Well, where should I begin? There is much to process. The hardest and most scary part of this story hasn't been fully thought through nor has it resolved itself entirely, so I will begin where I can. Starting with this, Praise You Lord for keeping Roy safe and unharmed during the meet and great with the young man that robbed him at gun point in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot in Mobile, Alabama. Thank you for keeping Roy calm so that he didn't do anything that startled the young man to take physical action against him. Thank you Lord for keeping me safe on the drive to Mobile during a particularly rainy day and in those moments before reaching Mobile when the rain was so heavy, it was difficult to see the road. We praise God for the encouragement extended and prayers lifted on our behalf by friends and family.
Sometimes in novels the author begins with the ending so readers can traverse the story with some knowledge in hand. We arrived home around 1:30, to sunny skies and cool temps. That last two hours of the trip was beautiful and scenic, low level clouds draping the trees and heights. We passed by the antique mall we love to walk through and those little local restaurants that we've planned on visiting in the spring. We saw state parks that we didn't know anything about and made a note to add these to our list of photography spots. As we came closer to home we only made a pit stop at a rest area. While always believing we live in a beautiful and wonderful place, the colors of the soon to be winterized trees, the blue sky and the bright white clouds looked even more spectacular. Think we were both appreciating our circumstance of coming back home because it could have been a much different ending. When we arrived home, I said to Roy in honor of your retirement, let me unlock and open the doors for you...oh laughter, thank you for your buoyancy to our spirits. Our welcoming committee of The Feral Fam greeted and ran. We were sure they were running away in joy to spread the good news of Roy's arrival...truthfully, they probably ran to tell the others not in attendance, lunch would be served soon. I had briefed Roy on the status that I was in the midst of last minute cleanup, when I learned his news. Being in shock, I couldn't think clearly...just did what had to be done in order to get out on the road as soon as possible. So, the crock pot got unplugged. I got cleaned up, decided on no makeup, wore a Baylor Christmas shirt because it was multicolored and would hide food stains if any food dropped onto my shirt because of on the road eating. Wore the best fitting jeans possible, grabbed a rain coat and a puffer vest, made sure I had a mask or two and hit the road. I forgot to take my meds before leaving nor did I bring any with me. No changes of clothes for us...nothing. Just a cooler with drinks, power bars and Lance Cheese and peanut butter crackers. Only the essentials to sustain. Getting back to getting home, we walked in and there was unfinished toast on a plate, coffee mug filled, notes on the desk getting ready to be assembled into a Sunday School lesson and various things out of place. Roy turned to me and said, we have returned to a house where surely the person who lived here was raptured. Things here and there, unmade bed, clothes in the dryer, clothes in the washer, rewashed them last night, just the general disarray of a home left in a hurry. A raptured house, now that is funny.
Another moment that has given us a few smile, the realization of stuff lost. Most stuff doesn't matter but a few things do. Saturday night, in the middle of the night I sat up in bed, asked Roy was your mouth guard in the car? Yes. Eddie Bauer jacket that keeps one warm to 32 degrees below zero? Yes. Of course the gingerbread men, gone and the Goode Company BBQ sauce too. Thankfully, like Paul we can say, bring the books and the parchments...we don't have parchments except for the baking sheet kind. The movers have all our books. Just thought of this, but my mother's little glass doll, gone. And her little china set and my china set from childhood, gone. Oh, and the Bethlehem glass vases and such from trips to Israel, gone. Our Burma Shave sign and our English stained glass windows. That's okay, these losses hurt a little but not a lot. I'd rather have Roy than all those things. Maybe someone has written a song similar to this thought.
In the midst of driving to Mobile, my brother Doug called to check on us. It wasn't maybe an hour or so later I got a text from him saying, my day is about as good as yours. He had been t-boned at a light, he had green, the other car, red light. It pushed his big ol' truck on its side. Both he and the other driver walked away without injuries. On one weekend, December 18th, I could have lost my hubs and my brother. So thankful that they are both okay.
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The rest of the day was filled with a couple of errands, a lot of online work and waiting on the phone for the next representative. Out of all the people Roy talked with yesterday, their was only one person who was so rude and I might add when he confirmed what he thought to be his drivers license number with the first representative, she said yes that's it and not you are a number off. We couldn't do anything online for a replacement till he called again, waited again and the helpful young man at Texas Public Safety customer service was wonderful. We got that in motion, talked with insurance people, took that car off the Harris County Toll Road account and a lot more. The detective called, no news but asked for us to check out gas cards for activity. Just our activity, thankfully. He got the process started to have his meds refilled. Our break for the day was grocery shopping and getting our Christmas meal together.
We also made one purchase of a big cutting board. While fixing a pizza Sunday and I moved the crock pot over and it accidentally turned on a burner, the burner I had the cutting board on top of. Thought why isn't this board level, picked it up and it looked like melted marshmallow cream but no it was the white cutting board. Guess we could use the board as a funnel. Living on the edge I tells ya.
We pray for this young man to come to know Jesus. I was telling Dena yesterday, I had asked the Lord to give us wisdom in ridding ourselves of stuff. Note to self, be more specific when praying that kind of prayer.
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