Standing in awe

I’m so thankful to report that because of your prayers, our family has found a great place to live in our city.

We found a house in a strategic location for our work that also meets the needs of our family - i.e. a room for homeschool, three bedrooms, Western toilets, an outside area for the girls to play, etc.

It was even UNDER budget – that in itself is almost unbelievable for our city, which has become one of the most expensive places for expats to live these days. Crazy, considering we’re still a third-world country.

After looking at nearly 35 places for rent, this house was the last one we saw before going out to Thailand a couple weeks ago. The house was the best we had seen of all the houses so far, but they were asking a lot more than our budget allotment, so we really didn’t even consider it.

The realtor we used worked hard to negotiate the house owners down some, but even after they came down, it was still too much. So we just let it go.

The day before we returned from Thailand, we contacted the realtor to try to make appointments to see other places when we got back. He told us though that we had seen absolutely everything there was to see. There was nothing left.

We were so disappointed and all we could do was pray. We also asked you to pray with us.

Surprisingly, the next day we flew back to Myanmar from Thailand, and there was a message waiting on us when we arrived. The realtor called to tell us that the house that we liked but that was overpriced – they had reduced the price just for us!

It was so out of the blue. We knew it was Father working in the way He always does.

Since that day, it has been a whirlwind of signing contracts and trying to get the house fixed up to live in.

Even though the house was by far one of the cleanest houses we saw of all those for rent, we have spent nearly four days of non-stop sweeping and scrubbing and mopping and scrubbing again. In fact, I have swept and mopped so much that my hands are now cracked and bleeding from those wooden handles. (My mom would be so proud of me!) This has got to be the most cleaning I’ve ever done in my entire life. But I know it’s so worth it. I know this is all just an investment into our long term ability to live here – I hope we never have to leave!

I have also been amazed at what a difference a coat of paint can do to a house. We have gone from moldy and dingy to clean and sparkling. It’s like a whole new house.

We still don’t have hot water yet, but I’m not sure that I would be using it even if we did. Did you know that it’s hot here?!? This house does have wall-type air con units in each of our bedrooms, so as long as we have power, we can at least be cool at night.

We have started moving our belongings over, and slowly we are beginning to unpack.

Tonight (Saturday, July 11) was our first night to stay in the house. I really had high hopes of making our first home-cooked meal in over a month, but the painters didn’t finish in the kitchen until after 4:30. By the time I was able to clean up after them and begin unpacking boxes to find all my pots, pans and utensils, I was just too exhausted to cook. CJ and Mia went out to eat at a local restaurant, but I just stayed home and had another PB&J. (Zoe is in Japan on an M-trip for students. That’s another story for another day.)

It was the first time I had been at the house by myself. I took my sandwich and went outside to sit on our front steps and eat. I loved hearing all the sounds of my neighbors around me. I could hear two women chatting and laughing. There were kids kicking a ball down the street. There were sounds of water splashing outside which means someone was taking a bath. (Many of the houses on this street don’t have indoor plumbing.) Someone close by turned on a radio and it sounded like the evening news.

I sat there listening to it all while looking up at the stars twinkling above the papaya trees in front of our house, and I just was in awe of it all.

I just feel so unbelievably blessed.

Blessed to live in this city and country.

Blessed to be in this neighborhood.

Blessed to be in this house.

Blessed to have so many people around the world lifting up our requests and interceding for us.

Blessed.

Once we finish unpacking and get everything settled, I promise to post some pictures.

We’re so excited about having a house to call our home for a few years, but even more than that, we are excited to now turn our focus back to the work – the reason we live here in the first place!

We have so many exciting things coming up, even within these next few days and months. We’ll be sending out our newsletter soon with specific intercessory requests. Thanks for walking with us every step of this journey.