In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six babies and just 75 cents in my pocket.
Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years;
their sister was two. Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they
feared. Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would
scramble to hide under their beds. He did manage to leave 15 dollars a week to buy
groceries. Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no
food either. If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I
certainly knew nothing about it. I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then
put on my best homemade dress. I loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove
off to find a job. The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our
small town. No luck. The kids stayed, crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I
tried to convince whomever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything.
I had to have a job. Still no luck.
The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel
drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel. An old lady
named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time
to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until
seven in the morning. She paid 65 cents an hour and I could start that night.
I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained
with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her
pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good
arrangement to her, so we made a deal.
That night when and the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers we all thanked God for
finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel. When I got home in the
mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip
money-fully half of what I averaged every night.
As the weeks went by, heating bills added another strain to my meager wage. The tires on
the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them
with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.
One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the
back seat. New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.
Had angels taken up residence in Indiana? I wondered. I made a deal with the owner of the
local service station. In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up
his office. I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to
do the tires.
I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough. Christmas was
coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids. I found a can of red
paint and started repairing and painting some old toys.
Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on
Christmas morning. Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the
boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. These were the
truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging
around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. The
regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left
to get home before the sun came up. When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on
Christmas morning I hurried to the car.
I was hoping the kids wouldn't wake up before I managed to get home and get the presents
from the basement and place them under the tree. (We had cut down a small cedar tree by
the side of the road down by the dump.)
It was still dark and I couldn't see much, but there appeared to be some dark shadows in
the car-or was that just a trick of the night? Something certainly looked different,
but it was hard to tell what. When I reached the car I peered warily into one of the side
windows. Then my jaw dropped in amazement. My old battered Chevy was full-full to the top
with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the driver's side door,
scrambled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.
Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was a whole case of little blue
jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the
jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes: There were candy and nuts and bananas
and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and
potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was a
whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one
beautiful little doll. As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the
most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never
forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning. Yes, there were
angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck
stop. --Barb Irwin
THE POWER OF PRAYER (When you receive this, say a prayer. That's
all you have to do. There is nothing attached. This is powerful. Just send this to four
people and Do not break this, please. Prayer is one of the best free gifts we
receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards. Let's continue praying for one
another.)
Father, I ask you to bless my friends reading this right now. Lord, show them a new
revelation of Your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their spirit at
this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace & mercy. Where there is
self doubting, release a renewed confidence in Your ability to work through them. Where
there is tiredness, or exhaustion, I ask You to give them understanding, patience,
& strength as they learn submission to Your leading. Where there is spiritual
stagnation, I ask You to renew them by revealing Your nearness, and by drawing them into
greater intimacy with You. Where there is >fear, reveal Your love, and release to them
Your courage. Where there is a sin blocking them, reveal it, and break its hold over my
friend's life. Bless their finances, give them greater vision, and raise up leaders, and
friends to support, and encourage them. Give each of them discernment to recognize the
demonic forces around them, and reveal to them the power they have in You to defeat it. I
ask You to do these things in Jesus' name.
In Christian love, Your Friend in Jesus.
(Passing this on to anyone you consider a friend will bless you both. Passing this
on to one not considered a friend is something I know Christ would do. Remember, you
do not have to be a Christian to Pray for someone or wish them well. Just give from your
heart.)
