His Answers Are Better

We're on the brink of a new year so why not have a new adventure?  Maybe dumpster surfing would qualify?

Yesterday I spent the day waiting for a truck delivery of three pallets containing 44 cartons of nice baseball hats for our 2016 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  Waiting.  All.  Day.

I was praying for all the details of this delivery.  I knew the church office was closed, so I was very specific in telling the trucking company the driver needed to call me before arriving at the church.  I didn't let anyone at the church know in advance because...the office was closed.   I was also praying for the weather and that I'd have help to be able to get the hats stored properly.

I hoped the delivery would come in the morning before the sleet was scheduled to arrive, and I had my trusty sidekick Pam on alert to meet me there when I got the call from the truck driver.  Alas, the call never came.

Finally, at 4:30 pm I called the trucking company who told me they'd already delivered and had a signature on the delivery.  My husband and I quickly drove to the church but it was locked up tight with no sign of the pallets of hats outside.

After some investigation I discovered the church custodian had signed for the delivery and had the pallets put inside in a loading area at the back of the church.  Let me say, I would never consider having pallets put inside the church.

My next problem was trying to figure out how to get into the church to move them to the storage container.  Did I mention the church office is closed?

This morning I was able to reach someone who agreed to meet me and open door.  I located the pallets, got a hand truck from the container, and set to work.

Since I had to move them through the gym I figured why not place them there and use the benefit of a warm area to inventory and consolidate them so I could store fewer boxes in the container.

Not one, but TWO team members arrived to assist.  When I went into the storage container I found several stacks of cartons filled with donations of new filler items I'd received right before leaving for Maryland so we decided to sort them at the same time.  Soon the gym became a sea of cardboard.

 Terri worked on sorting donations

Boxes were all opened and hats taken out of their inner packaging to save space.  Last year we did this step the week before the packing party so we're really ahead this year.

I got to the church at 11:00 am and it was 5:30 pm by the time we finished.  As we lost all daylight on this cloudy day it became interesting trying to get those boxes hefted into the container.  It took two of us to get the top box onto the four-carton-high stacks.  Those things were heavy!

Yesterday I wondered if God was hearing my prayers, but today I can see His answers were better.   It was a lot of work, but the hats are stored, the donations sorted and boxed and stored as well, and the dumpster surfed upon to tamp down the plethora of cardboard.

And, though we dealt with some drizzling rain the temps were in the 40s.  With snow forecast over the next few days it was the perfect time to get this job finished.

Thank You, Lord, for your better answers.