4:20 p.m. Today's project was to rise up after a fitful night's sleep in which I dreamed that we found Steve's lost dress shoes, and figure out what to do about Steve's lost dress shoes!! We had to get ready and formally dressed for Shea and Mike Rendles's wedding at 11:00.
We had gone to bed on edge because Steve had lost the simple black dress shoes we bought him for Megan and Thomas Renck's wedding in September. This happened after we needed to watch a Youtube video on tying a necktie, a skill Steve had successfully done his whole life until recently. We pre-tied it and that hurdle was cleared, praise God. Just a bit stressful!
I had gotten out Steve's best wool suit earlier in the week, making sure there was no need to get it cleaned, and that his longsleeved white shirt was clean and unwrinkled. Therefore, I thought he was all set for the wedding. Not until last night when we were setting everything out did I think about his dress loafers. No reason why I would--he just has the one pair, and it was a fair assumption that they'd have been in his closet since September 13th.
Well, you know what they say about the word "assume!" I apparently am a slow learner, because assuming logical conclusions to given events and sensible actions has been a thing of the past around here for a while now. My brain keeps up its logical, step-by-step habits, so I need to remind myself that Steve isn't tracking that way any more. I also need to apply the Lord's thinking as Jeremiah 29:11-13 makes clear to His people Israel:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart."
We were both seeking and praying, and I went to bed pondering what to do. Get up early, run down to Payless and get another identical pair? (Unh-unh!) See which son might have borrowed them? (None of them had). Have Steve wear tan suede shoes with his suit? (Nope). Or get down the new black athletic shoes I had stashed in my side of the closet for his Valentine's gift? I was resigned to this option, showed them to Steve, and he liked them. The shoes wouldn't look right with a dress suit, but that was the best we could do. Was that the answer? Logically speaking, yes.
But God had a different answer after all. When Steve went upstairs after breakfast to brush his teeth, he yelled out, "I found my shoes!" What?! We'd torn our bedroom apart last night! He had no explanation for why he had boxed up the shoes and hidden them under the foot of our bed. He had even searched under the bed with a flashlight, but apparently never checked that area. Praise the Lord--His thoughts are not anything like ours, but, also unlike ours, His results are always perfect! Steve and I went on to have a great time at both the wedding and the reception.
This post is titled "end of an era," because it truly is. Sweet Shea has been our houseguest for several months, becoming so dear and precious to our family. I had joined in prayer with her over every aspect of her life--school, the long job hunt, wedding plans. I was honored to provide a motherly shoulder to cry on, just like with my Heidi and Heather. Watching Shea struggle prayerfully and courageously with joblessness, homelessness, and even car-lessness, encouraged us all, and built up my faith. When she suddenly got two mall jobs, and then a good permanent job with Loma Linda University Medical Center, you could have heard us screaming with joy around the block!
Shea is now Mrs. Mike Rendle, and I couldn't be more proud and happy for their godly union! But it is tough to lose a daughter to marriage, even an "adopted" one!
But she still needs to come back over to get the last of the clothes from her closet--she's only gone for a while. And that's a praise report!
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