SPOILER ALERT:  At the end of this post I’m going to tell you about a very good cause that is important to me and ask that you consider making a donation.  I won’t know if you donate or not, but if it offends you that I ask then you’ll know when to stop reading before you get there….  🙂  But do read the following story.  I think you will enjoy it.

I like to have a plan.  I can come up with a plan or list or blueprint to make an idea happen in my sleep.  I’m that girl.  But pulling the trigger on that plan sometimes seems like a dream.  I actually just live from one interruption to the other.  And my life is at the mercy of the schedules of all the people I love (and some I haven’t decided how I feel about yet).  You know what I mean.  You’ve been there.  There are those moments when you think, “Seriously, what now?  All I want is to mark one thing off this list.  Just one.  Is that too much to ask?”

A few months ago I was having one of those days.  One thing after another.  One call after another.  One person after another at the door and I couldn’t keep enough momentum going to finish anything.  On top of it all, we had just gotten a new puppy.  She was a rescue.  About 3-4 months old.  So life was topsy turvy and our routine was shot.  I have a fence around my back yard to keep the dogs in.  I heard them barking as well as another funny sound outside.  I looked out the window and there was a little, tiny, fuzzy puppy outside the fence yapping at my dogs inside the fence.  Hmmm, wonder who that dog belongs too?  I get  back to my to-do list.

An hour or so later I look out the window and down the drive way and there at the gate is that little puppy again, completely on the other side of the fence.  We live in the city limits and are surrounded by buildings and not houses, so I have no idea where this puppy is from, but she has her head stuck between the fence and the gate trying to get into my yard!  So I go rescue her from being stuck and when I pick her up I see she has one blue eye and one brown eye and she’s covered in “hitchhikers” from the grass and woods and she has cuts on her belly and a big sore on the inside of her leg.  And I look into those eyes and know this interruption will last the rest of the day…..at least.

My two youngest help me give her a bath and pick the 150+ stickers out of her long hair and we took pictures and posted them on Facebook.  It was obvious the puppy wasn’t well cared for and so I wanted to find her a good home……and we had just gotten a puppy, so it couldn’t be mine.  Even though my girls begged and begged and begged.

So a friend from college that I hadn’t seen in 20 years sees the pictures.  I had recently been reconnected with her after 2 decades, through FB.  We had had one or two conversations to catch up and I realized she had done something amazing with her life.  She had adopted 4 special needs children.  Truly amazing.  I admire her so much.  But we didn’t talk regularly.  But on this day of interruptions I had woke up with her on my mind and had prayed for her family.  She had also woke up with me on her mind and had prayed for my family and so she found herself looking at this picture of this cutie pie doggie and wrote me right away saying she had been looking for another service dog to train.  She trains service animals too!  I wasn’t kidding when I said she was amazing.

Long story short…..this sweet pup stays at our house for about 10 days or so and my friend pays to have the dog treated for worms and all the certification for the pup to fly.  Then puppy gets on an airplane to Boston!  And before you know it, she’s in training!  She joins a great pack of service animals and is a quick study.

And when I woke up that morning in May I just wanted to get my laundry done….I didn’t expect to rescue a stuck puppy that would lead to a grand adventure for my kids and a dog.  I didn’t expect that the little mutt would grown tall and lean and be trained to help and work for those who would need her assistance.

I also didn’t expect to rekindle a friendship that had lain dormant for 20 years all because of a puppy.  I didn’t expect to find out that my friend had started a foundation to help families with medical supplies and ramps and wheelchairs.  Her daughter Rachael is in a wheelchair and although insurance may pay for certain necessities they won’t pay for things like getting a van converted so that parents can actually get a child in a wheelchair into a van.  They won’t pay for ramps so the family can get the child out of the house or into the house.  These are out-of-pocket expenses.  I don’t have a child with severe medical needs like Rachael, but I have a daughter with Autism who still wets the bed.  She might always do that.  I have tried every type of everything to protect mattresses.  You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve tried.  Insurance won’t pay for a rubber mattress and I couldn’t find one that was affordable and a local agency in our town bought one for my daughter.  That mattress is high on my list of things to be thankful for.  It simplified my life.  So I believe in this foundation my friend started called Wheels 4 Rachael.  I know first hand how a little help can go a long way.

This post has a couple of purposes.  First to remind us that the interruptions in life…..maybe they aren’t the interruptions.  Maybe they are the life.  Don’t get so worried that you might be interrupted from life that you miss living.  And who knows what good an interruption might bring to your life?  A puppy stuck in my gate was the last thing I needed….so I thought.  It was exactly what I needed.  I needed to renew a friendship.  One that will continue.  She’s asked me to be a part of Wheels 4 Rachael and I’m happy to do that.  I see us taking care of our special needs kids for as long as our health lasts and we can do that better when we can count on each other.  Thank you God for that silly puppy who interrupted my life.  It was a divine appointment.  A lot of ministry took place for Jesus as He was interrupted on His way to do something else.  He didn’t mind.  He welcomed the interruptions as His purpose.  If we want to be like Jesus we need to welcome them as well, instead of losing our patience.  What interruption is frustrating you that might be God speaking to you instead?

Ok – here’s the part where I ask for your help.  On November 9th some friends and I are running in a 10k to raise funds for Wheels 4 Rachael.  I’m so thankful for all I’ve been blessed with.  My family and kids.  And I’m thankful for an agency that was willing to buy me a mattress.  I want other families to know what that feels like.  To have a basic need met in a very tangible way.  So between now and Thanksgiving I want to give other families something to be thankful for too.  Through sponsoring us in the race I want to raise $1000 for Wheels 4 Rachael before Thanksgiving.  If you would consider that, I would be most grateful.  Any donation will count.  No matter how big or small.  And take it from a mom who knows, the people it will benefit will be grateful.

Go to www.wheels4rachael.org to learn more about my friend and her family and of course, sweet Rachael.  There is information there about donating.  You can donate online or mail a check.  This blog is called “Grace in the Real World”  Let’s give away some grace to some families before Thanksgiving.  Give them something to be thankful for.

You have all my gratitude.  May God bless you and return to you more than you can possibly imagine.

Blessings!

Connie