Apparently, my affections CAN be bought

Seems like life is bring lots of changes my way this year. One that I haven't been terribly fond of facing has been the idea of changing our insurance plan. I've now come to terms with the reality that as of July 1 we will be in the hands of an entirely new group of health care providers.

I kind of liked the ones we already had. *sniff sniff*

Ah, but who am I to complain? Thinking of so many around the world who don't have the easy access to doctors and hospitals, and many in our own country and neighborhoods who have lost jobs and therefore their coverage, I've come full circle to accept that any heath care is good right now!

So when we were invited to an open house at the brand new medical facility that we will soon call "our" doctor's office, I was on board.

Skeptical, but on board.

I think it was completely God's hand that we ran into our neighbor about 23 seconds after we walked in the door. She lives across the street and just happens to work for the health care company we are switching to. She mostly works with Medicare patients, but she was there for the grand opening and it was comforting to see her beaming smile.

We took the nickel tour, asked some questions, and even got to chat for a few minutes with the pediatrician our kids will most likely see. She was friendly, engaging, and she knew about Kawasaki's and immediately asked about Josiah's heart. She ensured us he would be able to continue seeing the same cardiologist, as they also network with Children's Hospital.

I liked her!

As we ended our tour, there were tons of free activities for the kids: they each got a balloon thingy made for them (I can't call them animals, really, as Lucy's was Sleeping Beauty and Joey got a fishing pole and fish), Lucy got sparkly cherries painted on her hand (they gave the kids their choices of fruits or veggies -- very health-conscious of them), and there were massive vats of plastic beads, pipe cleaners, glitter, paper, string, and googly eyes to make virtually any craft one could imagine.

We were facing closing time of the open house, but were nonetheless ushered toward the free food. We managed to happily scarf down huge fresh fruit and granola yogurt parfaits, but we took our croissant sandwiches to go.

On the way out, they asked if we wanted some free vegetables.

Um, yes, please!

One of the benefits of being the last out the door: a large reusable bag loaded with fresh green beans, fingerling potatoes, and a few radishes, all locally grown and straight from the Parker Farmer's Market.

So I walked out with a smile on my face, croissants for dinner, a load of fresh veggies for the rest of the week, and a renewed sense of confidence that even when change occurs against our will or desire, God still has us in the palm of His hand.

Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"