New Story

First of all, the pickles are not going to happen. Not enough cucumbers, not enough dill, not enough time and not enough energy. Next year I'll grow my own cukes and dill and do it...maybe.

Anyway, Karen arrived yesterday evening toting sweets to make Clay smile. He didn't want her to get to close, but after she pulled out the cookies he at least gave her lots of smiles. She made Timothy and I sit down on the couch while she told us the story of getting my crib (identical to Mary Jo's) over here.

When she got to North Carolina she and Ava had taken the crib to a packing place and had it packed up nicely. The box was huge! It measured 60x40x20. Tim (Sr.) got there a day or two later and helped them repack it to 60x40x10. Now it was within oversized luggage limits. They called the airlines three times with size and approximate weight. The first time they were told it would cost them $250. The next two calls they were quoted $375.

Sunday morning at church in NC the message was on really taking our place as sons and daughters of God and having dominion on this earth. Karen really took that message to heart and spoke over the crib that there wouldn't be any troubles getting it here.

When they got to Charlotte Sunday evening a skycap came to help them and instead of waiting to tip him they tipped him right away which gave them a lot of favor with the guy. The Afro-Americana lady working the ticket booth right away wanted to give them a hassle. She adamantly told them that the box was too big and started calling around to get a "no". After she couldn't get anyone on the phone Karen got very close and said something to the affect of this baby bed is for a sweet young missionary couple and they need it. This helped some, but the NorthWest employee was still sure that it couldn't be shipped, saying it wouldn't even fit in the door of the cargo hold. Since she couldn't do anything else she was reluctantly obliging and had it taken around the airport and straight to cargo, but warned that they would probably send it back. Karen said, "We walk by faith and we'll just take this one step at a time." Oh, now the lady had to be a Christian too! I think she had gotten herself so flustered from being ornery and then wanting to show her Christianity too she didn't check the box as two pieces of luggage or even check Karen's passport! Karen got out her wallet to pay the $375 and the lady said that there would be no charge! Karen got teary and just looked at the lady... You can imagine the scene.

Tim was given a gate pass to go with Karen and wait with her. After a few minutes they got up and looked out the window just in time to see that "huge" box being loaded, quite easily, into the cargo hold!

Karen said she really felt the Lord telling her not to discuss the box with anyone. There was another minor hiccough, but nothing major the rest of the way. The crib didn't arrive here in Ljubljana with her, but Karen went to the desk to ask about it and the man said, "Oh, Hall. That's a large item. It's still in Amsterdam, but will be here in the morning." No questions asked!

This morning we'll go and pick it up at the airport, with the sales receipt from two years ago so customs can't charge us anything! A small miracle, but a miracle!