Feeling Overwhelmed

I woke up this morning with a horrible sense of dread. With Kory out of commission, the reality of what I face when I get home was a bit too much to bear. The lawn will need to be mowed, all the luggage unpacked, errands run, groceries to be purchased, meals made, and two empty apartments to deal with in our building in Seattle. Cousin Odd says Kory can’t do a thing before October 1st so that also means we start home schooling with Kaleb and I’ll have the bulk of that task. I wanted to either scream or cry all day long and couldn’t have felt more burdened. And there is still plenty to do here before we leave that I’m stressing about.

Before we took our road trip we put everything in our little storage space at our condo here in Aalesund. We designated the space under the table for our six suitcases we’ll be taking with us back home to America. One of them was empty, anticipating we’d buy a few things on our trip. When I went to get them the other day I noticed that two of them were empty and Kory’s things were nowhere to be found. He was the last one in the storage unit and he swears he had everything in the suitcase when we left. That was pretty much the straw that broke the camel’s back for me because not only did I have no desire to go looking for his stuff, but I didn’t have the strength to move everything out and back in again. I lost sleep over the whole situation last night trying to figure out where in the world Kory’s things were. Finally today I insisted he go with me to the storage unit to try and find them, and sure enough, it wasn’t as he remembered. For some reason he’d unpacked his suitcase and stuffed things here and there and we only found about half of what he thought he’d be bringing home. I finally gave up looking as the reason I’d asked him to pack up the suitcase before we left was just for this very reason – that we wouldn’t have to go looking for things when we returned. It’s a seemingly little thing, but right now, everything is a big deal.

Yesterday Kaleb was over at Tobias’ house and Tobias called today saying one of his brothers woke up with Chicken Pox. If I do the calculations right, when we get home, Kaleb may be breaking out with Chicken Pox. It’s just one more thing to deal with, but that’s actually a good thing as I’ve been wanting him to get them for some time now, but the timing isn’t ideal (is it ever?) So my plate feels full as I still have all the insurance forms to fill out and a few more details to care for before we leave. (I need some cheese to go with this whine.)

While we were at our condo, Kory was in pain, but still wanted to go up and visit Tante Kari. They have matching crutches as she’s still hobbling around from her broken hip. It would have been funny if it weren’t so pathetic to see the two of them trying to get to the couch. At least Kory got out a little today, but he’s still so far from being fine.

I went to the evening service at Agape Church tonight and it was just what I needed. They sang “Uten Deg” my all time favorite song (“Without You I have no hope, but with You I have everything.”) While we were singing that song I thought about something that happened a few days ago. I needed to go to the “people register” office but as I drove near the office I just couldn’t turn in because the road I had to go in is very difficult to come out. I’m so worried about having a car accident and the only way to come out of that place requires turning left on to the busiest road in town. I didn’t have the guts to go the first day, but the second day I was running errands and I knew I had to do it. When I turned left off the main road I saw there were six cars backed up waiting to get onto the road I’d just left. I asked God if he could PLEASE provide a way for me to get out of there when I was done. I neither wanted to wait half an hour behind other cars, nor did I want to pull out fast onto that busy street to avoid a collision. When I was done at the office, I headed up the side road and there were no other cars waiting to turn - that was the first miracle. Then, as I approached the main road, a city bus that wasn’t in service was coming down the road on my right and the driver just stopped in the middle of the road, looked and me and motioned for me to cut out in front of him – thereby stopping all other traffic so I could get out safely. It nearly felt like God parting the Red Sea for Moses. I just had to laugh that God loves me so much that He made a way for me through that otherwise awful traffic situation and why would I think He wouldn’t do the same for me for all the other things that plagued my mind today. Of course He will make a way, and of course He will give me the strength when I need it. I then had to ask for forgiveness for my doubt and unbelief. God is good, all the time, even when we aren’t. (I feel so much better now – Hallelujah!)