Daniel's Diagnosis: Day 3 - Indescribable Blessings, Sun 1/8/12

What an incredible day this has been. After a very late set of decision making last night, we put the word out that we'd decided to tear the old scary carpet out of the bottom floor of our house and try to seal the subfloor before Daniel was released to come home. We'd been meaning to tear the horrible stuff out for years but had not yet saved enough money for the hardwood floors we wanted to replace them with. In recent months however, I was beginning to worry that they were actually becoming a health concern for us and I was going to have to do something about them whether we could afford them or not. When the doctors told us how severely compromised we could expect Daniel's immune system to become during the chemotherapy, and then added that the worst fear was that of a fungal infection, I knew I couldn't wait another moment if we ever hoped to feel comfortable with bringing Daniel back home. I also realized that today was the only remaining weekend day available to ask for help from my friends. So late last night I posted a request on Facebook for anyone who might be available to help me today to show up at the house at 12:30 (and then later pushed it back to 1:00).

By this morning, I'd had several friends tell me they couldn't make it and about 3 people tell me they thought they could be there. By the time my wonderful folks showed up to watch Daniel for us on only an hour's notice and my poor brother found his way through the disaster of construction around the hospital downtown I was able to get back home by about 1:10. As I approached my house, the sight was absolutely overwhelming. Not only was the driveway and shoulder of the road in front of my house filled with cars, but the entire front yard was a parking lot. I couldn't believe it. I parked in front of my neighbor's house and walked in the side door. As I opened the door to the house I quickly discovered two things: First my house was jam packed with people - PACKED with people - and second, all the carpet, padding, and tack strips were already gone in all but about 1/2 of one room of the first floor. I'm not sure when everyone got there, but even if they came at the original time, what they'd accomplished was nothing short of astonishing. They had moved all the furniture, pulled up carpet, pad, and tack strips, and were now working on pulling the last of the staples and vacuuming up the dust. The Family Room, hall way, foyer, and half the living room were done.

I had figured that we'd have to do the Living Room another day because I'd still have to buy the sealer, put it down in the cleared room, wait for it to dry, and then move all the furniture into that room so I could attack the other. But these guys had figured out how to get all that furniture into 1/2 of the Living room, pull up the carpet in the other 1/2, and then switch. By the time I even figured out who was even there, they finished everything. One of my friends who had gotten there first was asking if they could start putting the sealer down ... you know ... the sealer I hadn't even bought yet. So we jumped in the truck and took off to go find sealer. During the course of our trip, another friend called me and made me aware of a place where I could get a good product at wholesale price, so off we went there. God was providing for each step of the way, almost real-time. Before I walked out the door, two of the gals there were explaining to me that they were going out to buy pizza for all these workers and that I wasn't allowed to pay for any of it.

By the time we got back with the sealer (the stuff that I'd thought was going to be too expensive, but turned out to be well within budget), most of the crew had eaten and left. The job was nearly completely finished. Some folks asked about removing the carpet on the main stairway as well (which I hadn't even considered) and volunteered to stay around and complete that too. It was done in no-time and off they went as well telling me to let them know of any other assistance I might need. One friend whom I haven't seen in a dozen years or more drove 3 hours to help today after simply reading a Facebook post. He had to call relatives to even get our phone number & address. But he was there & was last one to leave.

How awesome is our God, and how absolutely are the hearts and hands of our faithful brothers and sisters willing to give of themselves in service to even a need so small as ours. Neither these words nor my tears earlier today can express the love, thankfulness, and blessedness that we feel at being surrounded by so many true friends. Nevertheless, THANK YOU ALL from the bottom of our hearts.

Oh and by the way - where did y'all put the white trash can from the Kitchen? :-)

May your kindness and blessing be restored to each of you 7-fold.

Grace and Peace in Christ Jesus,

- Tim -