Seasonal Inspiration (Merry Christmas)

[Judy Harder]

In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket.


Their father was gone.
The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.
Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.
Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.
He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.
If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it. I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my bes t homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to finda job.
The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.

No luck.

The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.
Still no luck The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in t hat had been converted to a truck stop.
It was called the Big Wheel.
An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.
She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.
She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.
I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people.
I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night.
She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep
This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.
That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel.
When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I averaged every night.

As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.
The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.
One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!
There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.
Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.

I made a deal with the local service station.
In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.
I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.
I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.
Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.

I found a can of red paint and started repairing and pain ting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.
Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.

On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe.
A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. 
When I went out to my car after finishing my shift  on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.

I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.
Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box.
Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!

I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.

Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes.
There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.
And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.
As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.

And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.
Yes, there w ere angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop....
THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:

1. "Yes!"
2. "Not yet."
3. "I have something better in mind."

God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.

You maybe going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.

[Teresa]

I cried when I read this... 

You know? Even though Kjell and I don't have a lot of money right now, we can pay the bills and have some left over. Plus plenty of food and fresh water, and the love and closeness of my family. All of these things I am so thankful for.

Especially at this time of year, every time I do go to Wichita or Bartlesville or where ever I go, I always ask God and the Angels to let me stand by someone in the checkout line at stores that need some 'help'.
So far this last 2 weeks it has happened 2 times, and although it wasn't much, the people who were paying for their groceries and were counting the change trying to find more in their purse were so grateful when I intervened. One old lady kept apologizing because she was holding up the line, and was trying to find enough money to pay for a few cans of vegetables and a couple cans of salmon. I stepped around 2 people standing there, to help her out.
One of the best was last year 3 days before Christmas..  a pretty  little gal ( about 30 yrs old..no wedding ring and a very tired look) was  in front of me and had some "special groceries" ( a small ham and a cake mix and some cheese etc..just enough to make a nice dinner)  and a few color books and crayons, some candy canes and one of the cheaper baby dolls in her cart. She was digging around in her purse for some more money and looking like she was going to cry. She then looked at the casher and told  her she would have to take some stuff back off the counter. She reached for the cheese and the cake mix.
My heart was about to break...so  I just quietly stepped forward and told the cashier that I would pay for her stuff. The cashier said" Are you sure?" I just nodded and  said yes, and the girl looked at me with tears and just shook her head like she couldn't believe it and whispered,"thank you so much." I whispered back to her.." You are more than welcome and you have a good Christmas with your little girl"

I will tell you all that I never walked out of a store and felt any better in my whole life. But I started crying as I was walking out .. for the joy of helping, and for all those who need it and don't have it.
I hope my prayers will be answered again.
This is ..to me.. what Christmas is all about.

[Judy Harder]

Teresa,

The angels are smiling when they read this story. I had to produce a
sniffle or two.

You are a blessing.. Thanks to you there are others  who believe in Christmas.

You did good, KID, Real Good.
Hugs and God bless,
Judy