$10.00.......How Far Can it Go?

September is always our hardest month as far as money goes. We have found ourselves, once again, at the bottom of the barrel. You see...we get money in big clumps, being students and all. We get big checks twice a year; one in February and one in October, which is right around the corner. So right now, we have almost no money.
But I wanted to post about divine intervention and how the Lord uses us as instruments to help his other children. I will share with you how we have been both the giver and the recipients of such help this past week.
It was a crazy week last week. I have yet to post about it, but I was at the ER twice last week and Mike was nowhere near available, as usual. Thursday Liam cut his head open and needed stitches. Mike was at the hospital working, so I was on my own. Friday evening we both got a prompting to go check on Laurette in Old Orchard Beach, which is two hours away. We didn't have much money for gas but it didn't matter, the Lord called us to go. So we put our last $8.00 in the gas tank and off we went. She is 94 years old and we worry about her being alone all the time. Turns out, she was doing great but feeling lonely and really appreciated the visit. The kids light up her life. She adores them. She gave Mike some money which we knew was the means for him to get to the Temple on Saturday. Divine intervention.
Saturday Mike went to Boston to go to the Temple, it was Stake Temple Day. I didn't go because we didn't have a babysitter, which is why we usually take turns; it was his turn. Anyway, the kids caught a snake out in the yard. Caleb and Lundi were taking turns holding it. Finally, it got very agitated. So then they put it in a box so they could keep it contained for observation. Well, Caleb took it out of the box and it bit him on the back of his hand. I was a little concerned, called my friend (a native to Maine) and she told me there were no poisonous snakes in Maine. So I watched for the normal signs of infection (I learn these from being a nurses wife). Then Caleb decided to "charm" the snake. He was showing me how to talk as a snake charmer, putting his fingers right in front of his eyes to "hypnotize" him and then....STRIKE!!! It bit him again (I tried so hard not tolaugh, he was crying), on his finger and it started bleeding. I was a little more concerned this time, so i called David (our bishop, also a doctor). He wasn't available. So then I called the hospital, explained the situation, they said "Bring him right in!" Trisha took the kids (L,H and L) and I took Caleb (and the baby) to the ER....again! It turned out to be nothing, he didn't need shots or anything. I took my camera to the ER, showed them a picture of the snake and they confirmed that it was a garter snake. (WAIT.....This was supposed to be another post. I got carried away but don't want to delete this long story, so I'll leave it here and go back to the $10.00 topic).
Anyway, while Mike was in Boston Merle Embleton (the Stake clerk) brought over three computers from a ward in the stake that needed to be fixed. Mike is the Stake Technology Specialist and fixing the computers (and all related equipment) in the Stake is his calling. They (the Skowhegan Ward) needed them back by this afternoon so they could transmit the tithing to Salt Lake. So Saturday he gets home from Boston in just enough time for me to get to the ward building for the General Relief Society Broadcast. He had tons of homework, three computers to fix, and all the kids to bath for Sunday. I didn't get the bathing done because I spent most of my afternoon at the ER (you know...the hurry up and wait game...hate it). Right after he got home, the Bishop calls and I answer the phone. He asks me..."Can Mike go to the church and set up the satellite for the broadcast?" I'm thinking....crazy day, have to get ready for Sunday, there is not enough gas in the van for two trips into town, (he had some gas in his car but we don't all fit and we couldn't leave the kids home alone) Mike has tons of homework, so many things on his plate, I didn't want to say yes for him. So I pass the phone to Mike. He told the Bishop that he would be there to set up the satellite. We get to the Church and Mike mentions to a sister that we didn't have much gas and could she please give me a ride home. (He is always looking out for me, the man of my life). She said that she could, leaves the room and comes back a few minutes later. She then secretly tucked a $10 bill into his hand and said "Put this in your tank." Did it occur to her that she was an answer to my silent prayer...."Sure Lord, we will do it, just provide the way." We knew we had to go to OOB to see Laurette, we knew that he needed to go to the temple, we knew that Mike needed to go to the church and we also knew that he needed to take a trip to Skowhegan (which is a 45 minute trip-one way) to deliver those computers today. What we didn't know was how far that $10.00 would go. He put it in the tank on the way home from the church last night. On that $10.00, we drove to church this morning, he went to Skowhegan and came back to the church to get us and we came home. Then we had a fireside tonight (back to the church) that we went to. And you know what? There is more than a quarter tank of gas in that van. Now I don't know how much gas you can get for $10.00 in your town, but usually it doesn't buy much in Farmington (unless the Lord gets involved so that his purposes might be fulfilled). Once again, divine intervention. Miracles do happen. The Lord loves us and has greatly blessed me and my family. I see his hand in our life.
KKS