God's Formula

part two of an amazing continuing God-story

allow me to recreate a conversation that happened yesterday, between a friend of mine and me. you'll play my friend.

remember how i told you on friday that i felt like the answer, the solution, was something that no one had thought of yet?
that no one had imagined yet?
do you also remember that i told you i felt like someone in my network of churches had a property that they needed taken care of?
that somehow we would work out a mutually beneficial arrangement?
well

yesterday (saturday) morning anthony called me after i taught my first voice lesson of the day
he said
"when you come over tonight, dad has a proposition for you of a living arrangement...that could include emi"
(emi and i being separated has been the hardest part of this whole thing for me. many tears shed)
he went on to say these exact words:
"it's a scenario i had never even imagined would be a possibility"

it was at that point that i said, "um, i need to tell you something.
i told laura and meghan both last night that i felt like the solution to the problem was something none of us had thought of yet."
he got really quiet
and after a moment said
"ok, that's really freaky."

so i went on about my day, met my friend lajuana who was in town for a wedding reception--and she brought me boxes from their move, taught another lesson, and then anthony and i headed to his parents for dinner.

after everyone had cleared out from dinner and we had finished watching...whatever sport was on that night (i believe it was the twenty (20!) inning baseball game...)
anthony's dad proceeded to tell me

how his father (anthony's grandfather)
has an early form of Parkinson's as well as a dementia they are certain is Alzheimer's
anthony's grandmother is already in an assisted living facility
and while the family knows that eventually he will probably have to move there as well
they also want to honor his desire to stay in his home as long as possible

however, he's been doing some dangerous and scary things lately
which could just be stress with his wife's recent health scares and with anthony's other grandfather's sickness and death (they were friends)
or it could be his dementia worsening

there is a doctor's appointment soon
first part of may
to do some testing and analysis to see what exactly is going on

he has a caregiver
who comes to the house daily through the week
she cooks breakfast and lunch for him
and leaves him a dinner that he doesn't have to cook
(normally a sandwich)
and she takes care of his bathing, dressing, etc
he loves having her around
(she's been there for at least 2 years)
and they are even going to increase her hours a bit while they figure out exactly what's going on

so david (anthony's father)
was quick to tell me that what they really need
is someone to act as a caretaker for the house
not to keep an eye on his father necessarily
(although i would be there to know if something crazy happened in the middle of the night!)
but to keep an eye on the house
and take care of it

are you getting the picture?
someone closer to me than i would have imagined
described to me the exact scenario that i KNEW would happen
i just had no idea it would come this quickly
or from a source so close

anthony's father went on to say
that if his father has to be moved to a facility in the near future
they would still appreciate it if i would stay in the house
because with the way medicare and all that works
they can't sell the house until after both his parents pass away

he went on to say
that even if i start working full-time again
they would like me to stay
because that way they won't have to find someone else
AND i can squirrel away my money and start rebuilding what was lost to me over the last 20 months.

isn't God amazing?
on the way out to the car i looked at anthony and said
"um, i have to tell you something else
i also told laura and meghan
that i felt like someone had a property they needed taken care of..."
this literally stopped him in his tracks
as he said "you've GOT to tell mom and dad this"

well, i haven't had a chance to tell them
but i will
and i didn't want to leave you hanging :)

anthony and i went to the house yesterday
i'm going to have a great setup
where emi and i will live in the bottom half of the house
they're moving furniture out so that i can move my stuff in and feel right at home
we'll even have our own entrance next to the carport
(it's a tri-level split level)
i'll have to go upstairs to cook and stuff
but the top floor will be all his so he doesn't feel like i'm closing in on his space
i like that :)

OH, but i will have to go to the tip-top floor once in awhile
you see, there's this great deck
on top of the carport
and on that deck
i can put my patio furniture
including my chaise
so that i can sun
ahhhhhh
oh and my herb garden?
it can live there too
or under the carport
depending on how much sun the deck gets all day long

and i'll grow my vegetables too
(his grandpa is actually kind of excited about that)

all the things i was mourning the loss of
emi--restored
my garden--restored
the use of a piano--restored--it's in the portion of the house i'll be living in, and his grandpa is looking forward to it being played again :0)

i'm so thankful
for a God who asks me to be obedient
to put down the pen and paper
and stop with the formulas

because He has one in the works
that is SO much better.

(ps...david was awakened at 4 am on saturday with this idea. so it truly was an idea that had never been thought of on friday :)