Wednesday came and went and still no call, and we were starting to get a little worried. It was getting harder to have a positive attitude too, seeing that most everything was in boxes and stored away in the truck. Thank goodness for those last few boxes of clothes and food that I hadn't gotten around to giving to Dennis to pack in the truck. Those boxes were our survival for two days. Ok-- that, and the Subway down the street.
But patience was wearing thin in "doing without". For instance, even though I had tried to remember to keep school uniforms separate and in the suitcase that we had for spare clothes, I had accidentally stored some away in the box in the living room and we had to dump everything out every time we needed to find something. This made school mornings chaotic and crazy. On top of that, Lucy had accidentally left her lunch box at school and I had already packed away all the brown bags we used as back-up lunches--and those were stored away in the truck and impossible to get to. Such a simple thing--brown bags. And yet I felt frustrated and helpless without them. I had to send Lucy to school with her sandwich and other food rolling around in her backpack.
So we "camped out" in our home for a few days; the kids sleeping on cots that they use for camping since their beds were stored away. Thankfully, Dennis had already planned ahead to save our bed for last and didn't bother to take it down after this whole USDA mess started up. Even the kids found camping to get tiresome after a while; their cots are so light-weight that if they don't sleep in the middle of the cot it will tip over. Several times during the night, I would awaken to the sound of a THUMP! and know that another kid tipped over in their cot.
We were also worried because we only had the moving truck for a certain amount of days and it had to be returned by Friday morning. We tried to get an extension but all trucks were booked for the week. Thursday was our last chance to close before returning the truck.We pretty much stopped packing the truck by Wednesday, seeing that it was pointless to pack up if we just had to unpack again and leave everything in the garage.
Thursday came and again we were hopeful. I tried to focus on things to distract me--for instance, Anna's preschool graduation. Yes, I have pictures!
Afterwards, I went to Adoration because it was nearing 10:00 and still no call. I knew that the longer we didn't get a phone call, the less chance we had of making time to do a closing since everything had to be done before 3:00.
In Adoration I got the strength back that I needed. I find that when given a cross, it's the not the weight of the cross that makes me so weary, but my lack of strength in carrying it. I know a lot of people would look at our situation and shrug their shoulders because a lot of people go through this type of thing when moving. Some go through worse. I felt like a wimp and a loser because it's been hard for me and it had only been two days. Camping outside is harder and here I was camping inside and barely making it. How embarrassing.
The day went on with no phone call and we resigned ourselves to the fact that we had to empty the truck and return it. What a waste of time and money.
Luckily, our realtor pulled through for us and got the mortgage company to pay for another rental truck for us. They had been on the phone all afternoon, trying to find a moving company that had a rental and the only one that they could find was in Glencoe, which is about an hour away from here. So Dennis rounded up some help (some left work early to help us) and hopped in the car to drive for an hour to get the truck and drive back.
On top of all this, it was the day of Lucy's mock gymnastics competition. She had waited a full month for this and I paid extra money for her to attend so I didn't want her to miss it. I knew something was going to mess it up and here it was. With Dennis out in Glencoe getting the truck, he wasn't sure he would be back in time to watch the kids. I didn't want to bring the kids because I knew watching and trying to take pictures of Lucy at the same time would be nearly impossible. As it was, I only took Anna with me and watching her was hard enough. Thankfully, Dennis somehow did make it home with a new truck and trailer, and he and his wonderful friends tore through loading all that furniture from one truck to another within 3-4 hours.
Also thankfully, he got back in time so that I could bring Lucy to her gymnastics meet on time. It was cute and fun but not really worth the money I paid for. (Sorry Lucy!) It was really hard to watch because of so many parents in the way, and it was basically everything I had seen while I was watching her during her lessons. But still, she was proud of herself and "won" a little trophy and ribbons.
 | ||
| She was in Group K. |
 |
| Balance Beam competition |
After all this was done, when the day was just about to be over--FINALLY, it happened! We got a phone call from our mortgage people saying we got USDA approval. I was practically cheering over the phone and expected them to join in my excitement but those people must not get away from their desks very often.
Yep, just when you think God has pushed you as far as you can go, made you give more than you got, and ready to give up, He finally pushes the "Go" button, and everything that had come to a complete standstill suddenly starts moving again. Just like that.
We are closing tomorrow, unless God has some other trials in mind.
Can't wait. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment