Moving: Part 2 (The Miracle Move)

Why is it that when you set a date for any major life event, all sorts of things happen to try and prevent or prolong that event from happening??? You know, all kinds of crazy things that seem to pick the worst possible timing to happen... Yep. That's what happened with us. But, you know.... God is a big God and He has everything under control... whether we realize it or not.

=======================================
[SUNDAY EVENING (2 days before the move)]
I walk in the door late Sunday night from running to the grocery store for Benadryl. (Our youngest child had decided to have unexplained hives that second day of moving and we wanted one more dose in his little body before we went to bed.) I see MM sitting in the middle of the floor looking tired and "weepy". Of course, I assume that being less than 48 hours away from a major moving deadline and having packed for about 18 hours a day the last two days in a row might have had a teeny-tiny influence on his emotions at that moment.

Me - "You O.K.?"
MM - "I'm just overwhelmed."
Me - "We'll get it all done, honey. You just go on to bed and tomorrow we'll keep packing."
MM - "That's not it."
Me - "Huh?"
MM - "I'm just… overwhelmed by all those people who just left our house. They just showed up...."
(Maybe I should just stop here and explain a bit.....)


[REWIND A BIT TO LAST SPRING]:
We finally were to a point where we could actually set a goal of moving in September. I think as soon as we started telling people, “Hey! We’re actually moving!”… life happened! MM’s work exploded, kid’s got sick, MM had another knee surgery, I was taking college courses, we traveled back and forth between states to look at houses, we couldn’t find a house, and we couldn’t find a truck… yada...yada….

Difficult or not, September came anyway and the time was upon us to move. We had both innocently thought our last couple of weeks we would pack like crazy and get it all done. Ha! (Note to self: have all packing done 2 weeks before you want to move... you will NOT have time to actually pack those last 2 weeks!!!) Between goodbye parties, honoring services and friends just wanting to have one last meal or one last Ranger party, one last important meeting, or one last test or .... When could we stop to pack?

Then, of course, MM was working crazy hours out of state and finishing one last project. Throw in the last activities the kids needed to complete and, well.... when could we stop to pack??? The calendar was literally full every night the week before we moved (and MM was working during the day).

The week before the move we had some dear friends from out of town stop by to bless us with dinner. They helped pack up dishes and photo frames while we visited, then we all enjoyed dinner. They looked around and said, "My... you still have a lot of work to do!" (umm... ya' think?)

I was selling furniture and packing non-essentials in between everything else happening. One week later though, it all came down to we had a five bedroom house to pack... in 4 days! Literally. Those nice people at the ABF Trucking Center would be coming to pick up their "relo cubes" and we had better have them ready to go. Besides... we had to physically be at the new address in time to meet up with those relo cubes.

Then came the rain. Oh, not a little rain... the biggest flooding seen in our State since 1919! There was no way under God's creation were we going to be through in time. NO WAY! [Can you say "STRESS"... with a capital "S"????]

It was now Saturday evening and we had company. My mom had come Friday night to see the kids’ last Tae Kwon Do testing. A neighbor came to grill out. A friend's family was there helping make special moving "cradles" for MM's equipment. MM was cleaning out the shed. We had been packing all day between everything else going on. I was in the kitchen cleaning up, making dessert and getting dishes out when my mom walks in and says, "What are you doing?!!!" "You need to be packing!" (ummm.... ya' think?)

At this point we are less than 3 days away and no where near packed. I just looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. What could we do? We were going as fast as we could and so much was happening to slow us down. It was downright depressing. We prayed that night with the kids (and Grandmother) for God to help us get the house packed.

======================================
[FAST FORWARD BACK TO SUNDAY EVENING:]

MM and I sat there on the floor humbled and overwhelmed. One friend had stopped by earlier that day and saw how much we still needed to do. He ran home and came back with part of his family to help us pack the rest of the day. Then another friend stopped by and saw the incredible need and said, "I can stay an hour..." (He left at about 10-12 hours later that night!) And they did this all in down pouring RAIN!

MM - "I'm just overwhelmed at the people who just left our house. They just showed up.... and worked like dogs... and nobody asked them to! I told them I'll never be able to repay them back... They just said, 'Pay it forward and help someone else.'!"
Me - [sitting beside him in the floor now, so tired I could barely move after two 18 hour days of moving boxes] "Yes. I do not know what we would have done without their help."

There were still two more days of packing to go. We got ready for bed and said our prayers and praised God for those people!

[THE AMAZING PARTS]

The AMAZING PART was that the next day.... they showed back up! With their families!!! And then another mother showed up to bring us dinner and helped for a while. Then another family came and brought more dinner and their whole family stayed and helped several hours!!! (In the middle of all of this, we still had people stopping by to say goodbye.) Somewhere around 11 p.m. they all left again! MM and I found ourselves in the floor one more time just in awe and what happened! We were exhausted... overwhelmed.... and just flat out blessed!

So... the REALLY AMAZING PART was that the following day.... they showed back up AGAIN!!!!! One entire family came back... then the mother that had brought food came back with her kids and stayed most of the day so she could list and then drive our donation items to the donation center. Then another mother that had brought food stopped by for an hour and helped after she had worked ALL NIGHT at her regular job.

That last day we were actually packing one last relo cube that the trucking company had brought us that morning while they were hauling off some of the other cubes. The funny part was that while we were finishing that last little bit the ABF driver came in the house and helped me take down a curtain that had been left in the kitchen!!!

I have to say that I am not really quite sure what to call it.... maybe the "spirit of helping".... I just know that I've never quite seen anything like it. People just showed up out of the woodwork and, well... HELPED! All of them had the greatest attitudes (even the truck driver).

We had never even asked anyone to come and help… they just did! At one point I looked around at the 10+ adults in the house and the 15+ kids and thought “What a circus we have!” But, you know, they were awesome. Even the kids helped out.

The last relo cube left and the truck and trailer were packed. We hugged the last of the packers goodbye and just sat in a big empty house amazed. We slept in sleeping bags that last night (on the floor again) and I just wondered if this was what Mary, the mother of Jesus, felt like when she just “pondered all these things in her heart?”

[FAST FORWARD a couple more days]
We have been on the road for a couple of days driving to our new home. MM gets a phone call from that couple that had visited us the week before our move. He tells them about our incredible move and the people who just came out of the woodwork to help us. Our friend says to MM, “Good. My wife has been specifically praying since we left your house that God would send people to help you pack and move! And He did!”
(ummm…. Ya’ think!)



[FAST FORWARD even a few more days]
One of the men who helped us move called MM up to see how we were doing. They chatted a while, then our friend shared his take on the move. He said he was out driving home and just felt compelled to come by and see us one more time before we moved. Then he came by and saw the need…….


I have to tell you that MM and I were exhausted and weary from everything else we had going on in life. We certainly weren’t in the best of character during our move. [I think I only had about 3-4 “woman fits” during the whole process.] Packing up an entire home with four children is an emotional feat in and of itself. We certainly didn’t feel like incredibly spiritual people. But, there again, we have an incredibly spiritual God whose got everything under control.

We are so grateful for our special “packers” who just followed that tugging of their heart and came to help us move. If we missed telling any one of you how wonderful it was to watch you work and how blessed we felt… I’m telling you now! Hugs and blessings to each of you. You’ll be getting some “extra jewels in your crown” someday for all your labor.

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. ……
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.