Looking for it

Wow! What an unexpected day! K lets see, let's begin at the beginning...Last night we (kids and all) were up until midnight visiting, having a great time with some friends. No problem, we all (cept H) slept in until 9. Around 10 I got a phone call from this man I had called about a dinning room table I saw on craigslist last week. Table sounded good, nice guy, nice neighborhood good price. Since we had just been up at Pottery Barn Outlet looking the price seemed pretty sweet too. So I called H and got clearance to go check it out an buy it if I liked it since our table of 13 years had seen better days and did not really fit in the new kitchen, I went.

I wanted to call my dear friend to see if she she and her 'Burb could come with me but I did not want her to have to use the gas to drive across town in said 'Burb and with her 4 kids. So we were heading out the door when the SAME dear friend called and asked if I could watch 2 of her boys while she drove across town to drop off a bet she was selling. As it turned out it was 1 mile from where I needed to go so we loaded all the kids in my van the bed in her 'Burb and headed out. A few needed stops and a bed sold we headed to get the table.

Now the nice man who sold me the table had had shoulder surgery and should not have been helping us load so my dear friend and I made a big deal of how we could handle it and we were independent and strong, yadayadayada. Trying to make the guy feel better about not being able to help, you know in a typical womanly way. So we get it loaded in kids and all and head for my house for a day of kids playing and girlfriend chatting. I am out on point. (ring) "Jenn, my car died I must have run out of gas." Now in her defense the light was not on so she had no warning but we were on a steep incline for a bit and she was low. So what do you do? Laugh? yes. Pray? yes Push the 'Burb out of the road with the van? umm yes just don't tell H. So who ya gonna call? You guessed it the nice man with the bum shoulder. So Jim comes to the rescue of the fiercely independent "strong and resourceful" out of gas women. LOL LOL ROTF LOL! He looked as if he grew a few inches as he came over to help with a 2 gallon gas can. He was even kind enough to go buy the gas (dear friend paid) for us and put it in. Can you say gracious? Oh but the story is not over yet. It did not help, car did not start. So MY superman arrives with five more gallons of gas, 2 being an appetizer for a 35 gallon tank and we fill 'er up. No dice.

Now we have been waiting on the curb for about 2 hours at this point us and our 7, SEVEN, children. But here is how gracious God is...we were on the lawn of someone who had very nice soft grass. We were under a remarkably cool shady tree. Jim allowed us to take all seven kids to the bathroom at his house and gave us all gatoraid to drink. Jim was around the corner and was able to help. My dear friend and I were together during this breakdown (we cannot confirm that she was out of gas). Our kids were soooo good with only a few breakdowns of the 3 and 4 yo kind. My DH was not working in a store so was able to drop it all and come to the rescue. Her DH was able to come and the 2 manly men were able to tow the 'Burb safely 30 miles with his truck and tow straps in a little less than an hour. My dear friend brought me pad thai for dinner after I made a quick spaghetti dinner for the kids. I Oh and I got a new kitchen table and chairs!


But here is the part that blessed me the most when we were all back at the house sitting around the the new round dinning room table, H and the 2 dear friends were all looking for it. What is it? The spiritual lesson. We all wanted to know what God was trying to teach us through this day. I was humbled to be with these wonderful people, to have been through this with them and to watch them look for the voice of God in it all.

For me it was peace in the midst of Chaos. It was a good day for me. I was just so blessed to see how gracious He was to take care of us in this semi trial. It reminded me that he NEVER promised that life would be problem free, just that He would see us through and He did. Now my dear friend was having a Jonah kind of a week and was relating to him so much that we thought it funny that we were literaly sat under this shade tree. (fortunatly it did not die, and no worms were seen. If there had been a worm it would have been quickly squashed.)

The other 3 were still looking for their spiritual lessons and I can't wait to hear them if they feel like sharing. But this was the day that the Lord had made and I am rejoicing in it, gladly.