The following is part 5 of a 5 part series. Go here for Part 1 

I started to head to the security check point that I came through the first time about 500 feet down the hallway.  My mind was racing.

I remember putting it in my back pocket.  Maybe it fell out when I sat down at Starbucks.  Maybe it’s in the men’s restroom.  How the hell am I going to get it back?  Their not going to let me in and I’m going to be stuck in Seattle for ever.  I don’t want to be stuck in Seattle I just want to home and see Shannon.

“Excuse me sir…I think I might have left my driver’s license here when I came through security the first time.”
“We have a driver’s license that we found.  What’s your name?”
“Greg Qualls”
“Let me go look.”

Why the hell did I go get Diego’s Bible?  They could have mailed it to him. If I had just stayed in the airport I wouldn’t be dealing with all this right now.  God why didn’t you just have Diego not forget his Bible in the van…I would be probably sipping on some coffee right now still reading my book…

But I wouldn’t have realized that I didn’t have my driver’s license…then I would have to go through all the crap to get a new driver’s license.  And I would have to pay the money for the new driver’s license.  And I would have to deal with the DMV.

So I guess it is a good thing that I did go and get it. Thanks God for having Diego forget his Bible in the van…wait a second.  God why didn’t you just make sure that Diego didn’t forget his Bible and make sure that I didn’t loose my driver’s license.  I would still be sitting in Starbucks reading my book.

“Here you go sir…just sign hear and print your name her.”
“Thank you sir.”

As I walked to the TSA agent and finally handed him my driver’s license and boarding pass for the second time in the last hour, I began to think to myself…God really does work in mysterious ways.

And I heard in the quiet of my heart, “Yes I do…and I’m good.”  I don’t know why God had me go through this little adventure.  There could be several reasons.  All I know was that, in the end, I felt the hand of God working through all of it.  I felt His plan being worked out in my life and I felt drawn closer to Him.

At least He knows what He’s doing, because the majority of the time I don’t have a clue.

The following is part 3 of a 5 part series. Go here for Part 1 

I sat down in a comfortable oversized plush seat.  Enjoying the wonderful smell of fresh espresso and pastries, I leaned back and opened up my book for what I thought would be a nice extended reading period.  But about one paragraph in, my phone began to ring.  Looking at the caller ID, I didn’t recognize the phone number.  I had an internal dilemma at this point…to answer or to not.  Everything in me wanted to ignore it and just go back to my reading…but curiosity won out and I decided to answer.

“Hello this is Greg.” (my standard greeting for unknown numbers that might be from someone at UPS)
“Hello Mr. Qualls.  This is _____ with Budget.”
“Yes”
“One of your coworkers was just here looking for his Bible.”
“Yes”
“Well we found his Bible but he said he had to leave or he was going to miss his flight.  He left just 30 seconds ago and if he comes back right now he can get it.  If not we can mail it back to him and charge it to your card.”
“Ohh ok. Well I’ll try calling him.  If not I might just come and get it. Thank you.”
“Yes sir.  Good bye.”
“Good bye.”

I tried calling Diego, but there was no answer on his phone.  Having two hours until my flight was supposed to come and being really cheap, I decided I was going to have to break camp and go get Diego’s Bible.  I needed the walk anyways and it would be a simple trip to the rental car desk and back. 

But God had other plans.

So last Thursday I was having lunch with some friends when I got a phone call from Shannon letting me know that she had just got served (in the legal sense…not in the dance sense). Apparently she had been home minding her own business when someone rang our doorbell.

When Shannon answered, this guy handed her a stack of papers letting us know that the house we are renting is being foreclosed on. We got a copy of the legal paperwork since we are living at the house. In fact on the paperwork, we are listed as “the unknown tenant.” I had to laugh. It has the feeling of a Robert Frost poem.

The Unknown Tenant
by Greg Qualls

To the unknown tenant
How hard life must be

To the unknown tenant
The future is cloudy

To the unknown tenant
Your house might be sold

To the unknown tenant
You’ll be out in the cold

To the unknown tenant
Dream big and be strong

To the unknown tenant
um yeah we’re forclosing on your house and there isn’t anything that you can do about it because you’re just a tenant and not the owner. In fact we don’t even know your name. You’re nameless. That’s gotta suck.

It doesn’t flow as good as a Robert Frost poem…but I think it works. Anyways…we found out yesterday though that the owner got everything cleared up with the mortgage company. So things are back to normal. We aren’t having to move. So that is good.

But I will always remember the time that I was….the unknown tenant.

Or about the baby’s sex.

So we ended up getting in on Saturday to have Shannon’s ultrasound instead of waiting until the 25th. Shannon and I were so excited because we knew that the baby was now big enough to find out the sex (see my previous baby post to find out my feelings about waiting to find out). So we got up early on Saturday and went to Shannon’s appointment.

The whole morning I was anxious knowing that I was about to find out the big news. The lady that did the procedure was really nice (you got to think that is pretty fun part of her job…getting to tell people what they are going to have). The baby on the other hand wasn’t being very cooperative. They kept moving around and had their legs crossed almost the whole time. The lady doing the procedure was having to do some ultrasound gymnastics just to get the pictures that she needed.

She didn’t get a really clear view, but with the shots that she did get, she was 75% sure that we are having a bouncing baby boy (emphasize the bouncing part…that kid was really moving around a lot). There is a small chance that it could end up being a girl…but I saw something purturding in the pictures that she took. We are both excited and really surprised. Shannon was really set on the fact that she thought we were having a girl. I think she is a little depressed, but we will love him just the same. And there is always a chance for more.

We have already picked out the name at the moment and we are calling him Asa Jackson Qualls. Asa is one of my favorite Bible people, and Shannon really liked the name Jackson to go with it. Things are really starting to sink in now. The nicest thing is that we can stop saying “him or her.” It’s going to be nice to just say “him” from here on out.