I Bet Your Heart Skipped a Beat!

So, after writing yesterday's post about appreciating a car...today...I lost my car keys.
Enjoying a great time with a friend at a local city park and as I was drinking rose ginger tea, realized, "I LOST MY CAR KEYS!!!" For some odd reason, I didn't freak out; just thought of this as another adventure. I envisioned what I would have to do...ride the bus? call a friend?
Scattering breadcrumbs on my way to the park would've been a great idea, BUT...never thought of that! I thought backtracking would make sense....and that is just where the adventure begins!

Pushing my way through crowds of people waiting in line at food trucks, my cousin suddenly appears with her family! OK, everything happens for a reason right? She is the 'fun' cousin and of course asks her husband to take our picture..right there in the food truck crowd. She waits for Chinese. I wait for Brazilian, then we enjoy our international food before the great key hunt!

Backtracking (no breadcrumbs makes it extra challenging), I see absolutely no sign of the keys so ask a police officer where the lost in found is. At the booth, I am given a park ranger number and asked to fill out a form by a cheerful teenager who clearly loved her volunteer job. No one has found these keys. As I walk past dancers, the smell of many different flavors of decadent food, and enjoy the colorful fashions all around, I realize...I have local beef burgers defrosting in my grocery bag. Ew.

I then call a tow truck as my phone battery is about to die. I wait a good 2 hours, and when they show up, my car couldn't be towed because someone illegally parked in front of it! This is becoming a game. I walk to my friends house (must have walked a good 15 miles by now) and they are not home. It's time for a break. The reality of what people have to do to get from point A to point B is a all up in my face today and I am more and more grateful for a car, but strangely don't miss it and prefer being outside in the wild, wild city.
Luckily, had a few dollars so stopped and got a ham & cheese melt and carrot sticks at a local coffee shop. This was not just any coffee shop. The guy behind the counter gave me his phone to look up bus routes since I had given up all hope of finding the keys. Who does that? I had sat in the grass for several minutes and prayed for guidance...no answer. Found a bus route, and headed out.
As I was passing the place where my car was parked, the illegally parked car was GONE.

Time to call the tow truck driver..again. But, how? My phone is dead. I ask a lady on the street with kids who looks annoyed with a Corona in her hand and asks, "How long will it take?" "Um...2 minutes" I tell her. The tow company says they can't find my car. The lady with the Corona clearly has to leave...so.....

Another walking trip to the weirdest grocery store with the kindest manager who let me use the store phone. I call the tow company again. "Oh, our driver is in the county, but he should be back to you in 30 minutes."

Back in my car...waiting...waiting...and guarding that space in front of my car with my life...1 hour later..no show. Back to my friends at the grocery store. This time, one of the checkers lets me use her cell phone and is all smiles. Thank you lady! It's amazing all the people who help you accomplish your goals and help you when you really need it in an 11 hour day looking for keys!

1 1/2 hours later tow truck driver comes! It is dark and I am almost asleep from the all day trek. Now, I didn't mention the blessing that happened before he came.

As I had walked back to the car, a car started to park in front of me. I told them that the space needed to be clear since a tow was coming. They were a middle aged couple and said they lived across the street. The woman went into her house, then all of the sudden, she is at my car window with a brown paper sack that says "Karry Kool bag", a can of "Big K Coke", and an insulated 2014 Walt Disney World Mug, some napkins and a stretchy straw. I told her i needed an insulated mug. I was so shocked then told her she was such a blessing and she said, "We are going to be watching until the tow comes," as she and her husband proceeded to sit on their porch and wait. "What? Don't they have better things to do than watch me?" As it hit me, I started crying...crying for just a minute because I was in need and God showed me he cares about the little things in this blessing from a kind lady. He takes the time to just watch us and considers us important enough to create us, give to us, and watch over us!

With tears on my face, I opened up the "Karry Kool bag" to find biscotti's and sweet peanut butter bars dipped in carmel. I cried even more, but wiped my eyes as the tow truck driver appeared and I yelled out a hearty "Thank You" to the "porch couple."

Almost home...as the tow truck driver says, "You must be frustrated. I bet when you lost your keys, your heart skipped a beat!" "Nope," I tell him. "It's not worth getting upset for. I just had to laugh." As he drops me off, I give him that "Big K" can of coke and thanked him.

As he is driving off,  I realize...my apartment keys are on the lost key ring. It's a good thing when your landlord lives one street over. It is now late. I walk over and get  keys and she says, "Are you hungry? Do you want to borrow my car to go to church tomorrow? "WHAT?" Seriously, another vivid example of God caring about the details. I thanked her and she gave me a hug and handed over the keys to her '94 Toyota Corolla and apologized for the walnut splatter that the squirrels had made on the window. "Who cares!" I thought to myself. "You're letting me borrow your car...that's amazing." As I get in and unlock the lock bar from the steering wheel, I drive around the corner to my place and sigh....I am home.

Give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

"For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me!'- Matthew 25:35-40

Whatever It Takes

So I was at Aldi's the other day and an older lady was behind me in the checkout line. It's like at the Aldi's I go to, everyone talks to everyone in the line. This lady tells me that her daughter is pregnant and wants the real popcorn and she can't find it. I tell her I think I saw it at Walmart and she says she is on the bus and it takes too long to get there. Then, she pauses, smiling,,,,and says, "I'll get it though, whatever I have to do!"
OK, I don't know if anyone has ever ridden a bus in St Louis, but I did for a long time when my car was totaled, and let me tell you....it takes a long time to get from point A to point B. Seriously, just going grocery shopping is a huge mission, not to mention if you have a few kids on your tail. So, I could appreciate this woman and it made me remember...never forget to be thankful for a car and never forget that others have to do twice the work to get just the daily necessities.

Grateful.

Ephesians 5:20 “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Having Kids

So, tonight was the National Night out Neighborhood Block party all over St. Louis. In my neighborhood, we are a mixed crowd...some young, some old, different ethnicities and always lots of great food from my favorite burnt hot dogs to a neighbors culinary experiment of salted carmel cupcakes...yum! Sitting down next to some strangers and introducing myself, I saw they had several kids. I asked them what advice they would have about having kids. One woman said that she moved from the county to the city because it was racist there and her child was a mixed ethnicity. Her advice on kids was "Don't have em!"
The other woman I was sitting by had 6 kids all laughing and seeming to enjoy each others presence as they ate. She had some advice I thought was very practical but could change the world. "Spend as much time with them as you can. It needs to be you teaching them. If you don't spend time with them, someone else will teach them all kinds of things." True that! She went on to say that it was hard and good, but one day, they would be gone. Priceless.

Excusing myself to tend my overgrown cherry tomato garden (that has been neglected for one month), an older gentleman walks up to ask about the garden, saying, "That is good..growing your own food!" I learned that this man was from Kenya and had been in the US 10 years after waiting for 2 years to get his green card. He stayed in the assisted living building in the neighborhood and was walking back from the store after getting his wife some medicine and saw the block party. He went on to talk about how he sends much of the money he makes back to his family in Africa and about how the African society is a sharing society. He said the US is more individualistic and he thought the key was to LOVE others and so many are just in their own little worlds and do not do that. I asked him if he was a believer and he said that he loved Jesus and that it wasn't about church or anything, but about showing Jesus' love through really loving others...and that this society needed to do that.
Wisdom in the garden. Who would've thought?

Proverbs 22:6- Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 

1 John 4:7- Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.