Surprised speechless!

I talk a lot. Actually, I talk TOO much ... on a regular basis ... and it's almost impossible for me to talk without using my hands ... you know, waving them around a lot to help me express myself. But I've been sitting here at my computer really struggling to find words to help me tell this next little story. I suppose I should start at the beginning!

Several weeks ago, our main kitchen (we have TWO very small kitchens ... long story) oven would not heat up ... basically, it was NOT working. So Mr. Jones took it apart to see what the problem was. In the meantime, while he was figuring it out, we just used our other oven in the other small kitchen through the hallway and into the room we use as a family room. That oven was working just fine, so ... no big deal! Mr. Jones discovered that the igniter had gone bad in our main kitchen oven so he simply replaced it for a cost of about $70. I was impressed. After all, I couldn't take apart an appliance ~ let alone discern what the problem was and actually FIX it ~ and then put it back together again. No way.

Yesterday, however, that very same oven that Mr. Jones "fixed" several weeks ago ... broke again. Did I tell you this oven is at least 20 years old? So perhaps it was an "age" issue (getting old is kind of rough sometimes!) and would keep breaking every few weeks ... who could say? I casually mentioned that the oven was not working to Sabrina, who then told Andrew that our oven was busted. Honestly, I wasn't stressing out about the broken oven ~ after all, we did have ANOTHER one that worked just fine ... and God certainly wouldn't want me to whine like a spoiled child just because I didn't have TWO working ovens anymore, would He?
But our favorite son-in-law got to thinking ... and his brain started spinning ...

... and he came to a very firm decision that we ought to have a new oven!

Last night was the last night Andrew and Sabrina, Olivia, Jackson and Karis were going to be with us. Sabrina kind of hinted that perhaps she and Andrew could slip away for just maybe two hours late in the evening and have a little "date night" together. As it was, Adam and Emily were over to help us "old folk" with the little kids ... so we sent them off with our blessings! We had NO idea what they were up to ... and also, that Adam and Emily were equal partners and co-contributors to this diabolical plan! So Grandpa Jones and Uncle Adam played baseball outside with Jackson (who, by the way, is an incredible little baseball player!) and Aunt Emily and I stayed inside with little Karis and did our cool foam ABC puzzles. After about an hour, our phone rang and it was Sabrina asking that I gather up the children and come outside to the front of the house because she and Andrew had a surprise to show everyone. I agreed to round up the family, and soon we were watching Andrew open up the back door of their van exposing a very LARGE box inside.

I was really baffled at this point because I could not figure out WHY Andrew and Sabrina would buy a huge present for their kiddos that they would have to haul all the way back to Texas ... when they arrived 10 days ago, their van was so packed FULL that they had to have a car-carrier on the top just to fit all of the suitcases, etc. What on earth were they thinking?!!!

Good grief! They opened the box and LOOK! A spanking brand new Frigidaire stove/oven ... for me and Mr. Jones! Our old broken one was quickly disconnected and taken out to the garage (yikes! The tile was SO yucky underneath). Sabrina cleaned up the back wall where all of the nasty grease and stains were, as well as the completely gross tile ... and then Adam and Andrew installed our beauteous oven!

It was a perfect fit!

I do LOVE shiny clean surfaces ... in fact, I had endeavored to clean our old oven so thoroughly, that I had wiped the numbers clean off the knobs ... I think the numbers floated down the drain with the extremely strong cleaner I was using. Missing numbers made setting the temp in the oven a little difficult!

I know the title of this post is "Surprised speechless!" and you are probably thinking I am certainly talking a lot trying to tell you this story ... but I am still without words to express the heartfelt love shown to us with this gift. We do thank Andrew and Sabrina, Adam and Emily, and have designated this our gift for the year (or more!) ~ both our birthday's, Father's Day and Mother's Day, as well as this coming Christmas! I successfully used our new oven this morning. It was so easy to set the oven temperature (because it is a digital one!) and I baked the crust to use for my cold vegetable pizza ~ and then at noon today, I baked lasagna and garlic bread for our Father's Day meal ... worked like a charm! :)