A Place To Live

We found one.

O.K., a recap for everyone who can't keep up with us. :)

We moved into this house on a seminary campus July 2007. After moving so much, we were so grateful to know that we'd be here for a full year, until July 2008. Well, then the owners of this house decided that they were going to stay for a little longer in the states (they are missionaries on furlough), so we then had until November 2008 to stay here, although we thought we might be leaving in July, therefore we thought we might not even need it. Well, turns out that then (back in June) we were asked by our mission to stay here in this city for an additional year (until July 2009). Hmmm...ooopsies, we only had this house until November. Now what would we do?

So...meanwhile, another couple (our friends who live 2 doors down) here at the seminary (they both teach here) were contemplating a move. They were accepted at new jobs in another city and state, found out for sure in August, and recommended to the college (and their mission who actually owns their house) that they let us live there. Perfect. It worked out and everyone agreed that would be lovely, us included (love their house). The only glitch? They will be in their house until mid-December. We have to leave this one by the 1st of November. Yes...the math doesn't work out, does it? Looks like we are nomads once again...what to do for a weird 6-week time period?

Well, there was a little apartment here on campus that was a possibility, but when we looked at it...well, let's just say it was a no go for multiple reasons. We aren't super picky and we can make anything work, esp. for a temporary amount of time, but we are glad that something else opened up. What opened up you ask? Let me tell you.

There is a couple (Leandro and Gabi) that is associated with Asas (actually, there story is that they came to Asas, trained for years, and then just never ever were able to raise the support needed to go to the field...so, they were forced to take a job in the work world, that is, they had to leave Asas; this is a big problem here in Brasil...more on that another time maybe). They have been living here in Anapolis for a little while, but needed to move to another state. They wanted to go ahead and go, but were locked in a contract and also didn't really want to move most of their belongings (the big stuff) until things were completely squared away where they are going. Hmmm...could this be the perfect setup for everyone, Joel thought.

Turns out, it was. The people that own this house that we are in now are so generously letting us use some space in their house to keep our stuff in (boxes, couches, beds, pots and pans, etc.) and we are going to move into Leandro and Gabi's apartment and use their stuff. We help them and they help us and all is made better in this weird set of circumstances.

We have guests arriving this Tuesday. They will leave the following Thursday and we will have a week left here in this house. Our two guests are a couple of guys that we met in Phoenix...we became fast friends and we are so very excited to see them again. They contacted us and just wanted to come down and encourage us, help and serve in any way they can. We're so grateful for them. One of the things they will be able to help us with specifically will be moving all of our big things into the room where we will be storing it. So, by the time they leave, we'll probably be basically camping out here in this house. Should be an interesting couple of weeks.

I'll be sporadic in blogging, that's for sure, if I blog at all. So, if you're wondering where I am, that's it...packing, moving, unpacking, settling in, etc. Keep us in your prayers during this whole transition process and also as we host our friends (so excited) and they serve/minister here. We have some really great things planned for them so far. Should be fun.

Be praying for me especially. Most of the time all of this is fine, although as I've said before, the grace is running out. But, I've been packing for the last several hours now. I just ran across the bag that has our kids' baby books in it...their basically untouched baby books. I realized that we've never even gotten Cass a baby book. And, another realization that came to me and made me very sad is that since we didn't have a baby book and since we don't even have a birth certificate or anything else that needed them, we never got footprints/handprints of her. Sure, we can get them now (now that she's 6 months old!), but it just makes me sad that we didn't get them of her as a newborn. Yes, it's time to settle down a bit...get somewhere, be done with all this nomad living for a while, slow down a bit. I pray it comes soon.

Have a great few weeks if you don't hear from me!!