While he was sitting in the hammock on our porch, grading papers, Gil said, “I feel like I’m on vacation, but I just have to work.”
Ahhh…yes. Despite the fact we still have barely any running water in the house (they are working on it), everything is just. so. lovely.
Photos taken from the porch:
(that’s the Indian Ocean)
I’m in a new house.
Unless you’ve been following this blog pretty carefully, you probably don’t know why. So here goes.
We loved the house we were living in. It was a perfect size, great yard, excellent for youth group, good location. It just had one small flaw: the walls were falling down.
Sort of. All of the internal walls had these gigantic cracks running through them. Cement walls. With cracks so big that sometimes you could see all the way through to the room on the other side. And they kept getting bigger–sometimes by the week.
So the landlord sent over a contractor who checked it all out. He thought the best solution would be to knock down all the internal walls, put a better foundation under them, and then rebuild them again. They wanted to do this last summer.
Considering we had guests for the entire summer, we asked the landlord to put off the work until March, when we would be going on our Home Assignment. She agreed. In the meantime, the contractor reinforced the walls and fixed the cracks. Since then (a year ago), there have been no more cracks.
But….the landlord still wants the walls rebuilt. Even though we’ve had two of our own contractor-friends examine the house and tell us they thought that would be a waste of money. Nope. Landlord won’t be dissauded. The walls are coming down.
Only problem is that now we couldn’t take our Home Assignment in March. Which means we had to find another place to live. Finding short term housing is not easy. Twice I even asked the landlord if we could stay in the house while the work is being done. (What was I smoking? They are going to knock down all the internal cement walls and I still want to live there with two toddlers? Yeah…) But there were times I felt desperate enough to do it. Thankfully, she said no.
As of last Wednesday, we thought we had a place to move to. I had been emailing with the landlord and I thought everything was set. So I called him on Wednesday.
“We want to move in on Saturday. Can I bring the check at the same time?”
“Oh,” he tells me. “I need you to pay in cash. If you want to pay by check, you have to add on another 20%.”
What the….? Oh. Suddenly I get it. 20% is the amount of government tax. Cash. I see.
Uh, I don’t think so. No, I’m not going to pay another 20% on your already over-priced two-bedroom apartment. And no, I’m not going to pay you under the table either.
I was infuriated, to say the least. And now we had no place to go.
So we prayed. And suddenly a thought came to me. What about the house on the hill?
Sigh. The house on the hill. Our dream house. We had looked at it four years ago and it was way too expensive to rent. But it’s right next to school. Overlooks the ocean. Amazing breeze. Feels like a beach-vacation house.
And we knew it was empty right now. A new owner had just bought it. Hmmm… It will probably still be too expensive, but it was worth a shot.
We got ahold of him on Thursday. He came down in his asking price because we only wanted it for a few months. We went up in what we were willing to pay because we only wanted it for a few months. We met in the middle.
We met with him Monday to make sure. We were sure. He was sure.
And we moved in on Tuesday. (Oh my goodness, our amount of possessions have doubled with each child. How did we get so much stuff? Sell it, burn it, make it all disappear!)
Tuesday was a holiday (Mohammed’s birthday–did you know that?) so it was a good day to move. We could never have done it without Carley, Julie, Savannah, Melissa, Hannah, Caleb, Ben, Sarthak, Esta, Tumaini, Gibbie, Cecilie, and Sarthak’s mom, who made us lunch. It poured rain on Tuesday and the truck we checked out from school wasn’t there, but another friend came with his truck at the last minute.
I hate moving. Especially knowing that I will have to do it all over again in three months. But I am so thankful for friends.
And….we get to live in our dream house for a few months! It takes 81 steps from our gate to the school’s gate. I counted this morning. I can invite students over for lunch! And we have the most incredible view imaginable (pictures to come!)
So. We are exhausted but thankful. Thankful for God’s wonderful provision and undeserved blessings.
16 months old. Finally fits into his 12 month clothes.
He has stolen my heart.
He really is obsessed with balls. All day long, he hits them, throws them, and kicks them, and he’s happy.
I really think it fulfills a lifetime dream of mine to dress my little boy in OshKosh overalls. I mean, really. Is there anything cuter?
He’s often pretty solemn, but many times during the day, he’ll look over at me. I’ll smile at him, and this is what I get in return.
My other little sweetie.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things.
Too many things swirling around my mind.
Grace’s U.S. immigrant visa interview this morning…did I ever realize what a complicated procedure this is? Just because she’s adopted by Americans doesn’t automatically make her American.
Josiah’s homestudy appointment this afternoon. Josiah’s court hearing on April 17th.
Moving out on Saturday. Yep, moving out. It’s happening. The landlord is bound and determined to knock down all our internal walls and build them again. Can’t be disuaded. So, we’re moving. To short-term housing that is way too expensive but we don’t really have a choice.
He says 1-2 months…we’re doubling that and hoping it’s not even longer.
Moving…moving…what to take? What to store? Can’t take apart the house yet because the homestudy is this afternoon. Can’t take the dogs with us…can’t leave them here…
Too many deadlines…too many details…and a daughter who is going through a disobedient stage…
And then there’s all the bad news. Aren’t you getting it too? Too many people losing jobs…too many people I love who are struggling. What’s next? And I’m guessing the worst is yet to come…and afraid to open my news page every day.
These are uncertain times. But is anything ever certain?
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
He is good, and He is in control.
You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
Every other year, our mission organization holds a All-Africa conference. Usually it has been held in Kenya, but this year it was in Tanzania–just about a mile away from our house! Even though it was so close, last week we still packed up and drove down to stay at the hotel with everyone else. It was a wonderful five days.
There were about 100 people there: half either missionaries or national leaders from Africa, and half from the States, including a large team from a church in Tenessee, who ministered to us in music, prayer, and child care.
I was blessed by the African national pastors…godly, strong men, all from countries recently devastated by war–yet planting dozens of churches a year. And for the first time in about 18 years, I got to hear real Liberian English…what a joy to my heart!
I was blessed by the missionaries from the other African countries. The vast majority of missionaries there used to serve in Zaire–now known as Congo–and have now been dispersed to other countries because of the war. But the movement of churches in Congo is the second largest in the entire world for our denomiation, second only to the U.S. This group has been serving God in Africa for decades…they all speak multiple languages…they are such an example of faithfulness and sacrifice.
One day, out of curiousity, I counted the career missionaries in the room: 27.
Number of those who are in their 50’s or 60’s: 20
Number of those who are under 40 years old: 7, counting Gil and I. And all of us are in our 30’s.
Where is the next generation? Who will replace them? “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
The best part of the conference was getting to spend time with friends that I rarely get to see. Emily and her husband live a couple hours away from us, but they have two adopted kids that are the same age as our kids, so we have a lot in common.
Grace’s two best friends: McKayla and Caleb.
Caleb says to his Mommy: “Isn’t Grace beautiful?”
Grace says to her Mommy: “I’m going to marry my friend Caleb.”
We think it’s a great match!
Josiah is a little fish, just like his sister. Whenever he is in the pool, all he wants to do is repeatedly throw himself in, face first. Guess he trusts us to pick him up every time!
Grace and McKayla entertained each other by coming up with as many ways as possible to go down the water slides.
Gil got up for the sunrise a couple mornings and this was his reward.
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