And I didn't even get arrested!

A week or so ago I briefly mentioned something about a (sort of secret) personal project that I have been diligently working on and I shared the below picture from my instagram feed.

When I took that picture, I was sitting in my car in the middle of a local (county-run) refuse/recycling yard while I was actually contemplating the possibility of lifting at least one set of refrigerator doors (pictured above) despite the fact that I had already been threatened with the possibility of being arrested.  Why? Well... because for the past year and a half, I have been on a quest to acquire a refrigerator door. No... no... not the whole refrigerator! I just wanted the front part - the DOOR(s) off the hinges.

(o_O)

Is this you right now?

That's right. You heard me. I just wanted the door(s)! I JUST WANTED THE DOORS. What of it?

[Warning: this is a long drawn out story that has an end but doesn't seem like it]

Now, originally, the vision I had in mind was a refrigerator door that was pretty much like this...

source

Now, to be quite honest, I had no idea what kind of a refrigerator that up there was (it's called a Kelvinator) or what era it originated from (it is from the 1950s). All I knew was that when I thought of a refrigerator door (because remember I just wanted the door!) the coolest one I could imagine and probably a type I only saw once or twice was what is pictured right up there. You know something though? It just couldn't happen. And why? Because it is just one more indicator of a problem I repeatedly have:

1. Everything I really like ALWAYS gets discontinued and if I want to acquire it then it's expensive because it is so scarce since it's discontinued
2. Everything else I like is ALWAYS really expensive. Seriously. I am not all into jewelry or most anything that might be normally thought of us really expensive that most ladies would like but you can put me in a room of other stuff and tell me to pick my "favorite" one of the lot and I can almost guarantee that I will ALWAYS end up selecting the absolute most expensive one there. Impeccable taste, some might say. I call it annoying, frustrating, and almost always inconvenient.

Well, as it turns out, getting a Kelvinator is completely out of the question - like, close to $5,000 out of the question. So what is the acceptable alternative? How about just give me any refrigerator door I can find, OK? Well that would be OK except acquiring just refrigerator door(s) is not nearly as easy as it might seem like it could be.

In the past year and a half (A YEAR IN A HALF!!!) I put word out on just about every social media network I had access to and sent out email distros. I was seriously diligent and persistent! But sometimes persistence just doesn't pay off and what really needs to happen is divine intervention. And so? While I made my interests known far and wide, I also presented my requests to the Lord in prayer. And you know what happened? Well... the answer (or rather the refrigerator door) did not come. And so I sat and I waited and waited and waited. And while I waited I did my best to not waste my time. I recommitted myself to scripture study, reinvested myself in my marriage and motherhood. I, of course, never abandoned my quest but seemingly every time I felt like I was getting one step closer to one, I somehow would end up two steps away from one.

To say I was frustrated would be an gross understatement. To say I was discouraged on the other hand? NO WAY. No way!!! Perhaps some people get discouraged when things seem to just continue to break down in front of them but it works the opposite for me. Usually challenge that spurs frustration only then leads me to determination rather than discouragement.

In the past year and a half that I got closer and then farther away to (any) refrigerator door taken off it's hinges that I could get my hands on with every step I took, I ended up going in the following ways...

• In the woods in the back of my school with a crow bar where there was a refrigerator with the door still attached but it was completely rusted shut => Close to impossible. Even the school's amazing do-it-all grounds manager/handy-man could not get it off but he did offer to take a saws-all out there and just cut the front of the fridge off even though I would have to do some serious refinishing of it once it was off. Uhmmm... yes(!) but ultimately NO. Time is money. 
• At the county disposal lot where I was driving into the right behind a guy who had a refrigerator with the door detached right in front of me and he was literally getting ready to dump it!! => But all of the lot attendants told me I was not allowed to salvage and scrounge and didn't I see the signs when I was driving in? Uhmmm... no. (Seriously I didn't see the signs.) But what's the big deal anyway? I mean, it's not like I am some crazy refrigerator door hoarder or something! I just want ONE refrigerator door off the hinges. ONE. Apparently not happening. And not just one of the people at the disposal lot told me that but FIVE of them did and one of them was rather unfriendly and just plain rude for no good reason (if you ask me).
• Spending two solid weeks in a "wild goose" chase via phone with seemingly the most random leads that yielded ZILCH in the way of refrigerator doors taken off the hinges. This occurred even with my willingness to outright PAY for something that was otherwise useless to someone that they were getting rid of it in the first place.

There were simply no refrigerator doors off the hinges to be found anywhere. And why? Because I am convinced that it is because the Lord's timing, wisdom, and discernment was not permitting it to be so. And then I made a call which led me to a place I never expected to find myself.

TO BE CONTINUED...