A Comedy of Errors

"The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry."  So wrote my oft-quoted favorite Scottish poet Robert Burns.

He could have been writing about our moving adventure!

After several weeks of living out of suitcases and surrounded by boxes, movers came to our mountain home to load our furniture.  The moving company sent two trucks, as previously arranged.  For some reason, they sent one of their own company trucks and a Penske rental truck.  That turned out to be a good thing, since the company truck was just a wee bit too tall to fit through the gate house on our mountain road.  So, the guys brought the Penske truck up to our house, loaded it, drove it back down to where the other truck was parked, and off-loaded the Penske truck onto the company truck, then came back to load the last truck.  And because of that, the entire process took much, much longer that it should have. 

That happened on a Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we closed on the sale of our mountain house.  On Thursday, we closed on the sale of our house here in Spartanburg.

We had arranged for our furniture to be delivered here on the following Wednesday so that there would be time for some painting and other work to be done here before the furniture was put in place.  I had a very carefully organized schedule so that none of the workers would get in each other's way.  All this had been confirmed with all the parties involved.  Or so I thought!

On Friday, the painters did show up and did an excellent job with the two rooms that needed painting.  However, the brick mason who was supposed to fix the front step didn't show up.  He eventually got here a few days later.

Monday was the day for the plumbers to install new toilets.  It was also the day for a gas line to be run for the new gas range, and for the new dishwasher to be installed.  The appliances were not a problem.  However, only the bases for the toilets had come in; we had no toilet tanks.  Therefore, no toilets were installed!  That happened a couple of days later.

On Monday, we got a confirmation call that the remaining appliances, including a refrigerator, would be delivered Tuesday, and that the new microwave, which is an "install" and not a "delivery", would also be coming.  However, that night Al got a call that they didn't have the refrigerator.  The same refrigerator they had just confirmed they would deliver was now suddenly nowhere to be found.

We spent more than two hours in the appliance store on Tuesday morning trying to resolve the refrigerator issue.  The store manager was less than helpful.  He just stared at his I-phone as though a solution would magically jump off the screen.  Finally, Al suggested to him that we would take the floor model as long as it would be covered by the same warranty as the appliance we had already paid for.  But, the floor model had a very large hole in the back of it! To make a long story short, we did eventually get a refrigerator.  And a giant headache!

The carpet that was also supposed to be installed on Tuesday, while the rooms were still empty, was not installed.  Still hasn't been installed.  For some reason, unknown to me, it didn't get shipped up from the factory in Atlanta.  And when carpet was actually shipped, it was the wrong carpet!  We're still waiting for that situation to be resolved!

Meanwhile, the movers showed up on Wednesday with our furniture, although they were two hours late and didn't bother to call to say they would be late.  Maybe they got lost somewhere between Greenville and Spartanburg!

In any event, despite all the challenges of the last week we are living in our new home.  Still surrounded by boxes, which will likely be the case for several more days.  Or weeks.

These have been frustrating times for us.  But there's a lesson to be learned here.
Life isn't always as we would like it to be.  There are challenges to be dealt with.  People don't always do what they say they will do.  Carpet isn't installed on time.  The refrigerator isn't delivered.  The brick mason forgets to show up.

Life isn't about what happens to us.  Or about what doesn't happen.  It's about how we respond to it.  It's about knowing that God is in control.  Of the big things and the little things.  And He is working all these things together for our good and for His glory.

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing."  (James 1:2-3 NASB)