along and throws my well-ordered plans into disarray.

But while I’m dealing with the mess, trying to tidy things into a new neat schedule and lists, something amazing happens.

It all falls into place.

Without me.

And it’s better than my original plan.

It’s amazing!