Pat and I had decided to go to visit my parents. As you know from this post my parents recently lost their jobs. They are currently staying with some wonderful friends who have willingly taken them in. Plus also these fabulous people put up with us and a screaming one-year-old from time to time. Anyway, we went down there on Sunday (St. Patricks day, remember?) to enjoy some corned beef and cabbage and some family time.
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| It was their son's birthday. There was cake. |
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| See? Cake. |
In and of itself this would have been fantastic. But then we went to my dad's best friends house for the night. I was a little wary when we walked in a the cat greeted us (Pat is have-an-asthma-attack-right-this-second allergic to cats) but, miracle of miracles, this cat didn't bother him at all! Plus the cat was not ever allowed in the room where we stayed in, so cat free zone helped too. Not only did they have a fabulous guest room with a BEAUTIFUL quilt on the bed (hand-made by the lady of the house, I might add) and a glorious on suite bathroom, but they also had a room for Wiggles to sleep in so we didn't wake her up coming to bed. And on top of all that, after Wiggles was asleep for the night they fed us all the ice cream we could eat and made us laugh late into the evening. It was so refreshing!
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| Tater the cat |
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| Wiggles and Tater had a love hate relationship... As our hostess put it, "how would you like it if a cat the size of a leopard walked past you?!" |
Then we spent the entirety of the next day being loved on by my 92 year-old grandmother and our dear family friend. Two restaurantes and one park later we felt pretty good!
We were supposed to leave that afternoon. We were supposed to get Blizzards from Dairy Queen on the long drive home, but alas, it was not to be. Long story short Pat had a major asthma attack when we got back to where my parents were staying. It was nearly a 911er. Actually, any sane and normal person would have called 911, but we are not normal or sane. He was so bad that we weren't sure how he was going to make it home. My parents hosts offered to let us stay on their couches that night. They were so much more than generous. But that's not the best part.
Every night that all four of the house residents (the hosts and my parents) are home in the evening everyone sits together and shares their day and then they pray for each other. We got to sit in on this time. The nature of these prayers were relatively private, so I won't share all the details, but we were so encouraged by all four of the faiths we witnessed. No one is the room is going through easy times. All three couples are struggling through some difficult things, but they still come to the Lord. Every night. And just praised Him, talked with Him and each other. Encouraging, praying for and listening to each other. Would that we all had friends like these.
The point is this, if Pat hadn't had an asthma attack, we would have missed it. We would have missed the opportunity for the Lord to speak to us through the brave testimonies of my parents and their friends. So, thank the Lord for appropriately timed asthma attacks. Thank the Lord for the hard things in life that force us to slow down a see Him.
Rest in Him today,
Jillian
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