Last month I spoke of surprises, some good and some not so great.

I had no more than emailed my column in to our editor, than a knock on the door, and who is standing there with a big grin but Randi Ackerman, the manager from Kingston Crossing Albertsons. With him was a lovely young lady holding flowers and a Valentine box of chocolates for us, and Randi had a gift of batteries for my husband Don’s hearing aids in his hand.

The day before this we had stopped by Albertsons to see if Don’s batteries had come in yet. He had asked a time before about why there weren’t any on the display shelf. The person he had talked to thought they might have run out of them, and possibly on reorder.

In talking again with one of the checkers, she didn’t know anything about the request, but, always helpful, gave Don a number to call with his questions. Reaching home he made the call and talked with a very understanding fellow who assured him that he would check it out and call the next day.

You can imagine our surprise in seeing this smiling couple at our door with gifts in hand on the day before Valentine’s Day. More importantly, just knowing Randi and his co-worker had gone out of their way to personally come and see us, letting Don know they were taking care of his request, was the nicest gift of all.

Sure, we could shop elsewhere, but since we are used to Albertsons and it’s close to home, we certainly would like to continue trading there. We have always been treated with courtesy and fairness.

Randi informed us that the brand of batteries Don had always used had been discontinued, but they would make sure that another brand with the same number would be in stock when he needed them. Thank you Randi, and young lady, whose name slipped past me because I was so awed by your visit. It reminded me of the good old days when the customer was appreciated for his patronage and stores went out of their way for you.

Pastor Cal White, of Redeemer United Methodist Church, had quite a nice surprise for his growing flock this year. For some time the pastor had been planning on having couples who would like to renew their marriage vows be given the opportunity to do so. And he could not have picked a more memorable-romantic day, “Valentine’s Day,” which fell on a Sunday this year. There were 28 couples who renewed their relationship to one another. Four of these sets came from our own family, a daughter and two granddaughters, spouses, and of course Don and me.

The pastor didn’t know how many might come forward, but it turned out more than he had really expected. After the lovely service all were reintroduced to the congregation and given a certificate of renewal. There was a beautiful cake in the narthex where, Hal Muhrlein, the church photographer, took photos of each couple while cutting a piece of cake. One of my comical great-granddaughters remarked “Gee, granny, this is great since I wasn’t invited the first wedding!” (Honey, you weren’t even thought of back then.)

There are now four generations within the Thornton family who have been baptized and attend Redeemer, from the ages of two and half years old to 81. This Easter is Redeemer UM Church’s 16 anniversary. The first service was Easter 1994.

Thank you pastor and Linda, for giving us the vision and faith to do what some people deemed the impossible. We built a congregation, bought property and then built the church mission building

We believe in miracles. God Bless you.