Changed By Love

Changed By Love

Following the Lamb wherever he goes… Revelation 14:4

Father’s Day in Snatches

This is the tale of a father of 10 who spent a year without his children.

He only saw them for a few days each month.

He made the most of each moment he had with them when he came home.

He never wanted to leave them. The job was not secure. It was based on 3-month contracts each quarter for a year. We could not afford to move again so quickly after moving from Illinois to Pennsylvania in December. So we held out here while he worked in South Carolina. He missed his family terribly. We missed him terribly.

We went to visit him in South Carolina for 2 weeks in July.

He was able to buy us a new van with the money from his job in South Carolina.

But he missed being with them for a whole year of their lives.

He finally found another job that signed him for a 6-month contract – in Texas. So we are all packing and moving. We’ve saved up enough to make another BIG move. And we’re going with him this time, because none of us want to spend any more time apart.

He came home for a week before his new job would start in Texas. He made sure he was there for Morgan’s recital. He wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Then the following Saturday he had to drive to Texas – without us.

Now he’s in Texas for Father’s Day. And he is alone. Without his children. He had few days with his children throughout the year. I think each of those days was Father’s Day for him. Better than this day called Father’s Day. But soon we will all be together again. And every day will be Father’s Day. And we will rejoice and be glad. And never take our togetherness for granted again.

Happy Father’s Day, Gary. Those snatches were wonderful, but we can’t wait until our days are filled with your presence in our lives again.

Morgan’s Recital

Getting Ready for the big night.

Morgan got a haircut.

So did Emma, Fiona, Garrett and Abby. Even I got my hair cut.

Waiting for the recital to start.

Doesn’t he look handsome in his tux?

Fancy and proud of it!

His teacher, Mrs. Janet Walsh is in the red jacket.

Here’s the big performance. I missed the first 3 notes in my recording.

Kelsey and Morgan stayed inside a little longer listening to a young man (Mrs. Walsh’s son) play the piano. Before they came out, I got everybody in the van. I was worn out from keeping Emma and Abby out of trouble the whole time. But it was a night to remember and worth every bit of preparation and work. We love you, Mrs. Walsh, and we will always remember you. You gave Morgan the best start with violin that he could have had. You were a wonderful teacher. We hope to find a good one in Texas, but you will always be his first violin teacher.

The Enemy Rages, But We Will Prevail

Still no house, but we do have a moving company lined up. We’re going to have the freight company ABF move our stuff. We’ll load, they’ll drive our stuff in a semi trailer. They’ll take it where we tell them to, and we’ll unload it there. All for under $3000. It sounds like a good deal to us. We’ll all get to ride together in our van down there. We may have to stay here in York an extra week to get the house stuff figured out.

Believe it or not, I may have to go to court on June 25 because the property management group has sued us for unpaid rent for July – next month(!), which isn’t due until July 1st and for a garbage and sewer bill that they say we didn’t pay for the whole year and a half that we’ve lived here. The funny thing is, we haven’t seen a bill for the garbage and sewer the whole year and a half that we lived here. The first bill or invoice they ever sent me was an invoice in my email on June 1st, about 2 weeks ago.

Does this sound fair to you? The woman who runs the property management group called Gary and left him a voice mail where she was screaming that she was going to get us out of this house whatever it took. So now we’re getting out of the house, because we actually have a place to go and a job that is supposed to last longer than 3 months, and now she’s trying to get every cent out of us she can and tormenting us by taking us to court besides. Nice, huh? And this may keep us in the house longer than we would have been!

Well, God is blessing in the midst of all this commotion. We have definitely struggled, but we’re praising Him in the storm. He is helping us to see how to stop in the midst of the chaos and turmoil and consult with Him about what’s happening. And He has blessed us with peace and clarity when we do that.

We had an issue with a house in Texas already, too. We had one picked out, but they started getting all impatient about getting our cashier’s checks that I would have to send there from here. They were pushing us around and saying that they could continue to show the house until everyone had signed the lease and possibly rent it out from under us. Well, it would take a couple of days for those cashier checks to get there, and it will take me at least a week to get there to sign the lease. The realtor told Gary one thing last night and then sent him an email that said the opposite today.

So now, we’re going to look for a different house. We are not going to work with greedy, inconsiderate people any more. They treat renters like second-class citizens and owners/landlords like “lords”. Lords and serfs all over again. We’re tired of being treated that way. If it takes a little longer, I will not hurry or feel like we’re stuck dealing with unfair, unreasonable people. I will not fear what man can do to me. My trust is in God. This is a new place He has brought me to.

I’m trying to sell lots of furniture on Craigslist to lighten our load. Please pray that it sells. It would help a lot.

Away, Away, Away

Putting things away, packing things away and throwing things away.

And Emma and Abby are having a fashion show, trying on all the clothes I’m trying to deal with.

And then throwing them on the floor.

Gary has found a house that would be nice, but he’s not sure about the location. Lots of traffic close by, etc. He’s going to look at another one tonight. It has 5 bedrooms, but it looks like the study could be a sixth bedroom. I am anxious to know where our next house will be. The first owner accepted our application. Hopefully, the second one will be as quick about it, if that’s the house for us.

We’re still looking for movers and trying to decide our best, most cost-effective option.

We’re making good progress on packing.

The littles are patiently waiting. They don’t understand why we didn’t just go to Texas already. Sometimes, I wonder, too.