Waiting

Josh's grandmother signed us up to do a turtle walk while we were visiting his family. Josh's step-mom, Anne, his aunt Theresa, her two kids, Emmett and I heard all about the 4 different kinds of Sea Turtles at 9 p.m. before going on our walk. While the park ranger recited all the ways humans endanger and kill turtles I noticed a picture of Hurricane Francis up on the wall. It impacted our life so dramatically and regularly I am reminded about all the lessons I learned through that storm. Around 10 pm we got the call from a turtle scout that a turtle was laying eggs so we hurried over to the beach to see her cover up her nest and lug herself down to the surf. The picture on the wall though, keeps popping up in my head and I have been thinking about lessons learned.....
I learned there is a time to act and a time to wait.

For the 9 years Josh ran his own business we didn't have insurance and income was iffy at times. Though he applied for different jobs and I suggested he look for work in Jacksonville, it seemed like the only option was to stay put. (time to wait)

Aug. 31, 2004 Hurricane Francis was a category 4 and headed directly for Palm Bay. (time to act) Sept. 1, I agreed to inducing labor so we could evacuate. Josh was busy boarding up the houses he was working on so Susan came to the hospital to wait out the labor with me until he could get there. We played Crazy 8's for two hours...we forgot the 8's were crazy though so the game took a long time. Josh made it in time but was back at boarding up houses the next day so Susan brought Elise and I home. Very early the next morning we headed for Jacksonville.

Sept. 4, Francis was moving onshore. We waited a day or two, until a friend drove by our house to say the electricity was on and the a.c. was running. Hot dog! Time to take my new born home to the nice room I set up for her and Emmett to share. I had gone with western theme, she was going to be my little cowgirl. My mom had drawn a big cowboy boot to decorate the room, I made a quilt for Emmett's bed, and put some lace on the bottom of the red check curtains to pull it together. When we got home, that was the only room that didn't have any damage. Which Josh had guessed ahead of time and put the tv and computer in there. Our friend was right, the ac was on, and it was blowing right through the roof that had fallen in the boys room, the living room and garage. (time to act) We packed up the house, Cathron flew down to get the boys...a few days later after most of the house was stored in the literally the last storage unit available in Brevard County, I too flew to Indiana and Josh stayed behind to ride out Hurricane Jeanne with his grandmother. Now it was time to wait for two and a half months of what we should do next.

You've heard most of this before and I feel like I'm being repetitive but it has been on my mind since seeing that picture up in the Sebastian Fishing Museum. Right now it seems like I am in another waiting period. Tavia mentioned this past week that she doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up...and I don't either, but I know that waiting on Lord can bring totally unexpected results.