The Ticket and Mail

So the ticket...

...I drove 30 minutes to Rockwall yesterday to take care of the crazy thing. I get there, show the lady the papers, and she says I don't have the right stuff. She needs the emissions test thing. Um...I don't have that lady because I no longer live in an emissions testing county. But she was way too involved in herself to pay attention and blew me off, telling me I needed it, and she wouldn't listen to anything else I had to say.

I get back to the car and melt down. God, can you please make something go right for me?

I drive 30 minutes back to Greenville and tell the people at the inspection place what happened. The guy tells me the affidavit I signed saying I no longer live in an emissions county is good enough. He has nothing else because that's what I need and the lady was wrong.

I get back in my car and melt down. Again. Is this all really happening? What button is God trying to push? Really, tell me now because it's all getting beyond what I can take.

X & I eat lunch and yes, drive all the way back to Rockwall (another 30 minutes), and I had an entire speech ready for rude, incompetent woman.

Then I'm reminded of a sermon I recently heard from a very humble man about 'magnifying' Jesus in all situations because we don't know how much that next person really needs him. We don't know how depraved they are. We don't know anything about them except that if we simply allow each situation to 'magnify' Him and His character and all that Christian stuff, it might make just a tiny bit of difference for them. If nothing else, it'll certainly work to change us. And isn't that what it's all about - being conformed to His image? Blah. Why did I have to be reminded of this now?

So I justified in my head that part of magnifying Jesus was to speak the truth in love, and because of that I still needed to give her a piece of my mind.

I go in and without a smile or any kind of goodness, she asks, "...so you have the paperwork..." Kindly but firmly I let her know that I have this affidavit, etc etc. And I'm reminded of magnifying Jesus and a verse that says "...a kind word turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger..." She listens this time, looks at it all again, and I can tell that she feels bad. She said I hadn't shown her all the paperwork. I felt like arguing and proving my point, but I just said, "Well, it's all there. Can we take care of this?" Something like that. I did mention something about feeling like I had been blown off. She apologized for my having had to drive so much when it could've all been taken care of the first time. I was just ready to move on to the next thing...

...THE MAIL.

I believe in efficiency, so while I was driving all eternity that morning, I made several calls to both post offices and also to the Army Family care people to figure out if there was anything else in my power to 1) find my mail, and 2) obtain a military ID without the ppwk Nathan had sent.

I made a visit to the Rowlett post office and spoke with a kind supervisor. He still had no answers about where my mail was but at least I believe the forwarding will begin to work itself out. Let's all please pray this happens.

I then drove to what the army guy on the phone told me was the nearest ID place about 30 min from where I was). He thought if I explained my situation, they could work with me since I was in the system. Wow, could this really be that easy?

Of course not :]

Once I get there and ask the guard to direct me, he says, "Oh, we don't do that here anymore..." He had a smirk on his face so I wondered if he was joking. "That all blew up in mid-September...." Uh...blew up? I still don't know if he's for real. "We don't have the capability to do that anymore...the closest place is in Ft. Worth." Now I knew he was for real.

He doesn't have a physical address (what is it with people not knowing stuff they should just know?), but thank you, God for smart phones that can locate and do all kinds of things so that we don't have to drive an hour back home to figure it all out. I started to head that way and thought to myself to just call and make sure I they can really help me without the paperwork. It was already 2:30 pm. Going to Ft. Worth would put me going back to Greenville in Friday afternoon traffic - an already 1.5 hr drive would probably turn into 3. Xander is a pretty great car rider...but I wouldn't be able to handle that kind of drive if things didn't work out for me.

Glad I called because the lady basically told me that it's impossible to get an ID (insurance) without the documents Nathan sent unless I'm his POA, which I'm not.

This time I didn't melt down. In fact I was quite the opposite - at peace. I've basically done all I can to figure this stuff out, and my hands are completely tied. I'm pretty sure this is where God's supposed to show up somehow. I don't know what that somehow means, and of course, I can count on it being last minute. This may not work itself out until after the baby comes, and we have to be ok with that. But I've done my part, and now it's His turn. Relief.

Well, relief for the most part. Now I just wait.

Oh, I did have another melt down later in the day. But it was more of an I'm-pregnant-and-just-need-to-cry type of thing to release all the stress. Yeah, I did that a few times today too. Gah.