The past week has been sooo busy for me. My husband and son are heading out tomorrow on their first mission trip together. They will be helping clean up the mess left by hurricane Ike. Since they are working in an area still without electricity, they must take food that doesn't need to be refrigerated or cooked. We don't buy alot of packaged foods, so that was a new shopping experience for me. I can't believe what all you can buy in a can! Is it just me, or does meat in a can seem gross to anyone else? I know we have all eaten tuna out of a can, but anything else just seems nasty to me. Anyway, I have been all over town (meaning every suburb of Dallas) trying to find rubber boots, work boots, gloves, hardhats, masks, jeans, socks, etc. I thought I could just run to Walmart and get most supplies...wrong. They don't carry hardhats or rubber gloves or more than 2 pkgs of N95 masks per location. sigh. Home Depot was my next destination and while they had most of what I needed, they did not have everything. Did ya'll know that boots in a men's size 7 1/2 are nearly impossible to find? Not kidding. My son wears an 8 in tennis shoes, but needed a smaller size in boots. Kid sizes generally stop at 6 or 7 and men's start at 8. WHAT?? What about the poor pre-teen who needs a stinkin' 7 1/2??? Someone needs to do some more detailed market research on shoe sizes. Wanna hire me? I can tell you EXACTLY what stores don't carry this in-between kid and grown-up size. (HELLO, Target, old friend, you failed me) I did finally find him some boots yesterday at Walmart. Had I looked at Walmart before yesterday? Why yes, yes I did. The Walmart I went to first did not carry his size in a boot that was reasonably priced. I found them at our local Walmart for what I thought was a fair price considering he will have them totally trashed by the time he gets home.
Several times this week God has amazed us. Why are we always amazed when He blesses us? Especially in times we are being obedient? Shouldn't we EXPECT everything to work out for our good? Well, I didn't. I got caught up in worrying about how we will pay the bills with Jeff being off work for a week, how will we pay for all of these supplies, will I find everything they need??? Of course I not only found all they need, we had TONS of supplies donated from our home school group, church (we are just visitors and they helped!), and friends & family. I am talking about enough for them to share with others. Jeff and I were discussing finances a few nights ago and were pondering where the money will come from for gas, food, etc. We recently committed to not using the credit card AT ALL now that we have no debt. We prayed, decided it was going to work out fine, and went to bed. The next morning, the first call I received was a family member saying they are sending a check! I then took my son to math class and a friend gave me a Walmart gift card for the trip! The total of these two gifts was more than we needed!! God is amazing. We are not worthy. Again, why do I worry?
I have learned several lessons through this experience. 1) I need to trust God because He is trustworthy even when (especially when) I have no idea how He's going to pull it off. 2) I am not the "behind the scenes, quiet servant" I have always thought I was...I was u-p-s-e-t that no one (read- husband) thanked me for working so hard and organizing so much...I am a B-R-A-T. Plain and simple. It's ugly and I don't like it. 3) I am proud of my guys for doing something I would not do. This will be dirty, hard work and they are excited about it. Who am I kidding? Wouldn't all boys like getting dirty and possibly seeing snakes and alligators while serving the Lord?
Please pray for our family this week. For the boys while they are working hard and for us girls as we stay home. (slumber party Wed. night..woo hoo!) We are under attack and several battles have been lost already in preparing for this trip. We don't want to lose any more...we want to be joyful and victorious!
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