As I am writing this, it is the end of day two of traveling to Baltimore. Let me tell you, it has been quite the adventure. When you are dealing with a medical relocation with kids, you are usually referred to the local Ronald McDonald House for that temporary housing. Since we have been working on this for several months now, we have had a referral in for a while...or so we thought. The catch to this type of housing is that you cannot find out if you have been accepted to live there until around 48 hours or so before you arrive. I was told to call on Thursday to check on our acceptance. We had referrals to both RMH and a place like it called Our Children's House. I called RMH and the sweet woman told me we were on the waiting list, and she would send me a list of hotels with which they work, to give me a discounted rate until we could get a spot there. I was good with that answer. Then I called Our Children's House and found out our referral was never received.
Now, back up plans are always suggested, but you don't even get that until right before. I didn't have such plans because I thought surely we had been on this list long enough we would have a spot. Turns out - neither place had ever received our referral! I was freaking out. FREAKING out. Not just because we had no place to live, but because the alternatives were very expensive, even at a discounted rate. I was prepared for a $15-$20 a day stay with a place to prepare meals and such, not a hotel without a kitchenette. There was a mix up and our case worker apologized more than anyone has ever apologized to me before. We were packing up to leave the next morning. I prayed pretty hard for a place to stay and also for a lot of peace and calm. I have been a nervous wreck all week over this and I was almost to a total meltdown.
Friday morning I got up, cooked the big kids breakfast, finished packing, and waited on a call about housing. I talked to my case worker and we had a room until Tuesday at Our Children's House and then would need to transfer to a hotel. We got that plan in place. I wasn't super happy about it, but I just kept praying God would just open something else up to where we didn't have to move around. OCH is just a block and a half from our therapy place, so I was glad to at least be there for our first day. I called on some prayer warriors. I prayed a lot. I loaded my car and was so extra sweaty that my fitbit registered active minutes. KK and I got on the road to Fairfield where we picked up my parents and headed out. Now realize that Thursday night we had no room anywhere. I was prepared and planning to drive out with my daughter to a place without lodging secured anywhere. By three that afternoon, Our Children's House had a family checking out a few weeks early and we could stay the entire month! They only house 15 families at a time, so getting moved in there, and within walking distance of our therapy program is just a bigger miracle than I could have imagined. God answers prayers and I think the biggest point is that I was prepared to walk out without that plan in place and just trust something would open up before we got there.
The other major miracle is that Kaydence has been unusually happy. She has only fussed once or twice and nothing like she has been doing lately. The past month it seems she has screamed her new horror movie scream starting about 1:30 every afternoon. The only time she has been upset was today while we tried to eat lunch. We ate at a mexican food restaurant. It wasn't crowded or too loud, but she got all ticked off. I took her out on the patio to calm down and then decided to ask to just eat out there. The waiter and another worker were sooooo gracious to move all of the plates and chips and salsa out to me. It was warm, but she was happier. I was very thankful for that place and the amazing staff. I think she was just tired. She stayed up late last night stalking my dad as he slept. I woke up to find her sitting on her knees looking at him with a very intent look that indicated her hope to crawl in that bed, which probably would've given him a heart attack. (I giggle as I recall her expression.)
Tonight we had to drive an extra hour down the road because we had no idea that our place we had picked to stop tonight also has a major race track. Every hotel I checked was full. We found a room and it turns out that Kaydence really loves taking a shower. I'll catch y'all up more later. Tomorrow we should check in at our new residence for the month. Pray boldly folks. He still performs miracles.
Now, back up plans are always suggested, but you don't even get that until right before. I didn't have such plans because I thought surely we had been on this list long enough we would have a spot. Turns out - neither place had ever received our referral! I was freaking out. FREAKING out. Not just because we had no place to live, but because the alternatives were very expensive, even at a discounted rate. I was prepared for a $15-$20 a day stay with a place to prepare meals and such, not a hotel without a kitchenette. There was a mix up and our case worker apologized more than anyone has ever apologized to me before. We were packing up to leave the next morning. I prayed pretty hard for a place to stay and also for a lot of peace and calm. I have been a nervous wreck all week over this and I was almost to a total meltdown.
Friday morning I got up, cooked the big kids breakfast, finished packing, and waited on a call about housing. I talked to my case worker and we had a room until Tuesday at Our Children's House and then would need to transfer to a hotel. We got that plan in place. I wasn't super happy about it, but I just kept praying God would just open something else up to where we didn't have to move around. OCH is just a block and a half from our therapy place, so I was glad to at least be there for our first day. I called on some prayer warriors. I prayed a lot. I loaded my car and was so extra sweaty that my fitbit registered active minutes. KK and I got on the road to Fairfield where we picked up my parents and headed out. Now realize that Thursday night we had no room anywhere. I was prepared and planning to drive out with my daughter to a place without lodging secured anywhere. By three that afternoon, Our Children's House had a family checking out a few weeks early and we could stay the entire month! They only house 15 families at a time, so getting moved in there, and within walking distance of our therapy program is just a bigger miracle than I could have imagined. God answers prayers and I think the biggest point is that I was prepared to walk out without that plan in place and just trust something would open up before we got there.
The other major miracle is that Kaydence has been unusually happy. She has only fussed once or twice and nothing like she has been doing lately. The past month it seems she has screamed her new horror movie scream starting about 1:30 every afternoon. The only time she has been upset was today while we tried to eat lunch. We ate at a mexican food restaurant. It wasn't crowded or too loud, but she got all ticked off. I took her out on the patio to calm down and then decided to ask to just eat out there. The waiter and another worker were sooooo gracious to move all of the plates and chips and salsa out to me. It was warm, but she was happier. I was very thankful for that place and the amazing staff. I think she was just tired. She stayed up late last night stalking my dad as he slept. I woke up to find her sitting on her knees looking at him with a very intent look that indicated her hope to crawl in that bed, which probably would've given him a heart attack. (I giggle as I recall her expression.)
Tonight we had to drive an extra hour down the road because we had no idea that our place we had picked to stop tonight also has a major race track. Every hotel I checked was full. We found a room and it turns out that Kaydence really loves taking a shower. I'll catch y'all up more later. Tomorrow we should check in at our new residence for the month. Pray boldly folks. He still performs miracles.
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