Papi! (PART 3...LAST PART)

READ PAPI (PART 2) BEFORE YOU READ THIS!!!

"Oh, my gosh! There's the family!"  Sure enough there they were, the papi and the mami, the father with the little one straddling his shoulders, and the mother. The little girl spotted the two of us and started waving.  We waved back. The whole family approached. "Our little girl says that you were the one who found her and helped her," said the father, looking only at my husband.  Jean-Pierre was taken aback and replied, "Well, I teach young children so I recognized that she was in trouble."  He then went on to explain just what had happened. "We can't thank you enough," said the father.  "Yes, thank you, thank you," added the mother. "Thank you, sir. Thank you for finding my granddaughter," said the papi. "Thank you very much." said the mami.  "Say thank you to the gentleman, honey," the mother said to the little one.  "Thank you!"  The adults all shook Jake's hand, not even glancing at me, and blended once more into the crowd.  "Well, that was pretty incredible," I said. "Did you notice that they didn't thank me at all? They gave you all the thanks!"  Jean-Pierre sat quietly, pondering what had just happened, smiling contentedly. I pressed my point, "Did you notice that they didn't thank me once," I asked. "That's because I didn't need their thanks and God knew you did, so He gave you all of their thanks."

The following day, we visited a very large, very busy mall in a town about fifteen kilometres away.  Hundreds and hundreds of cars filled the lot, so finding a place to park was almost as painful as it had been the day before. We did a bit of shopping and decided to call it a day.  Exiting through one of the many doors, I saw that God was working His wonders once again....we came face to face with the father, his little girl on his shoulders, and the mother!  The little girl was all smiles. We adults were shocked beyond speech, to see each other again. Jean-Pierre and I were particularly amazed because except for his immediate family, we knew absolutely no one at all who lived around there.  With the throngs of people everywhere, who could ever imagine that we would run into the only other people we 'knew'?

"Hello," we all said at once.  No one knew what to say next.  Finally the father spoke to my husband.  "Thank you so much for what you did yesterday."  "Yes, thank you very, very much," his wife agreed.  "Thank you," added the little one. We all stood there awkwardly. "Well, goodbye, and thank you again." They took their leave, leaving Jean-Pierre almost gasping at the encounter. "Why did that happen? What does it mean," he asked wonderingly.  "God is showing you how much He loves you!  You needed the thanks and He made sure that you got them...two days in a row! Notice that they didn't thank me again," I quipped happily.