4/18/2011

It's Monday. I'm still reeling from lack of sleep and stress from the weekend.

For me, it all started Friday night. We got our son put to bed around 7 pm and were having a usual evening.

Then the phone rang. It was our foster agency asking if we would be willing to take in a sibling group of girls ages 6, 5, and 3. We said yes, absolutely yes! [By the way, these calls are always bittersweet. Yes, it means we can help out, to do what we have been trained and prepared to do. But it also means that children are in danger or hurting, which is always heart-breaking]

I prepared to pick up the girls from their school, about a 25 minute drive from our home. I took off, while my husband stayed home with our children (since our son was in bed already).

On my way there, our van died. It's old. We were told by a mechanic a few months ago that it was "on its last leg." Well, it died while I was in transit.

We do not own cell phones, so I walked to a nearby house and borrowed their phone to call my hubby. He called a neighbor to come watch our kids. He hopped in the car to come pick me up... but not before taking another call from our foster agency. This time they were calling to say that upon further investigation, the children are going to be staying with a friend of the family and not detained in foster care so we don't need to come. [By the way, we rejoice in the fact that the children can be kept together and be safe in an environment with friends of the family. This is the next best situation to them being at home with their parents.]

My hubby came and met me, filled me in on the situation and looked over the van. Yes, it was dead. He couldn't revive it. We pushed it to a legitimate parking spot on the side of the street and rode home together in our car. [By the way, after hearing that our van was about to die last fall, we purchased a super cheap, really old but running used car - for which we are now very thankful]

So the weekend that was already somewhat packed with activities and projects became even busier as we now shared a vehicle and shopped for a new van. [By the way, we are so thankful for a large tax refund we received this year and have been holding onto for the purchase of another van, when our van died]

That's where we find ourselves currently. Still sharing a vehicle. No used van has been found to purchase. We did get our van to a fix-it shop where they will look at it today. If it's a cheap fix, we can go with it. If not, we will not put much money into a van that we already know has some other major issues.

I'm tired. It was a much different weekend than what we had anticipated. But we are trusting that God is at work in this situation - both to work it out for our good and to grow Holy Spirit fruit in our lives. We're thankful that the van died when I was alone, as opposed to with 3 foster children I barely had met... or with my other 2 kids... or after dark... or in a worse part of town... or during our recent trip to Wisconsin... or any number of other things that would have been much worse!

As I recount all of this, I can so clearly see how God's hand has already been involved throughout this ordeal. He has prepared a second vehicle. He has given us wisdom to save up the tax refund money for a need such as we now have. He has protected and provided already. Thank You, Lord, for what You have done and will continue to do in this situation.

Over and out... zonked out! :-)