Boxes line the walls of our house. Clothes are piled up by size and gender. Books are all stored away, ready to make their way to the storage unit. But before I get ahead of myself, let me start by backing up to the beginning of the week...
In the midst of the moving chaos, my husband was called to work out of town for the final week that we had our house. He stayed up to help me move as much as possible the night before he left, and consequently, had only a few short hours to sleep. Rather than sleep however, my husband stayed up and held me while I cried, and cried at the realization that I would be packing and moving an entire house, alone. Well, not alone, I would have the help of a 5 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, and 11 month old. They are most helpful at unpacking boxes, and removing things from the trash that I must have accidentally thrown out. (After all, they clearly weren't done using that broken dollar store toy!) If any of you read my post earlier in the week, this was the stem of my crying incident I briefly mentioned.
So my crying later turned to prayer. Prayer that sounded mostly along the lines of, "Why in the world did you see fit to send my husband out of town THIS week... of all the weeks, this is clearly not a good one!" But then, God showed me yet again that He is faithful (despite my heart of complaint) and that what seems terrible at the time can end in a serious blessing.
Some precious friends had sought us out a couple Sundays ago at church and mentioned that they would be more than willing to be helpful however they could in our moving process. When they said this, I imagined maybe a few hours that they might watch my little ones, or perhaps they would drop a meal by. They have their own four children and plenty on their plate already, so I could never have imagined quite how much of a blessing they would be with their willingness to serve.
For the past four days in a row, this sweet family has been by our side. They have watched my children for countless hours, sorted and folded hundreds of pieces of laundry, raked my entire yard, brought us many meals and helped to move the majority of our furniture in one very late night adventure.
What seemed like a chore became a lighthearted task when accompanied by friends. Our friend's lovely teenage daughter has just began dancing on pointe and my daughter challenged her to a dance competition. So while all the little ones were tucked into bed to watch, the two girls had a dance off. All the while, the two of us moms moved the furniture to the storage. After a few loads I had learned several things. A sofa is remarkably heavy, my back isn't as strong as it once was, and I have tremendous friends for being willing to help into all hours of the night.
We sat on the front porch chatting for over an hour, and they didn't leave my house until at least one in the morning. Yet these are the moments which I will never forget. The conversations for which I am so thankful. Not even because of the content, so much as just because it is so wonderful a thing to have a friend willing to share their time and conversation at such an hour. They skipped sleep on my behalf, in an act of kindness, and for this, I am so very thankful.
These sweet memories, I will treasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment