I was grabbing coffee with a friend and mentioned how crazy the car-shuffle was getting as we waited for the insurance company to do something about our car… she looked at me and said, “We have a truck we aren’t using,” and just like that, life got 91% easier.
If you know our family, you know that CBS has been a staple in these Disciples’ lives since before most of them were born. Only Stewart did not attend as a newborn.
As a matter of fact, in 2021, as John would sit on the computer looking at prospective jobs around the country, I would sit in the chair nearby and use my phone to check to see if there was a CBS in driving distance.
Yes – it has been that important to me.
When we moved here, the closest option was the CBS in Greenwood, SC. It was a 61 minute drive from our house to the church, and we did it most weeks (we took February off last year for a driving break). We knew we couldn’t keep up that trek this year with the very large amount of time it took and the cost of gas. I was delighted to learn a CBS went live just 20 minutes from our house, however, I couldn’t make the Thursday mornings work in the fall around the classes Tabitha was registered for.
Then – just days before Christmas, it clicked — with Tab’s upcoming schedule, the girls and I might be able to make it fit in our week. I reached out and they DID have room for us. It is a very small class, but they did have space in the children’s program! When I told the girls, I wasn’t sure if they’d be up for a schedule change so late in the school year. Their reaction? Utter gladness! They were delighted!
So here we are. Our first day at Greenville CBS Day Class.
Like a giant GOD HUG!
It is directly across the street from BJU, too!
Katriel was Sarah Beth, a little girl writing a letter to her grandmother before their Christmas holiday together.
She did get bored…
But she did well and it was excellent.
At CBS many years ago (I could try to count back and figure it out exactly, I suppose), the year we were doing Egypt to the Promised Land, my core group leader, Mrs. Patricia, gave us all these little bowls with sea glass in them at the end of the year. She reminded us that it takes years and years for this beautiful sea glass to form. It has to be tossed and turned and dragged and driven by the waves and the wind. But eventually, it becomes soft and beautiful. It sits on the windowsill in the school room. And as I turned to look at the sunshine this morning my eye caught the glass and I was delighted by the reminder.
It’s been a few years of waves. I love knowing that the battering will yield some great results in the end.
I sent Patricia a hello this morning. God has put so many wonderful people in my life. Many I will very likely never see again on earth. It’s lovely to know that we have eternity to catch up.
It has been 2.5 years since our whole family went on a real vacation together. We knew this was the year to try to go, as the boys still live at home, and have a little flexibility. We couldn’t take a cruise because they still require vaccinations and do not have all the features up and running yet. We were afraid to do a road trip because some places still have restrictions. We decided the easiest place to vacation would be Florida, and decided we would visit Universal Studios. John and I were last there in 1999; the kids have never been there.
Our plan was to splurge and stay our first night at a resort hotel on property and to enjoy the amenities. We would then move to a rental about 45 minutes away for the balance of the trip (7 nights).
Nan and Noelle joined us for the adventure.
The day before the trip, I had driven Tab to see her friend and I didn’t like the way the car was sounding. I got to the garage just before they closed and based on their quick on-the-ground assessment, they told us to come back in the morning. This ruined our plan to leave at 6AM. I cancelled my much desired dinner at Toothsome’s Chocolate Emporium, but I really had no other option.
Early this morning, John went back up to the garage. They quickly assessed the vehicle and found nothing wrong with it. We were happy to hear that, though still wondered about the noise. We got on the road by 11AM.
Just outside Savannah, John suddenly exclaimed, “The wheel is coming off!” and I proceeded to throw my hands in the air and just started praying LOUDLY.
John got the van off into the inner shoulder…
where we would remain…
for two hours.
He called 911 while I called AAA.
This is where I will just do a brain dump:
•AAA was beyond useless. I’ve been a member since 1999 and I have never been so sad, angry, helpless or frustrated. When they weren’t acting obtuse, they were disconnecting us, lying to us, suggesting we get an Uber (from the Interstate!?), and more.
•The local police came. They got us a Samaritan truck from GA-DOT to help keep the oncoming traffic from demolishing us.
•The Samaritan reached out to State Police who were the ones who eventually saved the day as AAA continued to waste our time and give us ulcers.
•It was close to 90○F out and the windows in the van don’t open.
John and I were making decisions and calls in an extremely stressful situation.
–Where to tow the van?
–What do do next? Home? Continue on our vacation at an exorbitant cost?
–How can we get ANYwhere?
–How do we fund plan B – whatever it is?
Calls to Hertz and Dollar told us neither had any cars at the SAV airport. The Budget website said the same thing. No Cars!
But my Priceline app?
They let me rent two vehicles?…. Is this legit?
The State Troopers finally just started to make things happen – to heck with AAA and their “Roadside Assistance.”
They got a truck.
They got a van.
They got us all out of there.
Interstate 95 South in Richmond Hill, GA.
They drove us (it was a ride we will never forget – prayers and jokes) to an area with a few hotels and fast food restaurants. There was so much confusion. Like – do we get a hotel? Do we find the cars I rented? How do we get there?
The tow truck operator was a gentleman, for sure. He lowered our van so we could get our luggage. Decisions had to be made. I had to leave two egg bakes… We grabbed the beach bag. Etc.
John went with the tow truck and the rest of us walked across the street to Burger King. Dazed. Confused. Alive.
Yeah – I think this is where we started to realize being alive was clearly the best part of the last few hours. Thank you God.
The kids were great. They were clearly affected by it and each sorting through the pieces.
Noelle jumped into action, and bought some food for those growing hungry as I tried to make heads and tails out of what was going on.
She and I downloaded Uber Apps to our phones and programmed them with my credit card.
I communicated with John, and Noelle and I each ordered an Uber as he was on his way back.
This photo was taken at 5:12PM.
John returned as we waited for the Ubers. We prepared to split into two vehicles.
As the first one approached, the poor driver looked horrified at the number of humans and the amount of luggage. John was not about to have any doubt settle into the man’s mind. He started loading up the car. Johanna and Katriel mushed in the back with the seat 1/3 down. Marie, Tab and I lodged in the back of the Honda Pilot. Nigel sat up front. We all had luggage all over us. John, Nan, Noelle and Stewart waited for the second driver. Our driver told us it was highly irregular for there to be two Ubers in that area. That’s a God thing.
At this point EVERYTHING depended on us getting rental vehicles. Direct calls to vendors yielded nothing, and we wondered if the reservations I’d made in the Priceline app would amount to anything.
The drivers deposited us at the airport, and when we went in we were met with this:
One vehicle was reserved from Dollar and one from Avis. I got in the Dollar line with at least 25 people in front of me. John got in line for Avis with close to 90 people in front of him. There was one woman working at Dollar and 3 at Avis. At one point the woman at Dollar had to leave to use the ladies room.
Slowly, we crept up. I called the hotel to tell them we would be late. Very late.
Finally, after one hour, I had a set of keys for a minivan.
It would be another hour before John had a set of keys for a full-sized car.
We’d worked to get all our luggage into the vehicles.
At 8:20PM or so, we rolled out of the parking garage at SAV airport. We still had at least 4 hours to go. My van had, Johanna, Katriel, Noelle, Stewart and Nan. John had Marie, Tab, and Nigel.
Florida – here we come….
It was my delight to transport this group of girls to Easley tonight to attend the Fearless Love conference. We left our side of town at 4PM and got to that side of town in time to grab some Firehouse Subs.
They had some photo ops for the girls.
It was my first time driving on the Southern Connector Toll Road, and THAT was heavenly! I’m told that most people in the area don’t like to pay to drive on toll roads, so it is barely used. It was the nicest driving experience I have had since I arrived here!
Our new house has such a small driveway for the four cars we now need to park.
John and Tab headed to NY for the weekend to visit Ba and Poppy and to get her braces visit in.
I’m tired. I haven’t been sleeping well this week. There has just been a lot to do, nothing bad. But today, my tired self knew the Enemy was messing with me a little bit more than I felt strong enough for.
The kitchen was a huge mess and I had to run Nigel to work before heading to Anderson, SC for a gathering I’d been invited to.
I just felt the condemnation in my head. I don’t deserve to go. My house is a mess. Christmas is coming. There is so much to do. I remembered John and Marie both encouraging me the other day when they heard about the invitation. “But I want to go,” I told myself. So I went.
I uncharacteristically left the messy kitchen behind (gasp), left the little girls with lots of Christmas puzzles and let myself be blessed.
I got to meet many of Shannon’s friends and neighbors, and we shared words of encouragement and reminded each other of why we were here and how God had made a way.
Before I left Shannon’s, I looked at my phone and saw an invitation for the little girls to join a neighbor to decorate cookies this afternoon!! I joyfully joyfully accepted and called Johanna and Katriel and encouraged them to get lunch and make sure they didn’t look homeless (their normal Saturday couture). They were so happy.
We went down to Anna and Rebecca’s at 2PM. My house was still a nightmare. The pulled pork in the crock pot was spilling out juice onto the counter, but I just turned it off and left.
They had a blast being offered unrestrained access to their decorating whims. I was encouraged to hear the other mom could only make circles because she couldn’t find her cookie cutters – that was my plight yesterday, myself.
And then, I dropped Marie off at a birthday party. A fun thing for her, too.
At 5PM, I finally got around to pulling the pork, and faced the hard truth – I had NO rolls and NOTHING to serve with it. “Here’s some meat, kids.” So I went to Food Lion and bought wee packages of store-bought salads (eww? yum? you decide) and some mystery rolls. We finally ate. No one complained.
Honestly, moving has been SO HARD. 100% healthy. But truly hard.
Shannon and Anna both have done it and it was so great to hear them each share how God had provided for them.
God provided BIG TIME for me today.
I love that God cares for tired old me.
I LOVE BEING THIS KIND OF BUSY!
I need to write posts like this because even three weeks later I just grin from ear to ear at how much GOD has provided us. PTL!
Friday started EARLY as I drove Nigel to the airport at 6AM for a 7:30AM flight. He headed back to Rochester to get in some holiday visits. He bought his ticket himself and planned all his rides and visits himself.
As soon as I got home, Marie and I headed to Greenville to visit Bob Jones University campus for a tour. Thankfully God nudged me earlier in the week to switch days from Thursday – (we ended up needing that time to spend that time with Jasper).
As soon as she and I got back (she liked BJU a lot) I grabbed Johanna and Katriel who were ready in their AHG uniforms so we could go to the host church to work on Christmas cards for a local nursing home.
The girls and their leaders made sure there were enough for every single resident to get one.
Then we crossed the street (passing Nan who had just dropped off Marie and Tab for their event…. I’ll do another post for that) and went to The Springs in Simpsonville. The girls were invited inside to sing and the residents who wanted to come to were given their cards in person. Many cards were read aloud and the girl who made it got to personally greet the resident. There were even a few residents who came over to hug the girls.
(Meanwhile – this very day NY entered lockdown number 3,492…)
We went home for a bit and I called John and asked if we could go out to eat before the movie the girls didn’t know we were going to. The WISE MAN (I love the guy) agreed that was the best idea. I got the girls ready and as soon as Daddy got home we ate at Cracker Barrel. We did have to rush it a bit in order to be to the show on time. We ran into people from church (I just love how we run into people we know – I love that God helps us in this way!!).
And we made it into Encanto in time for a few previews.
I love this kind of fun.
I “met” Mary online on my Disney message forum. Though our on-line banter was not copious, we had exchanged posts enough that her screen name was clearly on my radar as “someone special” that day when I saw a little map someone made up with everyone’s avatar and geographic location.
Wait – SHE lives near ME?
WELL – turns out that the Butlers aren’t the only people to take advantage of a pandemic to pull up roots and start over somewhere new.
She had been here a lot last summer as she and her family weathered the remote/lockdown life with her SIL and family. They asked Jesus to show them the way and here she is.
With me.
At Steam Coffee – where we ate yummy food, shared testimonies, and prayed together as only people who have had their world shaken up can pray together.
I look forward to more visits with her.
Dayspring Disciples 