life's lovlies: home away from home.

During this journey there have been constant reminders that God is with us. My first clue should have been on day one when I walked up to the house and saw the large sign reading Immanuel hanging next to our front door. Immanuel, meaning God is with us. So often I associate this term with Christmas, reading the text in Matthew about Christ’s birth. It registers in my mind as an ancient term dating back to 0 A.D. but it has become very apparent to me that God was with us then, He is with us now, and He will continue to be with us.

When we first walked into our home we had nothing, but I can’t help but be blown away by how much God has given us. Friday night we went grocery shopping. At the grocery store we toyed with the idea of buying several household items. We had been drinking out of paper McDonalds cups and hoarding the plastic silverware the college was using to serve coffee with. We decided that we would make food the priority considering we only had so much muscle to carry the goods on our walk home.

When we opened the front door, we found a couch sitting in the middle of our living room. We were speechless. We started walking around the house and discovered a TV, DVD player, a TV stand, kitchen table & chairs, plates, cups, silverware, bowls, cutting board, cooking utensils, a coffee press, microwave, pots and pans, outdoor chairs, and an ironing board. We had no clue where the stuff came from, or who was able to bring it into our house. No clue! When we asked our neighbor, he told us to enjoy the blessing that someone kindly gave us.

And again, God was with us on Saturday. When we came home from a day at the beach, a bag of groceries was sitting on our front porch from a girl named Kirsten. She used to live in our home and wanted to stop by to see how we were doing. That night, we were able to use the groceries to make spaghetti.

We continue to live in a state of awe at how Big God is, and how He meets our needs continually. For those of you who have committed to pray for us, please continue to lift up prayers for a fridge and washer drier for our home. We also need wisdom on the best internet option for our home.

And now, some preliminary pictures of our home. As you can tell, we are trying to get settled in, but wanted you all to see a bit of the place we live. Love you all!