I can relate because of my real common name. I get all kinds of calls for different Karen Carters. My favorite on was a lady telling me I owed money on one of my 6 houses I owned. I replied. Wow that is pretty unique considering I am on soc sec and live in a low income housing building. I wish I owned just one them. She asked if my soc sec ended with I said no. And I probably would not tell her any of my soc sec no any ways. But she said oh I ma sorry I must have the wrong Karen Carter. After the call I looked in the phone book to see how many Karen Carters there were and at that time there were 5, just in Lansing.
--
I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is
IN GOD WE TRUST
Karen Carter '74
-KC- Ministries
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Kathy Du Bois <[log in to unmask]>
> --=====================_35073375==.ALT
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> A story of mix ups
>
> Okay everybody, mix-ups don't just happen in hospitals. While Greg
> and I lived in Menominee Michigan, we were involved in some of the
> most confusing mix-ups that I ever hope to go through. Here are the
> highlights.
> In 1984, we moved to Menominee where I had been hired to be a teacher
> for the intermediate school district, working with the mentally
> impaired. As soon as we arrived in the community, we began church
> shopping and settled on a church in the area that we really
> liked. We jumped in with both feet, because that's just kind of the
> way we are, so we became known pretty quickly by the pastor and the
> congregation. Unfortunately, we have never been able to receive the
> local paper. We just always felt that other things were more
> important to pay for and all we usually do with the paper is go
> through the comics and do the crossword puzzle. It just isn't worth
> the subscription cost. Anyway, imagine our surprise about a month
> after our involvement in the church when the pastor pulled us aside
> and asked us if the congregation could expect a lot of trouble from
> us. We had no clue what he was talking about, so he showed us the
> article in the paper.
> Evidently, a man named, Greg Du Bois, (unfortunately for us no
> address was given), was in the paper for some funny dealings in the
> tree industry. I believe that it was in the court reports and his
> brother was involved as well. We assured him that it wasn't us and
> hoped that it was the end of the matter, but it was just the beginning.
> While I was pregnant with Matthew, another lady began attending the
> same church with a five-year-old son. Her name was Kathy Du Bois and
> her son's name was Christopher. She joined the choir and we got to
> know each other some. Her husband's name was Glen, so we didn't
> think much of it as far as being another matter of confusion. By the
> way, Glen did not attend church so now; it was just to two Kathy's
> who was a confusing matter.
> About a year later, I gave birth to a Christopher of my own. I
> didn't think anything of giving him that name because we and the
> other Kathy didn't associate much. Anyway, We had Chris in Greenbay
> and we chose to leave within twelve hours of his birth so they were
> not able to administer his PKU test. A baby needs to be more than
> three days old for this test to be accurate. We took our Christopher
> to our local hospital when he was around five days old to have the
> PKU test administered and, instead of beginning a new file on our
> Christopher, they pulled up this other Christopher's file and said,
> "Oh yes, didn't he fall out of a tree a few days ago and break his
> arm?" Unfortunately, Chris had not fallen out of a tree. He had
> fallen out of me and nothing was broken, but we learned that we were
> both using the same pediatrician.
> Well, life went on and after a while, there was news of a break in at
> a local drug store by, a Du Bois. We were visited by the
> police. They wanted us to tell us about Greg's brother Glen. What a mess.
> Then, the police showed up at our door a few months later. They were
> really looking for my Greg this time because a student loan from way
> back in his own drug days, before he became a Christian had not been
> paid and the government was there to collect. We didn't know
> anything about this bill because they had been sending collection
> notices to Menominee Mississippi, but that didn't seem to help us
> much. Fortunately, the bill was only about $300 and how that got
> paid off is another miraculous story that I won't bother to take a
> detour to tell here, but it is pretty good, none the less. Anyway,
> the police were at my door and Greg was on the beach, about four
> blocks away, with Matthew, who was, I think two, at the time, so I
> really panicked because I had no idea what they wanted.
> Eventually, we got all the mess straightened around and we thought
> that life was good until I received a call one day from a financial
> planner congratulating me on the birth of my twins. I gasped and
> stuttered. Then, the man on the other end said, "Aren't you Kathy Du Bois?"
> I replied that I was. "And isn't your husband Greg?"
> I confirmed that he was, but I assured him that I hadn't had twins
> lately and I thought that I should know. As we talked, I learned
> that, evidently, the person who had been involved in the illegal
> dealings at the beginning of this missive had married a girl named
> Kathy and they had been blessed with twins. All I could say over and
> over was "Thank you Lord It's not me." Unfortunately, now, there
> were at least Three Kathy Du Bois in Menominee county and all of us
> had kids and some of us were shady characters.
> We thought that our problems were over when we finally left Menominee
> county and moved to Grand Rapids so that Greg could finish up his
> under Graduate work. Imagine our surprise about a month after moving
> when we received a letter from a lawyer assuring us that the suit
> against Greg's mother would probably succeed and we could look
> forward to about $75,000 in profit from the proceedings. I think
> that a simple phone call straightened that one up, but I can't
> remember for sure right now.
> When we moved to Grand Rapids, I was pregnant with Elizabeth who was
> born on February 8. We were so happy to have a daughter, but,
> unfortunately, attending our church at the same time were two other
> ladies who gave birth within the ten days before Liz was born. Both
> children were girls, the first girl in their family and each had two
> older brothers, just like Elizabeth. To make matters worse, the
> first girl was named Elisa and the other girl was Emily. We were
> often getting called out of church for the wrong baby so, to really
> have fun with the mess, we decided to have all three girls dedicated
> on the same day with all the brothers in tow just to create a
> scene. The worst part is when the pastor reached to take our sweet
> daughter, who was about two months old at the time, into his arms and
> she grabbed his mike and decided to begin screaming. She hadn't
> wanted to be taken away from her mother, I guess. Anyway, she's the
> only child I know of whom had to be removed from her own dedication
> because no one else could hear anything!
> Nothing more really happened after that until we moved to
> Maine. About a year after we moved hear, I received a call from a
> lady telling me that her name was Kathy Du Bois and, she was afraid
> that our prescriptions had been mixed up because we both use the same
> pharmacy. Fortunately, I don't take any drugs, so I was able to put
> her mind at ease. We had probably had a prescription filled for
> antibiotics for one of the kids or something. Anyway, she felt that
> there was a mix up. I believe that her son was a Christopher too,
> if I'm not mistaken.
> And, if I had been writing this a month ago, I probably would have
> thought that that was the end of the story, but thanks to my 9 year
> old, Caleb, we've learned of even another Kathy dubois since
> then. Caleb wanted to do the shopping. He was given the list and
> given very strict instructions to find us after he had collected
> things and that he was not to go through the check out line without
> us. Imagine our surprise, as Greg and I were just strolling around
> and wasting time while Caleb was trying to be a big boy, when we
> heard our names announced over the loud speaker and ordered to report
> to the front of the store immediately. It sounded like we were in
> trouble. I stayed in one place, thinking that Caleb might be
> lost. Our thought was that one of us should stay put and visible so
> that Caleb could find us easily. It just made sense that I got to be
> the lucky one to stay put. Oh goody! Well, Greg whisked passed the
> deli section toward the front just in time to over here a
> conversation between two ladies. The one was saying, "Well they
> said, Kathy Du Bois should report to the front of the store." The
> other woman, left the counter, rather confused, and mumbling, 'I
> wonder why." Yes folks, another Kathy Du Bois had been flushed out
> of hiding!
> OH, before I leave this point, I suppose you are wondering why we
> were paged? Well, our son did not follow instructions and had
> wracked up a bill that had to be paid for. Everyone had to patiently
> wait behind this 9-year-old who had no money while is, seemingly
> errant parents were out bumming. Have you ever wanted to crawl in a
> whole? The whole line of customers was full of praise for how well
> Caleb handled the situation and how adult he was. But, they had
> nothing but daggers for Greg for making them wait. When I found out
> what really happened, I have to admit that I was glad to be the
> parent who was elected to stay put. No one ever
> knew! Haha! Brother. I guess that we'll never win. Anyway, it all
> ended up okay.
> Now, are all of you confused? I had thought all along that Jones and
> Smith were the most common names. I just find myself praising my
> heavenly Father that He knows who I am, no matter what! And that,
> while man may be confused, He will never be.
> Kathy
>
> --=====================_35073375==.ALT
> Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>
> <html>
> <body>
> <font size=3D4>A story of mix ups<br><br>
> Okay everybody, mix-ups don=92t just happen in hospitals. While Greg
> and I lived in Menominee Michigan, we were involved in some of the most
> confusing mix-ups that I ever hope to go through. Here are the
> highlights.<br>
> In 1984, we moved to Menominee where I had been hired to be a teacher for
> the intermediate school district, working with the mentally
> impaired. As soon as we arrived in the community, we began church
> shopping and settled on a church in the area that we really liked.
> We jumped in with both feet, because that=92s just kind of the way we are,
> so we became known pretty quickly by the pastor and the
> congregation. Unfortunately, we have never been able to receive the
> local paper. We just always felt that other things were more
> important to pay for and all we usually do with the paper is go through
> the comics and do the crossword puzzle. It just isn=92t worth the
> subscription cost. Anyway, imagine our surprise about a month after
> our involvement in the church when the pastor pulled us aside and asked
> us if the congregation could expect a lot of trouble from us. We
> had no clue what he was talking about, so he showed us the article in the
> paper.<br>
> Evidently, a man named, Greg Du Bois, (unfortunately for us no address
> was given), was in the paper for some funny dealings in the tree
> industry. I believe that it was in the court reports and his
> brother was involved as well. We assured him that it wasn=92t us and
> hoped that it was the end of the matter, but it was just the
> beginning.<br>
> While I was pregnant with Matthew, another lady began attending the same
> church with a five-year-old son. Her name was Kathy Du Bois and her
> son=92s name was Christopher. She joined the choir and we got to know
> each other some. Her husband=92s name was Glen, so we didn=92t think
> much of it as far as being another matter of confusion. By the way,
> Glen did not attend church so now; it was just to two Kathy=92s who was a
> confusing matter. <br>
> About a year later, I gave birth to a Christopher of my own. I
> didn=92t think anything of giving him that name because we and the other
> Kathy didn=92t associate much. Anyway, We had Chris in Greenbay and
> we chose to leave within twelve hours of his birth so they were not able
> to administer his PKU test. A baby needs to be more than three days
> old for this test to be accurate. We took our Christopher to our
> local hospital when he was around five days old to have the PKU test
> administered and, instead of beginning a new file on our Christopher,
> they pulled up this other Christopher=92s file and said, =93Oh yes, didn=92t=
> he
> fall out of a tree a few days ago and break his arm?=94
> Unfortunately, Chris had not fallen out of a tree. He had fallen
> out of me and nothing was broken, but we learned that we were both using
> the same pediatrician. <br>
> Well, life went on and after a while, there was news of a break in at a
> local drug store by, a Du Bois. We were visited by the
> police. They wanted us to tell us about Greg=92s brother Glen.
> What a mess. <br>
> Then, the police showed up at our door a few months later. They
> were really looking for my Greg this time because a student loan from way
> back in his own drug days, before he became a Christian had not been paid
> and the government was there to collect. We didn=92t know anything
> about this bill because they had been sending collection notices to
> Menominee Mississippi, but that didn=92t seem to help us much.
> Fortunately, the bill was only about $300 and how that got paid off is
> another miraculous story that I won=92t bother to take a detour to tell
> here, but it is pretty good, none the less. Anyway, the police were
> at my door and Greg was on the beach, about four blocks away, with
> Matthew, who was, I think two, at the time, so I really panicked because
> I had no idea what they wanted. <br>
> Eventually, we got all the mess straightened around and we thought that
> life was good until I received a call one day from a financial planner
> congratulating me on the birth of my twins. I gasped and
> stuttered. Then, the man on the other end said, =93Aren=92t you Kathy
> Du Bois?=94<br>
> I replied that I was. =93And isn=92t your husband Greg?=94<br>
> I confirmed that he was, but I assured him that I hadn=92t had twins lately
> and I thought that I should know. As we talked, I learned that,
> evidently, the person who had been involved in the illegal dealings at
> the beginning of this missive had married a girl named Kathy and they had
> been blessed with twins. All I could say over and over was =93Thank
> you Lord It=92s not me.=94 Unfortunately, now, there were at least
> Three Kathy Du Bois in Menominee county and all of us had kids and some
> of us were shady characters.<br>
> We thought that our problems were over when we finally left Menominee
> county and moved to Grand Rapids so that Greg could finish up his under
> Graduate work. Imagine our surprise about a month after moving when
> we received a letter from a lawyer assuring us that the suit against
> Greg=92s mother would probably succeed and we could look forward to about
> $75,000 in profit from the proceedings. I think that a simple phone
> call straightened that one up, but I can=92t remember for sure right
> now.<br>
> When we moved to Grand Rapids, I was pregnant with Elizabeth who was born
> on February 8. We were so happy to have a daughter, but,
> unfortunately, attending our church at the same time were two other
> ladies who gave birth within the ten days before Liz was born. Both
> children were girls, the first girl in their family and each had two
> older brothers, just like Elizabeth. To make matters worse, the
> first girl was named Elisa and the other girl was Emily. We were
> often getting called out of church for the wrong baby so, to really have
> fun with the mess, we decided to have all three girls dedicated on the
> same day with all the brothers in tow just to create a scene. The
> worst part is when the pastor reached to take our sweet daughter, who was
> about two months old at the time, into his arms and she grabbed his mike
> and decided to begin screaming. She hadn=92t wanted to be taken away
> from her mother, I guess. Anyway, she=92s the only child I know of
> whom had to be removed from her own dedication because no one else could
> hear anything!<br>
> Nothing more really happened after that until we moved to Maine.
> About a year after we moved hear, I received a call from a lady telling
> me that her name was Kathy Du Bois and, she was afraid that our
> prescriptions had been mixed up because we both use the same
> pharmacy. Fortunately, I don=92t take any drugs, so I was able to put
> her mind at ease. We had probably had a prescription filled for
> antibiotics for one of the kids or something. Anyway, she felt that
> there was a mix up. I believe that her son was a
> Christopher too, if I=92m not mistaken.<br>
> And, if I had been writing this a month ago, I probably would have
> thought that that was the end of the story, but thanks to my 9 year old,
> Caleb, we=92ve learned of even another Kathy dubois since then. Caleb
> wanted to do the shopping. He was given the list and given very
> strict instructions to find us after he had collected things and that he
> was not to go through the check out line without us. Imagine our
> surprise, as Greg and I were just strolling around and wasting time while
> Caleb was trying to be a big boy, when we heard our names announced over
> the loud speaker and ordered to report to the front of the store
> immediately. It sounded like we were in trouble. I stayed in
> one place, thinking that Caleb might be lost. Our thought was that
> one of us should stay put and visible so that Caleb could find us easily.
> It just made sense that I got to be the lucky one to stay put. Oh
> goody! Well, Greg whisked passed the deli section toward the
> front just in time to over here a conversation between two ladies.
> The one was saying, =93Well they said, Kathy Du Bois should report to the
> front of the store.=94 The other woman, left the counter, rather
> confused, and mumbling, =91I wonder why.=94 Yes folks,
> another Kathy Du Bois had been flushed out of hiding! <br>
> OH, before I leave this point, I suppose you are wondering why we were
> paged? Well, our son did not follow instructions and had wracked up
> a bill that had to be paid for. Everyone had to patiently wait
> behind this 9-year-old who had no money while is, seemingly errant
> parents were out bumming. Have you ever wanted to crawl in a
> whole? The whole line of customers was full of praise for how
> well Caleb handled the situation and how adult he was. But, they
> had nothing but daggers for Greg for making them wait. When I found out
> what really happened, I have to admit that I was glad to be the parent
> who was elected to stay put. No one ever knew!
> Haha! Brother. I guess that we=92ll never win. Anyway, it
> all ended up okay.<br>
> Now, are all of you confused? I had thought all along that Jones and
> Smith were the most common names. I just find myself praising my
> heavenly Father that He knows who I am, no matter what! And that,
> while man may be confused, He will never be.<br>
> Kathy<br>
> </font></body>
> </html>
>
> --=====================_35073375==.ALT--
|
