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Imagine Terry Hardin’s surprise when a red balloon floating in the sky started moving directly towards him. Attached to the balloon was a slightly torn ‘Dear Santa’ letter written by a young child.

According to Fox5 San Diego, the letter was from a 5-year-old girl named Joie. The little girl and Hardin’s mom, who had only recently passed away, both spelled their names exactly the same. The note read:  “Dear Santa, I would like to have a mermaid doll with a bow for Christmas. Thank you, Love Joie.

Hardin was determined to find the child connected to the letter. He scrounged around the social media site Facebook, until he discovered that the Santa letter was part of a kindergarten class project from a school about 15 minutes away from where he lived. A class taught by Mrs. Garay at the St. Rose School in Chula Vista, California had written letters to Santa at the ‘North Pole’ and attached each to a red or green balloon. The children then released their balloons into the sky in hopes their requests would reach Santa.

All of the balloons took off smoothly except for one. “Joie’s balloon was the only one that wasn’t taking off at the time when we let go of our balloons, so we ripped off the corner of hers to make it lighter, and there it went; off into the air,” Garay told Fox5.

Not only did Hardin buy a mermaid doll for Joie, but he also decided to purchase a few more for other students in the class. He is making arrangements to have the dolls delivered to the school.

In the meantime, Hardin is convinced that the balloon was definitely heaven-sent.