The miracle of the parking place

I want to tell you about the miracle of the parking. I'm always a little hesitant with things like this, things so close to my heart. Someone could scoff at them and that would hurt. But also I feel the Historical Record would be so incomplete without it! And I feel like shouting Hallelujah every time I think about it! So here I go.

Last you heard, parking here in Quebec had become unexpectedly manageable. And so it remained, but moving the car all day was definitely an infringement on Sam's working time, and that made me feel bad. He kept reassuring me it was fine, but what he was worried about was when the weather got bad. A little walk to move the car in the lovely sunshine is one thing. In the pouring rain (as he knew from a few days when he'd experienced it) or ice and snow (we could only imagine)—it is quite another. The Danger: Chute de Glace signs everywhere, warning about falling ice, were not reassuring. Not to mention that many of our streets become No Parking Zones on snowy days so that snowplows can get through, and that would make finding a place even harder. Sam and I talked it over a hundred times without any resolution, but the threat of it was looming over us with every day that passed. 

Before we came here I had double-booked another house for the last couple months, one out in the countryside about forty-five minutes away. It was a cute little place and if I hadn't felt led so strongly here to this house, we probably would have ended up there to begin with. I had put off canceling it all this time just in case. I wasn't quite sure how getting out of our lease agreement would work, but I thought I understood that it would be possible with 30 days notice. So we started considering the other house as a way to get us out of the city when bad weather came. But I just could not feel settled about moving. The kids didn't like the idea. We were comfortable here and growing to love it more all the time. And I was nervous too, about the logistics of changing things up, having to drive an hour to church and Costco, re-assigning rooms and whatever else. Still—there would be a driveway to park in!

Finally, after much agonizing, and re-reading of the rental agreement, I got up the courage to tell our landlord we would need to leave sometime in mid-October. He replied the next morning with a polite "So sorry to hear that; the penalty for cancellation is 30 days rent after you leave." I felt SICK as I realized he was right—we would have to pay for not 30 days after "cancelling," i.e. telling him we wanted to leave (like I'd thought), but 30 days after we actually "cancelled," i.e. left the house. So basically…if we moved we'd have to pay for both houses for a whole month. UGH. I had felt sick about making the decision to go to the other house but I felt even SICKER now knowing we couldn't do it without a huge penalty.

So now what???

Now I prayed, as I had been praying since last February, but more urgently now—knowing that God knew where we were and what car we drove, and please could He help us figure out if we were supposed to just deal with parking in the snow, or pay all the extra money to move, or what! Sam and I discussed all our options all morning with a sinking feeling that there were no good options. Maybe we wouldn't have much bad weather? Maybe we could just bundle up and make it work? Maybe it was worth the money just to be done with it all? I sent off a quick message to the landlord explaining again about the parking, asking if there was some way he could possibly help or let us leave without the penalty, but I didn't have much hope for it.

With a feeling of total helplessness I opened up the website of the parking lot waiting list I'd been on since May. I clicked through the steps I'd tried a million times before: choose lot, register, enter license plate number, pay. Then Sorry, lot unavailable, cliquez ici to get on waiting list. Only it didn't say that. It said, Cliquez ici pour payer avec la carte. I gasped out loud. I hadn't gotten any notifications. Could the lot really be open? I yelled for Sam and he came to see. My heart was pounding in my chest! I kept thinking the button on the website was going to disappear again. And I didn't even know where the parking lot was, exactly—just that it was a surface lot (not a garage) and so one of the few places that would fit our van. We found it on the map—down off the hill, but not too far—and Sam went quickly off to check it out. I was still shaking my head in disbelief that this was really happening. 

While Sam was gone I got a message back with some links from the landlord. "Try these." I clicked on the links and saw they were parking places I'd looked at before. Pay by the hour or day—way too expensive.

"If you get in touch with the owners, they could arrange with you a monthly rate," he sent. 

"How can I get in touch with the owners?"

A few minutes later, he sent some numbers. "Looks like one is owned by the Saint-Jean Parish. I'm surprised because that church has been empty for years."

Sam came back just then with his report on the parking lot. It wasn't bad. It was a bit of a walk, and a steep hill back up, but at least we wouldn't have to do it multiple times a day! It was small. It was available for hourly parking too, so sometimes the lot might be full (in which case the owners would "make alternate parking available," though who knew how that would work), but beggars can't be choosers and we were just amazed to have a chance at anything!

But (although it was killing me to wait; I still kept thinking the spot on the website was going to close down again), now we had them, we decided to look at other places just to be sure. The Saint-Jean Parish one was still available, and for a monthly option! We drove over there and stared at the spot in disbelief. It didn't seem like it could possibly be real. It was right off Rue Saint-Jean, there where we walked every day, off the street, sheltered a little, right at the church Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Five minutes' walk from our house. Plenty of space for our van. It didn't really look like a parking place at all—just like part of the church property. Yet there it was. Feeling like I was in a dream, I clicked "buy spot" on the app they'd sent over. Sam pulled the van in and parked. It was six hours after I'd woken up and read the landlord's message in despair.

And that is the miracle of the parking place! Everything about it was a miracle. The timing. The sequence. The price. The placement. Even the way we get to pay the Saint-Jean Parish instead of some random parking company. (Maybe they can use our money to open the church again! I wish.) All of it is so much better than I could have planned it myself! 

Every time we drive somewhere, every time Sam's "move the car" alarm goes off and he doesn't have to move the car, every time I see from our balcony the steeple of this church I love (and now it really is "our church"!)—I think of what great things God has done for us. He is so good. We are so grateful! 

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And now, for good measure, here are some pictures of a drive to Deschambault, a pretty town in the countryside:

Every town has its pretty church!

Skipping rocks in the river

Favorite poutine (so far): Casse-croûte du Vieux Moulin

Their smoked meat poutine was amazing!

(Another church by the poutine place)

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And a fun playground we went to for a picnic and Family Home Evening one beautiful evening, by the Centre Videotron (big arena/event center we can see from our house—the little boys were so excited to finally see it up close!):

(Long sandwiches on baguettes: our picnic go-to these days)

Red sunset!

Every single person in this picture has a funny expression, but that doesn't stop me posting it

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Trip to the Montreal Temple with our branch:

It's such a tiny temple! I love it.

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Beautiful Fall night on the island, and lobster poutine:

Tiny roadside chapel (there are lots of these on l'île d'Orléans)

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Special breakfast at the Château with the girls:

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Last random pictures that need a home:

Playing "nap"

Reading before bed

In a cereal box

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Sunset light

Map of road closures around our house (blue dot) the day of a big bike race that was held here. Oh boy were we glad to have our own parking spot on that day!! We could just watch the news helicopters constantly hovering over us (very exciting) and enjoy not having to go out in it all!

Sleeping with Evie

With our beloved sister missionaries

Goldie arranging flowers for the table

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