Me and the Remote.

Last week I said that I would write about how God pulled everything together to get Fanny moved. It was an exciting weekend, all right, but God seems to delight in revealing the details of His plan as it unfolds, not ahead of time as we would like him to do. To whit:

Thursday morning the call came that a room was available and that we had to make an almost immediate decision. That moment of decision was akin to my jumping off the cliff. The landing point would be Monday evening when Fanny and the last of her things were unloaded and she was safely inside her room at the Manor and all her stuff with her.

(In contrast to all that had to transpire to get the job done, that last sentence was awfully easy to write!)

The first step was “how to get her there” by the deadline we were given. By Friday afternoon the use of a wheelchair van had been offered for which I was most grateful (Thank you to all who had a part in that complicated bit of the story!)

Then the weekend hit. To make a long story short, I put in a brutal weekend at work. I worked a very long day on Friday, then was called back in to do an overnight awake that same night. Home at 10 a.m. Saturday, I went back in for 4 hours that afternoon and then ended up working another overnight awake on Sunday night to boot. By noon Monday as I was leaving the office, I was fried to a crisp. I had no idea where the energy was going to come from to get Fanny and her things into the van and get her moved. I had been praying all weekend about how it was going to happen, but things just went from the ridiculous to the sublime. Not one of my nine kids was available to help and Ron was speaking to a couple of hundred lawyers by video conferencing, so I couldn’t look to him.

As I snaked down the winding street toward home, I passed another one of our group homes. In the driveway, I saw the manager’s vehicle and a sudden thought struck me. Lesley-Ann lives in Barrie and her husband works the afternoon shift! Maybe she wouldn’t mind giving me a few hours that evening. I pulled into the driveway and two minutes later I was in her office saying, “Whatcha doin’ tonight?”

“Nothing! Why?”

Before letting her know how much I needed her, Lesley-Ann was already offering to help. I also had an offer from Belidna, so I knew I could call on her if needed too. I stumbled home in order to grab two whole hours of sleep that afternoon. I picked up the van at 5;00 and then picked up Lesley-Ann at her house. We drove over to Grove Park Home and loaded up Fanny and the van with all her stuff. What merriment ensued! We were kind of like the Keystone Kops, with Fanny directing, but we got the job done! As we pulled out of the parking lot, it was evident that we were going to need Belinda on the other end to help unload. I called her on my cell phone and though the busiest person in the entire world with more relationships to maintain than the entire population of Montreal, she was just as eager as Lesley-Ann to help. She met us at the Manor in Beeton, and as she and Lesley-Ann unloaded the “stuff”, I pushed Fanny up the ramp to her new home. I arranged to be in the nurses station signing papers and stuff while the others did all the work of unloading and setting up her room. What a God-send they were. With only 2 hours sleep in the previous 36 hours, I don’t know what I would have done without them. I guess that’s why God sent them along. Belinda even drove back with us to Barrie to get my car for fear I would fall asleep on the way home.

I am leaving out many, many details through which the sum total of all of them, God showed himself very strong, and very capable on mine and Fanny’s behalf. I had committed my way to him that day – my “impossible” way in the natural and he took on the problem, ironed out the details and supplied all the help needed to accomplish His will. In the midst of it all, there was much laughter and the blessing of friendship and an adventure shared.

A special thank you to Belinda and Lesley-Ann for being so willing to say “yes” to God and for being so much fun along the way. And thank you to Frances, too, for being the most willing of all though God had other plans for her in the end that night.

And thank you Father God for showing me once again, how faithful and how good you truly are.

Last week I was so tired (that is an incredible understatement) and I had no idea how at the end of my shift on Monday morning how I was going to get Fanny moved. I gave the problem to Him, God answered, gave me strength, sent help and it was accomplished. I was absolutely exhausted – beyond exhausted – at the end of it all.

That was last weekend. Tonight I am writing this from a beautiful hotel room, the “sleep number” perfectly set on my kingsize bed, the remote for the TV within reach for when the movie starts (“Becoming Jane”) in just a few minutes. I’ll be home tomorrow, but until then, I’m enjoying being responsible for “just me” and not another soul on earth.

God is good. He sure is.

Sigh!

Click.