Well the first week in Texas passed quickly, and all of a sudden I was on the plane heading back to Oregon to try and get everything settled and closed down – as well as retrieve our cat Sparky and get him crated up to fly (What A Mad-House!).
I was so blessed as I arrived back to beautiful Redmond, Oregon. A sweet friend picked me up at the airport, and later that day her husband came over and got rid of all the junk that we’d accumulated in our garage by taking it to the dump. Wow, was that ever a praise! I honestly couldn’t believe we had so much icky stuff stashed away in our garage.
The following day (in between getting more stuff packed), I got all our banking changes done, as well as a temporary change of address. Also some friends took me out to lunch. Truly I was so spoiled.
The following morning I met some friends from the church, and after treating me to breakfast, they joined around me and prayed. I was in tears – and I’m so thankful that even if I don’t see them again on this earth, we’ll be all joined together again in Heaven someday.
The next day the movers came and everything went pretty smoothly which I was thankful for; but then the following morning was fly-home day…
I’d never flown with a pet before so I was checking everything I could think of about flying with pets – as well as the airport’s website to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.
The next morning my neighbor took me to pick up Sparky at the vet’s office and drove us to the airport. Sparky wasn’t pleased to have been cooped up in a little kennel for about a week – and now being stuck in a crate – and he was letting us know about it!
When we got to the airport, my neighbor asked if I wanted her to come in with me to get everything all checked in.
“No, of course not – I’ll be fine!”
NOT!!!
When I went to check in Sparky, they asked me if I had brought him a snack.
Huh? I told her I had read that if total flight time was less than 6 hours you didn’t need to worry about it.
She informed me that wasn’t true, and wouldn’t let us board until I’d gotten him some food.
“Can’t you go to the store real quick?” she asked.
“I don’t have a car!”
“Well you’ll just have to try and call someone.”
Oh, brother, I was stuck. Now let me just tell you that I still had a flip-top phone back then, and I certainly didn’t have my address book loaded! I could feel myself starting to panic. Finally I tried calling my friend who had just dropped me off, but then I remembered she’d told me she was going shopping, so I got no answer.
The only other person I could think of whose phone number I had handy was her husband – the mayor of the city! He had always taken a liking to Sparky so maybe he’d be able to swing by with a little bag of their small dog’s food. At least that would be something!
Then I remembered his wife had told me he was to be at a city council meeting that morning. I could feel myself start to freeze up, and prayed, “Father, I need Your help!”
I finally decided to try calling him anyway, and he answered his phone! He was done with his meeting and was able to rush home, pick up some food, and got to the airport just in the nick of time.
Yes, my Heavenly Father had again taken care of me…
Finally I boarded the plane, and I was excited to discover that my seat-mate turned out to be a gal who was a children’s pastor at a local church. We had such a delightful time getting to know each other.
After a quick plane-change in Salt Lake City, I arrived in Dallas mid-afternoon, and the flight attendant came to give me a special ticket about Sparky, and let me know that he’d endured the flight well. Yippee!
I was greeted at baggage claim by my smiling husband, we gathered our really irate cat, and headed to our little apartment.
So now to find a house – but where to look?
The God Of All Comfort 