This coming Friday will mark exactly seven months since the fire.\u00a0 It is impossible to express how blessed and thankful we are for God’s provision throughout these months.\u00a0 Our church family at Ss. Simon and Jude immediately sprang into action to offer us tangible assistance in the form of meals while we were homeless and living in a hotel, money for basic necessities, as well as their constant love and prayer support; we had family who took care of our traumatized puppies until we were moved into the rental house; State Farm was phenomenal and everything went so smoothly in our dealings with them; Paul lost his job, and God provided for our needs during his unemployment (including a gift of money that came in the mail on the very day he needed to buy a suit in order to go on an interview), and then provided another job (and one he enjoys more); Mother left us to spend the summer up north, and came back healthier and more mobile than when she departed; and throughout it all, our family learned some valuable lessons about paring down our lives to the essentials, and learning that we could live without, and even thrive.\u00a0 And now, within this last whirlwind of a moving week, we have returned to our “Own-own house” which is mostly the same, but improved in every way, and we are awestruck by how beautiful it is, how blessed we are, how faithful is our God, and we are overflowing with thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
We are also overflowing with many other things… as you can see in this gallery of pics from the past few days of moving and unpacking!<\/p>\n