Inspiration

Yesterday I was talking with a good friend of mine. She had asked me if I had put up my Christmas tree yet, and I told her that, sadly, I hadn't. The plan was to put it up on Monday during the day (we have a fake tree, which I LOVE-that it's fake, not necessarily the exact tree we have...) then we were going to decorate it for family night. Well, we got some snow and rainy icy stuff Monday, which wouldn't have been a big deal if I didn't have to go pick up Amanda and Casey from the airport at about 10:00 that night. Steven decided on his way home from work that I shouldn't go down there by myself (which I thought was absurd, but he WOULD NOT budge on this) So, as a result, we spent our Monday evening driving two cars down to Indianapolis, to leave one there for the Elmer's, that way I wouldn't be out so late, and if something did happen, Steven would have been there to help (the solution Steven came up with...whatever calms him down I guess). Well, after sitting on the interstate for an hour and a half without moving at all, we finally did a little finaggling, driving on the shoulder, taking an alternate route, and making it to the airport 3 hours later, after Amanda and Casey's flight came in!! ANYWAY, needless to say, we didn't get the tree up on Monday (since Steven hadn't taken it out of the attic yet).

Tuesday was pretty hectic, so the tree didn't get out of the attic then either. Anyway, back to what I started with, while discussing this with my friend, Karen, I told her that threatened Steven that if he didn't get the tree out of the attic, then I would. Steven's pretty adamant that I am not allowed to go get stuff out of the attic (could be because I tried before, and ended up breaking a food shelf I was standing on, and catching myself my my arms in the attic opening and just hung there until I could jimmy myself down). Anyway, we never got our tree up last year, and so I was telling Karen that I really wanted to get it up this year, but it's a matter of finding a time when Steven is willing to get it out of the attic (not that he's not willing to help, I just usually don't think of reminding him to do it unless he's asleep or at work!)

ANYWAY, the point of this post is that I came home today and there was a truck parked outside of my house, and my front door was open a bit. I thought that was weird, but I recognized the truck to be Karen's husband, Dale's, truck. As I'm getting the kids out of the car, I see Karen's son in my house. I thought, that's kind of weird, but whatever. As I'm walking in the house, Dale says to me 'I decide to break into your house, and you show up! That ruins the surprise!' I asked him if he was there to use the computer (sometimes Karen will come over to use our Internet, and I always tell her that if I'm not home she can just come on in an use it, since we rarely lock our door-probably not something I should admit on my blog). Dale said that he wasn't using the computer, but that Karen had told him about me wanting to put up my Christmas tree, but we hadn't gotten it out of the attic, so he wanted to surprise us by getting it out of the attic while I was gone, then leaving us wondering who in the world got it out of the attic for us. I was FLOORED! I couldn't believe he would be so thoughtful!! I was so excited too! So, he got our tree, and the baby bassinet, out of the attic and the kids and I had the tree set up and were putting the lights on when Steven got home. Steven walked in and said 'You DID NOT get that out of the attic, did you?' I said 'Well, you didn't...' He was starting to get that look on his face when I do something out of sheer stubbornness and he starts to get flabbergasted with me. I couldn't help but laugh. I told him the true story of how I tree got out of the attic and he was equally impressed. He said 'We could all take lessons on service and thoughtfulness from Dale. He might even have you dad beat!' That's quite the compliment to Dale, since Steven thinks very highly of my dad, and my dad is honestly the most service oriented person either of us has ever known.

All I can say is with the Christmas season here, Dale has been my inspiration. I'm going to FIND ways to help people. Not wait until they ask. It was a little thing to him, but meant a lot to us, not because it was something we couldn't do for ourselves. Steven could have just as easily gotten the tree out of the attic. It meant a lot to us, because he saw this as a way to serve, and jumped at the opportunity, even when it wasn't a need or a necessity! Nice people like that just make you want to be better, don't you think?