I am excited to let you know David, Gerald’s and my trip to Oklahoma was smooth. I did start hurting which is normal so we would stop where I could work. Poor David had trouble staying awake but he did and for that, I am grateful.

I even got to do a little shopping while we were stopping for drinks and snacks. It was just a normal trip. Nothing felt wrong. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We eventually made our way on up to Gerald’s, and when we pulled in, I didn’t immediately notice anything unusual.

David did because he can see much better than I can. David, started noticing things around the house that didn’t look right. The trash cans had trash in them we didn’t leave the last time we was there.

Then David says someone got into the shed. At first, I’m standing there thinking, What are you talking about? What do you mean somebody got in? Then David wen into the backyard. The shed was empty.

That’s when he noticed the back door was open. Someone had come through the back door, gone through the house, and apparently made their way out through the front. And then it hit us.

Someone had been in the house. And they hadn’t just come in. They had taken everything that would bring them money. The living room and dinning room had been gone through. Pictures were all over the floor along with my dad’s papers from his funneral.

They went into the bedrooms and taken the safe Gerald had. Along with tools he kept in the house. Then David goes into the garage which they had gone through as well. There wasn’t anything left.

It looked like someone had come in and was gathering things for themselves because they even took a Motorcycle Gerald had. Back in the house David noticed they had even cut the hose on the back of the Icebox to get the copper out.

I remember just standing there in shock. You don’t expect to walk into something like that. You can prepare yourself for a lot of things in life, but you don’t prepare yourself for walking into a home and realizing somebody has gone through your belongings and taken your things.

It was overwhelming. This is everything Gerald had worked for all his life and now he has nothing. I asked Gerald if he wanted to call the Police and he said no, he was just down. He wanted to go back to Texas.

To David and I and even my sister Debbie and my Aunt we knew there might not be much the Police could do but at least they could watch the house but he refused to let them. And honestly, there wasn’t much I could do except stand there and take it all in.

What scared me is he had his tax papers all over that house and they could steal his identity for bank fraud and Gerald didn’t want to notify the bank. We can’t do it for him he has to do it. This isn’t what my parents would have wanted but again David and I had to pick our battles and just walk away like Gerald wanted.

As I stood there, I kept thinking about that feeling I had that morning. That feeling that Charlie shouldn’t be the one taking Junior. That feeling that somehow David and I needed to go.

At the time, I couldn’t explain it. I didn’t know what we were going to find when we got to Oklahoma. I didn’t know there had been a break-in. I didn’t know what was waiting for us. But God did.

And suddenly, that uneasy feeling made a whole lot more sense. I truly believe God was leading us there. And as hard as it is to say this, I am actually thankful that Charlie wasn’t the one who walked into that situation.

I know my son and I know his personality. I know how his OCD and ADHD can affect him when something unexpected and upsetting happens. I can only imagine how overwhelming it would have been for him to walk into a home that had been burglarized and see everything that had happened.

And Junior would have been there too and I don’t know exactly how either of them would have reacted with Gerald not being able to see and Charlie’s ADHD and OCD. But I know this much:

God knew and he knew what was waiting for us and he knew what Charlie would have been walking into. He knew what Junior would have been walking into. And He knew that David and I were the people who needed to be there.

Sometimes we don’t understand why God changes our plans and sometimes I wonder why something we thought was settled suddenly isn’t and sometimes I wonder why somebody backs out.

We wonder why somebody else steps up and wee wonder why we wake up with a feeling we can’t explain. But sometimes, God is moving pieces around that we can’t see. That morning, I thought I was just being a worried mom.

I thought maybe I was overthinking Charlie driving maybe I was worrying about the freeway. Maybe it was just one of those mama feelings. But now? I know things will work themselves out somehow.

I believe God was protecting my son and I believe He was protecting Junior. And I believe He was putting David and me exactly where we needed to be. Because without the Lord, I don’t know where I would be.

I don’t know how I would have handled that morning and I don’t know how I would have handled walking into that house. I don’t know how I would have made sense of all the things that happened.

But I do know this: God was there before we ever arrived. He was there when our plans kept changing. He was there when Charlie volunteered to take Junior and He was there when Bradley backed out.

He was there when Charlie decided to stay home and he was there when David said he would go. And He was there when we opened that door and discovered what had happened.

Looking back, I don’t think the trip to Oklahoma was ever really about the plans we thought we were making. I think it was about the plans God already had. And that’s why, even in the middle of something so heartbreaking and shocking, I can still say:

I am grateful and I am thankful and I am blessed. Because sometimes the biggest blessings aren’t the things that happen the way we planned. Sometimes the blessing is discovering afterward why God changed the plan.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates