I always look forward to the Applefest in Franklin—a town about 30 miles from us, so I was disappointed when the forecast was calling for a lot of rain last Friday, the day we were free to go. But Hoss’s Restaurant in Grove City (about 25 miles from us) was celebrating their 40th Anniversary with a $5.99 Salad Bar on Friday, so we decided to go there instead.
However, to our surprise, Friday dawned sunny and pleasant, and a lot of the rain had been taken out of the forecast for Franklin, so we decided to do both! We went to Grove City first for lunch and then headed for Franklin.
Last year we had to park a long way from the Applefest area of Franklin so this year, our plan was that Donn would drop me off downtown and go find a parking spot so I wouldn’t have to walk so far. I was praying God would “go to prepare a place” for Donn to park.
When he dropped me off, Donn said, “I’ll try to find you when I get back.”
After he left, I thought, That was really stupid of us! We should have planned where to meet! I had visions of us spending all afternoon trying to find each other! I tried to call Donn to plan where to meet but only got a message saying he hadn’t set up his voicemail.
So I walked up the street to the stoplight, crossed the street, and then went back down the sidewalk stopping to look at some vendor’s wares—fretting all the while about our stupidity! When I reached the stoplight across from where Donn had dropped me off, I stopped, trying to figure out whether to proceed to where many more vendors were set up. Eventually, I decided not to go any further and turned to walk back up the sidewalk.
After a few steps, I saw Donn coming toward me. I was so relieved that I greeted him as though I hadn’t seen him for weeks! I told him how worried I’d been and asked if he’d found a good place to park.
“Yes,” he said, “I parked in a church parking lot where they were allowing Applefest people to park. Some of their youth were there monitoring the parking and when I asked one of them, ‘How much?’ she said, ‘Jesus paid it all,’ and handed me a card with that same message.” I was moved by the church’s kindness because we’d seen businesses charging $10 to park in their lots.
As usual, we bought nothing from the vendors that afternoon, but we walked around enjoying the lovely weather, the interesting wares, and the live music. The number of vendors had greatly increased since last year, but eventually, we decided we’d probably seen just about everything. It was hard to tell because of the ways things were set up.
We walked back the way we’d come, but then I thought I’d like to walk up and down the sidewalks of the town where there were more vendors—except I needed a bathroom. (I definitely wasn’t interested in using a port-a-potty!) We weren’t sure where we’d find a bathroom except in restaurants where we’d be expected to eat.
“Let’s start walking up the sidewalk and see what we can find.” I grabbed Donn’s hand. As we walked, I added, “I’m sure the theater has a bathroom, but they’d probably charge us to go in.
When we reached the theater, they were selling snacks in the outdoor entrance. “Let’s look around here,” I suggested, even though I knew we didn’t want any snacks. A lady who was seated in this area said, “There are lots of Chinese Auction baskets inside.”
“Oh thank you,” I answered with a meaningful look at Donn. As we headed for the door, I whispered, “Maybe I can use the facilities while we’re inside.”
And sure enough, that was the case, and I wasn’t the only one taking advantage of that! There was even a basket for donations!
After we explored the vendors on the sidewalks, we headed back again to where we’d started. At the last minute, I said, “Let’s go back and buy one of those big, luscious tomatoes we saw earlier in the Farmer’s Market-style vendors’ area.” So we turned back and wound our way around until we found the tomatoes. I picked the one I wanted and Donn bought it.
We turned away from the vendor’s table and hadn’t taken more than a few steps when a joyous voice said, “Donn and Daisy! We’ve sure been praying for you, girl!”
It took me a minute to recognize dear friends from the Grove City Alliance Church where we attended for 16 years, because we hadn’t expected to see someone from Grove City! One of their daughters, whom we hadn’t seen since she was a little girl, was with them. What a joy it was to visit with Fred and Teresa and catch up with Adriela, now a lovely young lady.
When we walked away, Donn said, “If you hadn’t wanted to get a tomato, we’d have missed them!”
As I thought back on the delightful day we’d spent, I realized all the ways God had intervened to make it possible—taking the rain out of the forecast, providing Hoss’s one-day-only Anniversary 5.99 Salad Bar on this particular day, helping Donn and I find each other quickly even when we’d failed to plan a meeting place, giving Donn a good place to park that was free because “Jesus Paid it All,” the woman at the theater making us aware that we could enter the theater where there was a bathroom, and giving me a desire for a tomato so we wouldn’t miss the best treat that He saved for last—an unplanned meeting with some dear friends we hadn’t seen for a long time!
Dear Jesus, my heart is overflowing with gratitude with this reminder that you care about the little things! How thankful we are that, indeed, Jesus Paid it All and that Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (James 1:17). Amen.
Health Update
On Tuesday, October 10, we went to the Hillman Cancer Center in New Castle for my appointment with my oncologist’s PA, lab work, and my second Targeted Treatment. My appointment went well, but even though all my blood work levels had come up to normal except one which is a trifle high (not one they are concerned about), they won’t release me for surgery until I have a date for surgery. Everything went well with my Targeted Treatment. I noticed that after each of these treatments, I was very tired. I’m thankful it only lasted that day! Next time I’ll just plan to lie down and take a nap when I get home.
I also went to the hospital on Tuesday to have an A1C lab test which gives one’s blood sugar level for the last three months. My last one three months ago was just one number below pre-diabetic, so my PCP wanted me to make “life-style changes.” (Steroids really raise one’s blood sugar levels but thankfully, I don’t need steroids now since I’m done with chemo.) I found out a lot of things are high in carbs that I didn’t know about—for example, cranberry juice, for goodness sake—so I’ve really changed my diet a lot. This A1C showed that my blood sugar level has dropped a lot since three months ago, and my non-fasting glucose level in the HCC blood work, which has been dropping ever since I started changing my diet, has also dropped a lot since last time. I’m very thankful for that.
Please pray for us for wisdom about when to schedule the next surgery and grace for me to stick to my low-carb diet! Thank you so much for your prayers!
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