Mr Kirby Man

Mr Kirby vacuum man came to our house today.  By appointment.

Made by me.  (Or not.)

You see, Saturday morning I received a phone call telling me that our name had been selected for free furniture cleaning and I bit.

Hook,
line
and
sinker. . .

Because they told me that it was free.  Because they said that there were no strings attached.  Because they confirmed that it was full cleaning of the furniture.  Because, because, because.

But mostly, because I have been praying about what to do about our couch. 

We have kids.  It has had a bunch of stuff spilled on it and it's needing some attention.  I'm a little afraid to wash the cushion covers but I'm willing to give it a whirl.  But it's something that I had been praying about and well, I'm learning that when you pray about something specific God doesn't always answer my prayer the way I intended for Him to. 

<insert grin>

Responses to my FB post confirmed my suspicion that it would be Mr Kirby Man who was coming to our house today and for a second I thought about calling them back to cancel.  But then I realized that perhaps God had a reason for sending Mr Kirby Man to our house.  And ever since Saturday I have been praying that if God was sending MKM to our house that He would give TDM and I the boldness to speak whatever words He intended for us to say. 

So, Mr Kirby Man arrives today along with a first day on the job sidekick who is learning the ropes.  They go through the whole schpeel, showing us how dirty our vacuum left the carpet, and the furniture, and the blinds and the beds.  And.  And.  And...

Yeah, we live in squalor.  ha!

Anyway, after seeing the magic of the Kirby vacuum we sat down to talk price.  Which, seriously, I just wanted them to clean the furniture like the phone call had said they would and then get out of my house so that I could get on with my day...but you've got to talk price with these folks.  So we did and it's astounding what these vacuums cost!  But I secretly knew what it would cost because a friend of mine actually bought one just to get the people out of her house. 

I digress.

At some point I look at the first day sidekick and say "Do you live around here?  You look really familiar."  The guy says "No I don't but I was thinking that you look familiar too."  We name a few towns and discover that he knows my oldest nephew.  TDM is pretty amazed and looks at the sidekick like he's crazy and confirms "Tall, blonde haired nephew who almost killed himself when he wrecked his truck nephew?"

That's the one.

So MKM and I are sitting at the table and he is on the phone with some lady who calls the shots trying to get us a better price (yeah, right!) and he comes up with a bottom line figure broken down into convenient monthly payments.  And I look at him and say "We aren't in the market for a vacuum or anything else right now."
 
He is taken aback by that and asks "If your husband quit trucking it must be because you had something set aside to live off of."

And I said, "Yes, we did but it is gone."

"So what are you living on?" he asks.

I told him that God has provided every need that we have had and that we believe that He will continue to until He shows us what comes next for TDM.

His response was a bit, well, jerky.  "God just drops things out of the sky?"

I told him "No, but He has provided enough income for us and will continue to."

MKM's attitude changes at this point and I don't really remember everything that was said, but it boiled down to me telling him that I believe that God calls us to be prudent with the resources that He has given us and buying something beyond our means isn't prudent.

MKM picks up the phone and says to the person on the other end of the phone "Here's the situation...  blah, blah, blah, basically, if they buy the vacuum they would literally be taking food away from their kids."

Oh, the drama!

Hard sell over.  I apologize for wasting his time.  TDM gives me one of those looks - you know the 'I'm gonna kill you if you ever get us into one of these things again' look.  MKM says "Do you think He (pointing up) is going to let me sleep tonight if I take food away from your kids?"

A little over the top, but I'm feeling like there was a divine purpose for this entire furniture 'cleaning' opportunity.  The vacuum packs up and the two guys leave.  The end, right?

Except that we know that MKM's real name is Bob and Miss E felt led to pray for him at dinner time.  And for whatever reason, the first day sidekick has ties to my nephew.  We may never know the rest of the story this side of Heaven but I'm glad that I listened to what my heart was telling me on this one. 

And the couch and chairs have been 'deep' vacuumed now, so I can scratch that off of my never ending and won't get done to-do list.  I'll have to let you know if I ever tackle washing the cushion covers. 

Maybe I can start a DIY portion of this blog with an invalid name?