Treasure Hunting

Those who know me know all to well that I like to shop at Goodwill. There are 6 of them that I have frequented in our county, one that I have gone to once in downtown Portland, and one I just discovered just outside of Salem. Yep, discovered, didn't know it was there but might have to go back to it just to see what it hides inside.

This joy of scanning the shelves didn't come on a whim though, I generally avoided thrift shops while growing up, and really didn't see much in them most of my adult life so far. But all of that changed a few years back. You'll laugh at this but, I meet God in the aisles of our local Goodwills. He and I play a game of Easter Egg hunting within the stacks of books and electronics. I like to see what He has hidden for me to discover.

This game began a few years back when my wife was looking on e-Bay for a Jack Lalane Juicer. We had the goofy idea that getting a juicer would open some new safer tastes for our oldest son. He can't have a lot of the juices on the market becauce most manufacturers HAVE to put some form of gluten or casein in them and that makes him sick to his stomach. Karen spent a couple of weeks getting out bid on each juicer she found. She would set a $60 limit and the juicer would go for $80. One after the other would get grabbed up, and we didn't want to go too high on something that was an unfounded thought. So, after a few weeks of lost bidding wars I awoke on a Saturday morning and declared to my wife that I had had a dream. (The dream was real, I wasn't saying this to add flare to the story) That Friday night I had had a dream that we all went shopping at a Goodwill store in a neighboring town. In the dream I found on the small appliances shelf a Jack Lalane Juicer for $24.65. Karen smiled at me and gave me that look only a wife can give, "That's nice sweetheart (tilt head to one side and silently sigh at the simple minded joke her husband was playing on her.) Yet, after a cup of coffee and a hot shower, we saddled up in the family car and went thrift store shopping. My wife wanted to get some pants for the boys anyways. When we arrived she took the boys and a shopping cart while my daughter and I made a bee line for the small appliances....

It wasn't in a new box but, all of the attachments and even the recipe book were sittin' on the top shelf, $24.95. (Ok, so I was off by $0.30, it was a dream) We grabbed that juicer, hid it behind our backs and sauntered over to the pants fitting session. Karen saw us coming with the look that she knew could mean only one thing. "You didn't?! Are you serious?! You're kidding?!..." and then tears started to come down her cheek as her disbelief was washed away when we revealed that first treasure we had been seeking. Practically brand new and ready to be put to the test. I asked her," which is harder to believe, that we found one, or that I told you I had a dream that we found one?" The answer was really, both.

And thus began the adventure.

A little while later we were struggling with how to help Titus learn how to pedal. We tried big wheels, tricycles, training wheels, he just never seemed to figure out how to get the vehicle to move. Then we saw it. The Lance Armstrong Livestrong Ride cuts thru our town and its outskirts. Beautiful country roads and hills for a bike ride. So, we went out one Sunday morning to cheer the riders on. The kids lined the road holding US Flags shouting, " Good Job, way to go!." To each rider that went by. A little while later a father son combination went riding by on what we found out was a trail-along bike. Watching this father-son combination made both Karen and I both wonder about the possibility. Titus could pedal, shift gears, and everything else while watching a model demonstration right in front of him. Plus, mom or dad riding in front made the bike balance so he could focus on the pedaling. We went to a local bike shop and queried the shop owner about such a bike. He told us a story of a father-daughter combo that got hooked on riding to such a degree that on some evenings the father would come home bushed from the day without energy to go for a ride and the daughter would tell him," don't worry daddy, I'll push you, you just have to steer." Then he told us the price, bare bones base price, $150. Now I know some new bikes can cost more than this, even kids bikes but, this was way more than we anticipated. Our awe and wonder was drenched and soggy. Time for an Easter Egg hunt.

The next weekend we casually went to the local Goodwill. Honestly, I didn't expect to find such a cool treasure, we were just out to scan the aisles. But there it was, practically brand new, no scratches, good grips, good seat, chain was still oily. The only thing missing was the collar for attaching it to the lead bike. God's price tag, $30. The local bike tinkerer had the collar, he never puts price tags on anything so he asked if $12 would do. Ti and I mounted up when we got home, we took a short ride up and down the street while mom and the kids cheered Titus on for his first bike ride. When we pulled up to the curb Ti sweetly proclaimed,"Ok mommy's turn." From his perspective he had been giving me a ride up and down the street. Now that's a way to build confidence.

Now, I do have to admit, I shop at Goodwill a lot. The inventory turns so quick that you never really know what you will find. The chain here in town has a frequent flyer rewards card. You get a 5% discount of anything over $15 and 7% on anything over $100. Plus, you get a point for every dollar spent. 200 points gets you a $10 dollar store credit. In other words, you get a 5% kickback good on a following purchase. I have earned a couple of those store credits over the last few years.

With store credit in hand I ventured into a neighboring towns Goodwill Center. Now remember, the store credit is good for $10. And what should be sitting on the electronics shelf but a BOSE wave radio. No scratches, no tears, and the thing works, loud and very clear. Thrift store electronics, BOSE Wave Radio....marked price? $9. The cost of the shopping to earn the store credit aside, I walked out of the store with a good condition working BOSE Radio....for free, and $1 still left in store credit.

This last year has seen a lot of cut backs at work. The latest round of cost saving measure was to kindly ask all employees to take the equivalent of 1 week off each month. Paid if you had the time accrued, unpaid if you didn't have any time off left. Over the last year most everybody in the plant has exhausted their time off benefit, which meant that the average paycheck saw a 25% reduction. Now, we are a 6 member household, we don't have cable or cell phones. As you can now see, we shop a lot at thrift stores, even for clothing. ( I found a pair of Eddie Bauer jeans for $2, that would get me 13-15 pairs for the price of a new pair) Needless to say, we don't go out to the movies very much. We have an extensive DVD collection though. So how do we economically entertain our family while feeling like we are getting something really special. God had an idea, how about an LCD projector for $15. Coupled with a BOSE radio system with awesome base we have a double feature pizza and movie night every Friday evening. The first is a kids show, Cars, Nemo, Monsters, Buzz n Woody...then the kids go to bed and we watch a more adult level flick. So if you are in the area and up for a show on Friday night, drop on buy, but we can't guarantee we'll save any popcorn.

These are some of our special stories. I twas telling them to a good friend one evening when he just sat there and shook his head,"from the way you tell them...these aren't just good finds, you go shopping like its a treasure hunt don't you?"

Keep in mind, for every 5-6 trips, one of them might hold something. I never now if and what but, I always go in expecting to find something the Lord has hidden for me.

I am now learning how to live life with this same kind of anticipation. I drink my morning coffee wondering what the Lord has hidden in the day for me to find. Imagine yourself and the morning you hide Easter eggs for your kids, can you now imagine how giddy He is while he places little treasures for us to find throughout our day? I can almost see the smile on his face and tears in his eyes when we found the juicer and when he heard our son proclaim," Ok, its your turn."

Kids Camp 2009

Well, Ti and I went to Beaverton Foursquare's Kids Camp Again this summer. So, a few stories:

First, the camp had a new feature this year, a 30 or 40 foot long water slide! The first afternoon, Ti and I went to the candy cabin and then went and watched the other kids going down the slide, followed by a short visit to the creek for some shallow water wading. But the next afternoon, Ti told me he wanted to go to the Snack Shack and then the waterslide. I asked him if he wanted to watch the kids again or ride the slide? He told me he wanted to ride the slide. So we sat and watched the other kids while he ate his candy and got him ready for the event. (This is the first ride that he has ever gone down on a water slide) I figured the little guy would make a run down the slide, realize the shock and surprise of the cold water and the wet pool at the bottom and then decide to go somewhere else. Boy was I wrong. He spent the rest of the afternoon running up the hill to get in line so he could go for another ride down the blue monster. Very cool milestone. He did really well standing in line and waiting his turn, only now and then he had to get out of line to come and tell me what he was going to do next, "Dad! Next time I'm going to go dwon on my knees!" (Which really didn't work well but, it was a grand thing for him to actually come over and tell me this.)

Bad event, I asked another counselor to watch Titus at dinner time while I ran into the kitchen to make him some "safe" rice spaghetti to go along with the spaghetti everyone else was eating. The counselor seemed to get it and said he would keep an eye on him. When I got back to the table with a plate of spaghetti, the counselor smiled and said he made sure Titus didn't get any spaghetti but, he did give him a peice of garlic bread to tide him over. CRAP! (For those of you who don't know, Titus is on a gluten/cassien free diet. No wheat, no dairy, and any of their derivatives) Yep, Garlic Bread is chock full of butter (dairy) and wheat flour. CRAP! This meant that the evening would be "loopy" and the morning would really suck for him. And...they did. Plus, the next morning I told another counselor, no pancakes but he can eat the sausage. So the counselor made sure he didn't get any sausage. DOUBLE CRAP! (yep, I mouthed the words at church camp, I am in big trouble now) Sometimes the dairy takes a little while to work its magic, Wendsday night during worship...the room was dry and hot, the motions were full of jumping and screaming...and Titus was bent over the chair in front of him working that butter right back out the way it came in. By the time I got him out of the auditorium and into a bathroom, breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner again, all made their way back up-out- and onto the floor. Poor guy. He looked back at me a little later and said, "I shouldn't have eaten the garlic bread and pancake huh? They made me sick..." Yep little buddy, thems made you sick. But he recovered well and the staff was incredible, all 5 puddles were cleaned up before I had Titus cleaned up and into a new shirt. Good job folks.

One of the worship songs had the lines: I am free to run...(kids echo I am free to run) I am free to dance...(echo) I am free to live for you...(echo) I AM FREE! (ECHO) My son had me crying tears of laughter as he exclaimed as loud as he could, I don't want to run, I WANT TO GO HOME! I don't want to dance, I WANT TO GO HOME!....As the final lines crescendo in repetative "I AM Free!" repeated 4 times...Titus crescendoed with I WANT TO GO HOME! The cool part was, he knew he was making a joke and smiled the whole time he was doing it.

All in all, it was a really good week. The weather was warm and sunny. The food was quite filling. And the activities, worship time, and all else was a joy to be a part of.