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blessings

One of the benefits of selling medical equipment is that it benefits both parties. Bobby's old van with almost 181,000 miles had reached the point we never felt totally safe driving it to Alabama. (There were some days we were uncertain about him driving to Raleigh!) We got the main things fixed, but realized we were to the point we had to replace it, whether we were ready to or not. And for the first time ever, Van Products not only didn't sell our old van, they really didn't even want to try. We finally got around to advertising it on Craigslist and PAT this last week and almost immediately heard from several people. The first person we heard from was in South Carolina, and his injury level is the same as Bobby's. For the last fifteen years, he has not driven a vehicle, and his only form of transportation required people helping lift him in and out of a van. His son works for Ford and strongly encouraged him to get the van. His brother is a mechanic and has an old Ford van in the yard that the transmission doesn't work on it but everything else does, and he was excited to see the parts would be interchangeable should the van need work. Even with the arm rest on a chair chewed off (thanks to my former Beagles!), the well-worn carpet from Bobby's chair, and the cosmetic dents, they were absolutely thrilled to see the van and couldn't wait to get it home for their brother to see. We no longer have to pay insurance on a van we don't need, acquired a little money for it, and someone who truly needs it has a vehicle that he needed at a price he could afford.

Thursday afternoon a lady from a refugee relocation group is coming to look at the hospital bed for an African refugee who has a degenerative disease. Her grown children had already evacuated to America, and she will arrive this coming Monday. Anytime I clean I often sell or donate to the local thrift store things we don't use/need, but it excites me when something is actually needed/beneficial to someone else. (And for those of you wondering why we have a hospital bed, it's the one that came when Bobby broke his neck 30 years ago and has only been used sparingly since then. He quickly learned through rehab comrades that waterbeds not only helped to eliminate bedsores and but also eliminated almost all the need for rotation throughout the night.)

AND...I'm SLOWLY getting caught up on housework after my March-May sewing/quilting marathon and elbow break. It's encouraging, to say the least.

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