Prayer.. and a Miracle

Deadline.. Gotta be out by...

Tuesday evening, I shared with my mom something that had been on my mind, been worrying me for a while.. like since about early April.

• I lost my job (the best I'd ever had) at the end of February... and I hadn't been able to find anything else.
• I'm expecting my landlord back in Colorado Springs around mid August and I absolutely couldn't be still living there when he returned.
• I'm engaged to be married in late July and I'd really prefer living with him... and he's going to school in Salt Lake City.

Without an income, moving was essentially impossible. I really didn't know how I was going to be able to do it.

Wednesday morning, I was online, and a friend got online. She knew that I was engaged, and that I needed to move back to Utah. Here's the conversation:

Friend: hola

Me: hiya

Friend: how are ya?

Me: good..

Friend: good..

Friend: I was thinking....

Friend: did you talk to your parents about a truck?

Me: yes.. Mom isn't working this summer.. she's out $900..

Me: add the food for the reception and food for a family reunion..

Me: they can't help..

Me: there is a possibility for E's parents to help some..

Friend: How much is it going to be?

Me: they're planning to come out, could rent a trailer.. but the only company that has trailers is Uhaul.. and their biggest isn't big enough.

Me: a truck.. the prices I got yesterday were $500 some..

Friend: wow..

Me: mmhm

Me: not counting fuel

Friend: have you checked into a pod?

Me: I did when I was looking at moving here.. they're more.

Friend: oh.. ok

Friend: hmmm..

Friend: I wonder if Dad has a trailer...

Me: but to haul that here.. and then back..?

Friend: how big of a truck do you need?

Me: at least 14'

Friend: ok... I was wondering if you wanted to come early..

Me: I'd be fine with that..

Friend: I could drive the truck down.. unlimited miles..

Me: the only concern would be paying for stuff..

Me: Hmm.. lemme check something..

Friend: well, if you were here early, you could get a job.. use one of our cars and make some money

Me: exactly..

Me: but it's a case of paying for it before I have the money..

Friend: I would cover it and then when you start working you could pay me back a little at a time.

Me: I'm gonna talk to my brother.. see if he has any suggestions..

Me: are you sure?

Friend: yeah.

Friend: I think you need to get here..

Friend: and since you aren't working...

Me: is it ok with your husband?

Friend: I'm talking it over with him...

Friend: calling now.

Friend: could you come to denver later today

Me: ...?

Me: to pick you up??

Friend: yeah

Me: I have scouts at 3.. 3-4:30.. and it's about an hour drive from here

Friend: ok.

Friend: I'm thinking it would be cheaper to rent a car.. I have coupons for that..

Friend: switching computers.. brb

Me: k

Friend: I think I may rent a car..

Friend: ok.. if I go with Hertz, there are 9 locations in CS..

Me: at the airport is closest

Me: 7770 Milton Proby

Friend: enterprise is cheaper..

Friend: let me look on expedia

Me: again, the address on Proby is closest.

Me: (love google maps!)

Friend: lol..

Friend: me too..

Friend: are you ok with me coming this weekend?

Friend: I didn't even ask..

Me: you kinda did, though..

Friend: true

Me:

Friend (6/20/2012 10:53:45 AM): ok... I was wondering if you wanted to come early..

Me: to which I responded..

 Me(6/20/2012 10:54:02 AM): I'd be fine with that..

Me: I'll need to make a couple calls, send a couple emails..

Me: tie up loose ends..

Me: and pack like a mad woman!

Friend: lol... ok

She had been planning to fly out a week and a half before the wedding to help me pack and move. She checked her tickets, found that moving the date up would be more expensive than she wanted to do. Instead, she rented a car which she picked up at 3:pm. She then drove to my home in Colorado, a 9-hr drive, arriving at midnight.

We all KNOW it's never this simple.
Why do they make pictures of it being this simple??
Did I mention that I really dislike moving? I do.

Thursday, we packed boxes.

Friday morning we got the moving truck and packed some more boxes. Friday afternoon, my home teacher came over to help load the truck. Over the course of about 45 minutes, we filled the truck. There were a few odds and ends that needed attending to.

We left the house in the truck at 6:30. We stopped at the church as I needed to drop some things off to my Scouts assistant and I knew she was at Pack Meeting. We also stopped at a good friends' home on the north end of town to drop off a couple of records... and then we left town.

We got about 3 hours worth of the drive done that night. We stopped at a hotel and slept. I showered that night, she showered the next morning before we got back on the road.

We arrived at my fiance's home at 4:30pm on Saturday.

Three days, 604 miles, and about $900.. and I'm moved.

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time, there was a young girl. Her mother had died when she was very little, so this girl couldn't really miss her mother, but she and her father were very close. As the girl got older, her father began to feel that she needed a mother's touch.
   He looked for and found someone to marry. This woman had two daughters of her own, and it seemed a match made in heaven... until he fell ill and died.
   Then the step-mother's true nature became apparent. She was arrogant, selfish, and doted on her own daughters to the point of cruelty to her late husband's child.
   This went on for quite some time- years, in fact. And it would have continued except for one thing... or maybe two. But let's start with the first thing that happened.

The prince came of age. The king felt that it was high time for his son to take a wife and begin preparing for his own reign. The young man enjoyed spending time with the ladies of his social circle, but none really caught his eye or his heart.
   In an attempt to move things along, the king and queen organized and held a magnificent ball. All the remotely eligible, vaguely age-appropriate ladies of the realm were sent personal invitations... which were of course heeded! Really, who needs a second request to possibly marry a prince?
   The day of the ball arrived. The little girl who had lost her mother and then her father.. and now lived with a harsh and unloving step-mother was now a young woman- lovely, charming, kind.. and motivated to get the heck out!
   Of course Step-Mother didn't want that kind of competition for her own daughters, so she told the young woman that she could certainly go to the ball... after she had completed all her chores... as well as some that had been thought up just for "special" occasions such as this.
   The young woman was desperate. She dusted, swept, mopped, scrubbed, and scoured faster than she had in her entire life! She HAD to be to that ball! She just knew it was her golden ticket.
   She even had a dress. It had been her mother's. Her father had talked about her mother occasionally. Watching her father talk of his young bride, the young woman knew her mother must have been radiant to behold. The dress was beautiful, too, and the young woman hoped it would catch the prince's eye.
   When it came time to go to the ball, Mother seemed pleased that the young woman was prepared. But there were more chores.. another list devised to keep the young woman from the ball.
   The young woman was devastated. There was no way she was going to break free now. She fled to the garden to cry, realizing instantly that Mother in fact had NEVER intended to allow her to go anywhere. Once she had cried herself out, she returned to the house, intent on freshening up and throwing a pity party for herself and the dog.

That's when the second thing happened. As she opened the door to the washroom, she discovered another door. It was blue. As she reached for the handle, the door abruptly opened inward and a man's head popped out.
   " Hello, I'm the Doctor... Come with me.. NOW!"

(Author's note: This is a work in progress.. I may eventually chose to write more... another chapter, perhaps. As it stands, Doctor Who fans know full well that this is really just the beginning!)

Analogies, Parables, and Teaching Stories- Part 2

I've always had a thing for analogies, parables, and the like. As teaching tools, they use every-day situations and ideas to explain complex principles, making those complex ideas a whole lot easier to understand. Often, they can explain ideas that would otherwise be nigh impossible to explain accurately.

Jesus Himself used parables all the time in His teaching. Sometimes this was to make the teaching of a certain principle easier. But often He didn't give an explanation. He simply allowed people to take from the "nice story" what they would- an act of mercy, given that we are each held accountable for following the doctrines we understand.

The first in this series was about ducks. This one is about medicine.. and salvation.

There have been (thankfully rare) times that I've been really sick. If i don't get over it in a day or two, I head up to the doctor's office. The doctor checks my vitals, and sometimes he takes a culture to see what kind of bug is making me sick.

Then he writes a prescription. Yay! I'm going to get well!!.. or am I?

That handy-dandy little paper isn't going to make me well.. paper doesn't cure disease. So I take the paper to the pharmacy.. Yay, I'm going to be feeling better in no time!.. or am I?

A bottle of pills sitting on the counter won't make me better. I have to take the medicine, follow the directions.. I have to DO something.

So it is with sin- Sin causes spiritual illness, and we need help to become well again. In the scriptures, we find the cure- John 16:33- ".. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

His sacrifice is a cure- but we must apply it and follow the Doctor's orders- faith, baptism, continual repentance, and obedience- to gain our spiritual health back.