The party bus is our van. It was GIVEN to us in the summer of 2005. It's an AMAZING story.
Frank lost his job in October of 2004. He worked at ********** ******** as a store manager for over 14 years. He was top in ranking in sales the previous year and was actually high in ranking for most of the years he worked there. He even got a trophy the year before for being #1 in GMR sales (I don't really know what that is). So it came to a serious suprise when they fired him for sales performance issues. As it turned out, they fired a bunch of store managers who had been with the company for 8-20 years and then replaced them with younger managers at more than ten thousand a year less, so the company profited a lot in those few months of mass firing. Then they sold the company to ********. Obviously they needed to show a bigger profit to make the sale. It was devestating, not just because of the obvious financial blow to us, but because of the hurt of being fired unfairly by a company he was loyal to for so long.
So for 8 months he looked long and hard for a job and it was so hard but God used that time to show us so many, many things. And my best friends "the dolls" were totally holding my hand the whole time in prayer about that. I still can't even believe we have had such a drastic change in lifestyle....and survived it. God showed us so many things during the last year. One thing he showed us was that even though we were so poor, we still needed to be tithers and givers. We never stopped tithing, but giving was a little harder. Yet God would prompt us randomly to give to different people or ministries and then He would just so completely shock us with His promises of "give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bossom." I could just go on and on with many many examples of how God would just do something so totally amazing and surprising. He just was so awesomely providing for us. I have always struggled with trust, and this was an area He really grew me in.
He lost his job in October, and my online homeschool support group that I had grown very, very close to, and affectionately call "the dolls" had planned to meet at Hershey Pennsylvania in the summerish time (where else do dieters meet for the first time? We did however at the last minute decide to go to one of the gal's house in Virgina though) and I was really bummed because I knew I wasn't going to be able to go. So I just really accepted that and didn't really think much else of it.
At the end of December, one of the dolls came through our neck of the woods to go to Florida for a family vacation and stopped by for lunch. We had a lovely 3 or 4 hours together. At that time she was having some serious female problems and hemoraging frequently. One of her prayer requests when she was traveling was to stop bleeding so she could enjoy the trip at Disney. From what I understand, it was really, really bad. Well after we ate, Frank said he wanted to pray for Chris. He had her sit in a chair and we gathered around her and annointed her in oil and prayed a prayer of healing for her. I could tell her family probably wasn't very familiar with that kind of thing so after they left I told Frank that those people will never speak to me again! LOL! I was like all worried about it and all.
The next morning she called me from Florida and was just sure she was going to say "You guys are really weird and you need to lose my email address." But she said that the time we had together really meant so much to them and that she had something exciting to tell me. She said that they had been driving and she realized that the bleeding had stopped. She had been passing really big clots and everything, but now she was really feeling good. So instantly she became aware of God's power to heal and to still perform miracles. She also said that when we took our trip to Hershey she wanted to share a room with me and she wanted to pay for my share of the room. I was floored. And very appreciative. And so excited that she had experienced God in a new and exciting way. You go God!
So a little time goes by and we have this neighbor next door with an unsaved husband and the wife had recently been diagnosed with MS. She was having trouble with her knees and was told that if she didn't get a car that was an automatic, she would have to have surgery. She had to stop working because of the disease and was fighting with the disability agency to get some help financially, so getting a car was not in the budget. But immediately after she told us this, the Lord spoke to Frank and I both and told us to give her our little white car, the one Frank drove. It was really so cool that He told us and we both knew it was what the Lord wanted us to do. So we did, and it totally blessed that family. In fact several months later, because of the trust that had developed with the husband after the car was given to them, he ended up getting saved at our house. It was so cool!
So anyway, whenever I was vaccuming out the car and getting it ready to give to them, I was kinda bummed thinking that this was the car I was planning on driving to Hershey and now I wasn't going to have transportation. So I was sitting on the floor of that little car vaccuming and praying and reminding God that He had provided my hotel fare to be paid, now I was doing this thing out of obedience, so I hoped He would remember He had to come up with a way to get me there! LOL!
Later that week I get a phone call out of the blue from that same doll that had offered to pay for my room. For some reason she is compelled to send me plane tickets to go to Hershey. I'm totally blown away. I can't even believe it. God just really surprised me on that! And He did it so fast!
So, a day or so later we get this really bad ice storm and all these trees come crashing down and everything and I guess one of the other dolls saw it on the news all the way in NH and she calls to see if we are all OK. In the course of our conversation she asks me if I am going to be able to go to Hershey with Frank not having a job and all. I tell her that amazingly, someone has offered to pay for my hotel AND pay to fly me up there. She is like totally amazed and all. So I mentioned to her that it was truly even more amazing because we just got rid of the car that I had been planning to drive up.
So about an hour later that amazingly generous other doll calls and wants to know why I didn't tell her we had to sell our car. Well, it's because we didn't sell our car, for one thing, and mostly it's because when you give someone something like that when the Lord tells you to, you just sit and wait on Him. So I just kinda said that it didn't seem important to tell her. So she was like, well it is important because her husband just came in here and out of the blue told me to do something so I'm going to drive down to Georgia and we are going to fly to Virginia together, then drive together to Hershey. So I was like, you don't need to escort me on the plane, I have flown before, I'm a big girl, I can do this....really I can. So she is like, No, you don't understand. I am driving my conversion van to Georgia and flying back with you because we are signing the van over to you and Frank and then we will go on our trip. I was like, WHAT? So she said that he had just come in and told her that he felt like God was telling him to do that.
It was overwhelming, as you can imagine. God totally replaced our vehicle we gave away with a BETTER one....one we can (and do) use for ministry traveling. How cool is that? Anyway, this doll had always called this van the Party Bus, probably because it has all these cool lights and a tv and all that, so it just kinda stuck and the kids call it the party bus too. I don't even think they know it's a van......it's just the Party Bus to them. God is so amazing, isn't He??
Frank lost his job in October of 2004. He worked at ********** ******** as a store manager for over 14 years. He was top in ranking in sales the previous year and was actually high in ranking for most of the years he worked there. He even got a trophy the year before for being #1 in GMR sales (I don't really know what that is). So it came to a serious suprise when they fired him for sales performance issues. As it turned out, they fired a bunch of store managers who had been with the company for 8-20 years and then replaced them with younger managers at more than ten thousand a year less, so the company profited a lot in those few months of mass firing. Then they sold the company to ********. Obviously they needed to show a bigger profit to make the sale. It was devestating, not just because of the obvious financial blow to us, but because of the hurt of being fired unfairly by a company he was loyal to for so long.
So for 8 months he looked long and hard for a job and it was so hard but God used that time to show us so many, many things. And my best friends "the dolls" were totally holding my hand the whole time in prayer about that. I still can't even believe we have had such a drastic change in lifestyle....and survived it. God showed us so many things during the last year. One thing he showed us was that even though we were so poor, we still needed to be tithers and givers. We never stopped tithing, but giving was a little harder. Yet God would prompt us randomly to give to different people or ministries and then He would just so completely shock us with His promises of "give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bossom." I could just go on and on with many many examples of how God would just do something so totally amazing and surprising. He just was so awesomely providing for us. I have always struggled with trust, and this was an area He really grew me in.
He lost his job in October, and my online homeschool support group that I had grown very, very close to, and affectionately call "the dolls" had planned to meet at Hershey Pennsylvania in the summerish time (where else do dieters meet for the first time? We did however at the last minute decide to go to one of the gal's house in Virgina though) and I was really bummed because I knew I wasn't going to be able to go. So I just really accepted that and didn't really think much else of it.
At the end of December, one of the dolls came through our neck of the woods to go to Florida for a family vacation and stopped by for lunch. We had a lovely 3 or 4 hours together. At that time she was having some serious female problems and hemoraging frequently. One of her prayer requests when she was traveling was to stop bleeding so she could enjoy the trip at Disney. From what I understand, it was really, really bad. Well after we ate, Frank said he wanted to pray for Chris. He had her sit in a chair and we gathered around her and annointed her in oil and prayed a prayer of healing for her. I could tell her family probably wasn't very familiar with that kind of thing so after they left I told Frank that those people will never speak to me again! LOL! I was like all worried about it and all.
The next morning she called me from Florida and was just sure she was going to say "You guys are really weird and you need to lose my email address." But she said that the time we had together really meant so much to them and that she had something exciting to tell me. She said that they had been driving and she realized that the bleeding had stopped. She had been passing really big clots and everything, but now she was really feeling good. So instantly she became aware of God's power to heal and to still perform miracles. She also said that when we took our trip to Hershey she wanted to share a room with me and she wanted to pay for my share of the room. I was floored. And very appreciative. And so excited that she had experienced God in a new and exciting way. You go God!
So a little time goes by and we have this neighbor next door with an unsaved husband and the wife had recently been diagnosed with MS. She was having trouble with her knees and was told that if she didn't get a car that was an automatic, she would have to have surgery. She had to stop working because of the disease and was fighting with the disability agency to get some help financially, so getting a car was not in the budget. But immediately after she told us this, the Lord spoke to Frank and I both and told us to give her our little white car, the one Frank drove. It was really so cool that He told us and we both knew it was what the Lord wanted us to do. So we did, and it totally blessed that family. In fact several months later, because of the trust that had developed with the husband after the car was given to them, he ended up getting saved at our house. It was so cool!
So anyway, whenever I was vaccuming out the car and getting it ready to give to them, I was kinda bummed thinking that this was the car I was planning on driving to Hershey and now I wasn't going to have transportation. So I was sitting on the floor of that little car vaccuming and praying and reminding God that He had provided my hotel fare to be paid, now I was doing this thing out of obedience, so I hoped He would remember He had to come up with a way to get me there! LOL!
Later that week I get a phone call out of the blue from that same doll that had offered to pay for my room. For some reason she is compelled to send me plane tickets to go to Hershey. I'm totally blown away. I can't even believe it. God just really surprised me on that! And He did it so fast!
So, a day or so later we get this really bad ice storm and all these trees come crashing down and everything and I guess one of the other dolls saw it on the news all the way in NH and she calls to see if we are all OK. In the course of our conversation she asks me if I am going to be able to go to Hershey with Frank not having a job and all. I tell her that amazingly, someone has offered to pay for my hotel AND pay to fly me up there. She is like totally amazed and all. So I mentioned to her that it was truly even more amazing because we just got rid of the car that I had been planning to drive up.
So about an hour later that amazingly generous other doll calls and wants to know why I didn't tell her we had to sell our car. Well, it's because we didn't sell our car, for one thing, and mostly it's because when you give someone something like that when the Lord tells you to, you just sit and wait on Him. So I just kinda said that it didn't seem important to tell her. So she was like, well it is important because her husband just came in here and out of the blue told me to do something so I'm going to drive down to Georgia and we are going to fly to Virginia together, then drive together to Hershey. So I was like, you don't need to escort me on the plane, I have flown before, I'm a big girl, I can do this....really I can. So she is like, No, you don't understand. I am driving my conversion van to Georgia and flying back with you because we are signing the van over to you and Frank and then we will go on our trip. I was like, WHAT? So she said that he had just come in and told her that he felt like God was telling him to do that.
It was overwhelming, as you can imagine. God totally replaced our vehicle we gave away with a BETTER one....one we can (and do) use for ministry traveling. How cool is that? Anyway, this doll had always called this van the Party Bus, probably because it has all these cool lights and a tv and all that, so it just kinda stuck and the kids call it the party bus too. I don't even think they know it's a van......it's just the Party Bus to them. God is so amazing, isn't He??
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