So here is the story, and the result of that change.
For the first 20 years of living here, we heated our home with wood.
It was so efficient, you could say we overheated it.
We heated our entire home with a wood stove like this one.
Over the past ten years or so, the labor has become to intensive for us to handle keeping it going.
So this year, it will go to our nephew in Missouri when we visit for a family gathering.
Of course it had to be uninstalled, which means that someone has to go up on the roof, and disengage the stove pipe, and squirrel cage, and the venting.
My husband has some usual suspects that he calls for these things.
Some were in the field.
Some were out of town.
Some were simply unavailable.
When I hear the call, “Help Mate?” I know that something I don’t want to do will surely follow.
Something loud. Something heavy. Something hard.
On this occasion – Something was UP!
Let me state very clearly – I do not do UP.
Until today.
Knowing that I would likely never have this opportunity again;
Here are the photos I took from a place called – UP.
Again, I don’t do UP, so the photos are not real high quality,
but they are real.
East-ish
East
Northwest
Southeast
Southeast
It truthfully wasn’t so bad after the initial shock of it.
The logistics of ten very full buses seeing the same things, all at different times on the same day, is mind boggling!
Any way,
Watchmen on the Wall are taught about Israel’s history in depth, and are trained to pray for all things Jerusalem.
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Flight time – 15:30 – Check.
Our final view of Tel Aviv
The fountain was in the sky light!
Our flight from Tel Aviv was perfect.
We flew to Barcelona.
Waiting for our flight to Chicago (With airplane mode on to avoid roaming fees) and unaware of the fact that we were being rerouted through somewhere else, we totally missed our gate.
Here we were in Barcelona, we only speak English. Zero Spanish, trying to figure out our next move.
With exhaustion and frustration, we did our best not to argue. It was tough.
Then a ladies voice comes from behind us.
“I speak some Spanish. Can I help you? Where are you going?”
Believe it or not, she was going to Chicago as well!
Same gate. Different time. Thank you God!
She went to speak to someone, came back, and told us how we could book another flight.
Needless to say, we were in the wrong, wrong, place, at the wrong, wrong time, (we thought) and somehow, like He is known to do, God turned things around for us.
Oh what a story this photo tells!
The flight from Barcelona to Chicago of course was long (ten hours) and we did not get to sit together on the plane, but we were both grateful to have a seat on that plane, and be homeward bound.
Of course when we landed in Chicago, it was far too late for the scheduled flight for the last leg of our journey.
So the airline provided us with a hotel voucher, so that we could sleep, food vouchers, so we would not starve, and transportation vouchers so we could get back and forth from the hotel to the airport.
We used our first transportation voucher to get to our provided hotel, WHICH HAD NO ROOMS, there was literally no room at the inn.
Voucher number two took us right back to the airport, and to the customer service desk, to find out just what were were going to need to do.
The gal was so sweet and helpful.
After regaling her with our story, she looked at her screen, and said “Oh look what just popped up!”
A room had JUST opened up at the O’Hare Hilton. (At 10:30 at night?)
A simple ten minute walk from where we stood.
The photo above is the view from our forth floor window.
We even had some extra time to get to our flight home in the morning.
There is a moral to this story, a punch line, a promise.
God never once tells us in His word that things will be easy.
In fact sometimes, things can be down right frustrating.
But His promise, is that if we trust Him, He will always care for us.
Scripture says clearly;
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Isaiah 54:17 (ASV)
Note; It does not say that there won’t be weapons, it says they will not prosper.
So we ended up home, safe, exhausted, and forever changed.
