Continued Blessings....

Getting ready to go away has been an unusual amount of work and extra costs that we should have thought about but so many of them were unforeseen!  One of the costs has been getting the van ready for a long drive full of children and gear.  We got it tuned up which was the first miracle - the mechanic told us nothing was wrong!  We made sure the a/c was working and, again, shockingly, it was a very cheap fix.  Yesterday we got another shocker.

Our windshield needed to be replaced as it had a huge crack in it and, I'm not sure if it was related, but the rear-view mirror came off, too, so we definitely needed to do something about that.  We've recently connected with a young couple whose husband is in the windshield repair business.  Much to our shock, he generously did the repair without charging us just as a gesture of friendship.  We were stunned, overwhelmed and in awe.  We prayed as a few of us headed out later that afternoon that the Lord would bless them for their kindness as it was such a blessing to us (thank you, dear friends!)

My husband started work on the basement.  He had been dreading it as it was going to be a boatload of hard work.  The very day he was going to start I was reading in Exodus and came across the perfect verse to encourage him.  "e.g...the Lord has called by name Bezalel....and he has filled him will skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft."  (Exodus 35:30-35).   It was the exact encouragement he needed, especially the stone cutting part, as he was going to be doing a lot of stone cutting (concrete!).  I prayed that exact verse for him as he felt he had no plan on how to start.  But I know God has gifted him with the exact skill and intelligence that he will need.

More expense though.  However, more blessings!  When my husband went to return the jack hammer he had rented to start taking apart our basement, he realized he was a couple hours over the time limit, but was prepared to pay the extra money.  Yet, they ended up charging him more than he expected.  He questioned them at first and then just said, "Fine, I'll pay....". The guy at the desk stopped and said, "Was this for your personal use?"  "Yes."  "I'll see what I can do....".  Hmmm...... my husband wondered what he was up to.  He ended up giving him a fantastic deal, charging him basically half-price for the use of the machine.  He couldn't believe it.  The guy at the desk said, "There's a lot of people that come in and try to rip us off.  When an honest guy comes in, we try to give 'em a break."  Another miracle.  To top it off, he now does have a plan and he knows he can do it.  By doing the work himself  he'll saves us thousands of dollars.

I ended up spending the evening with some long lost second cousins who are in Toronto for a vacation.  It was a wonderful reunion as we'd never met each other's children and hadn't seen each other in 18 years.  Other cousins came over for a visit, too, and we were able to catch up a little on each other's lives.  What I was so glad for was the common bond of Christ I sensed as we all seemed to open up a bit.  I realized upon driving home how unusual that must be and how grateful I need to be for this.  Each cousin, though perhaps in a different spiritual place in their walk, was raised to have faith in God and it was clear based on all the trials each of us have been through, that the only hope that we all have is that God is in control.  What a legacy for all the grandparents represented there last night and even great-grandparents as I know they all came from a strong faith background as well.  Such a neat night of encouragement.

Today, a young mom who is exploring homeschooling is coming over.  My yard is a mess, as my lawn mowing boy is still on this missions trip, but I won't let that stop me from having her come.  My older children are having quite the experience at this world religions training week.  They've had a chance to interview a Muslim leader as well as a Hindu leader and they've all come back wondering how people follow these religions at all as they just don't make sense in my children's eyes.  It's given them a greater sense of urgency to share their faith.  Today they'll be handing out the Jesus Film in Niagara Falls.

Yesterday I was quite convinced I lived in a Bugs Bunny cartoon though.  One of our cats found out we have baby chicks.  It just so happens that this cat looks just like Sylvester and the chicks, of course, are yellow, like Tweety Bird.  Sure enough, the cat somehow found his way into the chick's box when the lid was slightly ajar and grabbed one.  We were chasing this cat all over the yard while "Tweety Chick" was peeping the whole time.  Finally, we got the chick out of his mouth, just like Sylvester, with cat saliva all over the silly chick.  That same cat then snuck into our van without me knowing.  About half-way to my mom's house we found out we had a stowaway.  "Mom!  Moo's in the car!"  Sure enough, he ended up joining us for the evening, but staying in the van as I knew if he got out he'd be a goner.  I'm pretty sure he was carsick the whole way home as his meowing kind of gave that away.

That was just one day!  God continues to amaze me in His big and small mercies.