Sometimes this new church planting life seems so unbelievable, so favored, and I forget that I still exist as regular old me - which is okay, I like regular old me. Yesterday was a reminder.
The girls needed a new stroller for a few reasons, not the least of which is that the trunk of the borrowed car we're using is too small for the double beast stroller. We also needed curtains. Lucky for us Bed, Bath and Beyond and Toys R Us are in the same place - far from here.
I dropped Jeremy off for a meeting and headed off to Williston with the girls. Allow me to set the stage.
It's hot here. Not Vegas hot, but humid hot so the heat is like a sticker that adheres to you and won't let go. It's a treat. Because this humid heat apparently NEVER happens, there are lots of vehicles with no AC. Uh-huh. We're so grateful for the loaner, but it has no AC.
We're from Vegas. We weren't scared. Off we go! I'm driving. I'm driving. Jeremy said it would take 15 minutes to get to Toys R Us. It's been 22 minutes. I've passed a townlet. There were buildings, so I'll call it a town. Now there is nothing but trees ...lots and lots of trees. 30 minutes. I have to pee. It's really hot. Children are really hot. They've peed...lucky! I pass the road where the wonderful people "tucked away so as not to decimate the landscape of trees" the stores! YOU CAN'T SEE THEM AND THERE ARE NO BILLBOARD TYPE SIGNS ALLOWED HERE. I finally get to Toys R Us. We're sweating...a lot. I have to go...bad. I look at the clock. I look at the empty parking lot. Uh-huh. Closed for another 1/2 hour. I'm praying like all good church planters do that I won't pee my pants.
Thankfully BB&B was open. I put Soph in the front part of the cart. I put Zoe in the back. I dump out the diaper bag toys so they'll sit still and run into the air conditioned store. I've never been in a BB&B before. It's the most ADD conglomeration of stuff I've ever seen. I couldn't think straight. The tank tops, washcloths, skillets, coffeemakers and 462 other bed, bath and far beyond items that filled the front of the store assaulted my brain and I could see no way to a bathroom.
A nice man directed me (and probably alerted local authorities because I couldn't stand still at that point and I was sweating profusely). I pushed the cart past the giant sign that said, NO CARTS IN THE BATHROOM and said out loud that it was single parent day and I had to go and wouldn't steal anything. I had to pick up the cart and turn it to get it, the girls and me into the handicapped stall. It was banging off the stall walls and making a racket. Zoe thought it was funny so she started squealing. Bang. Clang. Squeal. "Please God, let me fit in here."
Here's where I realize there is someone already in the next stall and I've been banging a shopping cart off her wall. Poor lady. I thought talking sweetly to the girls would help. It didn't. She left without washing her hands.
The ridiculousness continued but I won't go on. I will tell you that although it took 30 minutes to get there, it was 1 road with only the turn into the hidden shopping center. We left and had been driving for about 15 minutes and I still had not seen anything I recognized. I called Jeremy who asked me where I was. "What do you see?" said he. My response..."Trees! There's nothing else anywhere here. It's all trees!"
Zoe fell asleep on the long journey back. Poor Soph was hungry so I gave her a banana, a bowl of dry Cheerios and a baby wipe. It was a tragic mess. We made it back to Jeremy.
lol We love our new home. And our borrowed car!
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