Meanwhile, While We Wait...

Good Morning!

(I started writing this early this morning, but it's been a busy morning full of interruptions, so now it is almost lunch time and I'm still working on this...)

One of the views of our pond at our "new house"...still beckoning me to hurry up and get moved over there...

Scripture:  Isaiah 49:13

"Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth! 

For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones."

We are in a kind of holding pattern, 

 Like this bumblebee, hovering over the flowers, looking for his best next place to light and slurp his breakfast...

waiting for the next big move.  

 (Isn't this an interesting spider face, looking so winsome as he hangs in space from his spiderweb trapeze?)  Glad I didn't walk into this spider web as we took our morning walk today...

So thankful for this time of rest and preparation. God has been so gracious to us, giving us this wonderful place to retreat, here in our church's parsonage.  I was thinking back over the years as to how many parsonages we have actually lived in over the course of almost fifty years...each one was unique in its own way, and every place had its own peculiar responsibilities calling us to service. (I counted seven actual parsonages, but there were several other houses that we either owned or rented as we served in a pastoral role). I told my husband after we moved in here that I was feeling kind of guilty that we were enjoying this lovely place without any real responsibilities...no church leaders are calling for us to "get to work" to visit the sick, preach the sermons, attend to the funerals and weddings and myriad of other needs that come with the territory of the ministry.  But we know that with church membership there are also responsibilities incumbent upon each member to perform within the scope of their own personal gifts and abilities.  Once we get settled into our own house I expect we will be getting pretty busy with the people of our congregation in one way or another.

Speaking of our church, our church yard/property is currently being reduced in size due to the construction of an additional two lanes to the highway that runs in front of our campus:

 The white building you see here is our educational building. As you can see, the new lanes of the highway will be pretty close!

We did have a front yard full of these lovely big old live oak trees, but these are all that are left now:

Thankfully, the main  part of our church facility is actually facing another street, and will not be affected by this:

It would be terrible to lose this old historical building, so we are thankful it is still safe for now:

Perhaps by having the new road come so close to our church more people will see us and want to come and visit.

They would surely be welcome with open arms.

Here is our Call to Worship from the Evening Service last night:

"With friends and strangers,

with family and neighbors, we gather:

Come among us, Healing God,

with that love which never ends.

With faith reaching out to touch,

with hearts straining to trust, we hope:

Come among us, Friend of the broken,

with Your compassion which makes us whole.

With word and wonder,

with silence and song, we wait:

Come among us, Dryer of our tears,

to lift us to our feet to follow You."

Amen.

So, back to our move in progress...we are still waiting for everything to come together so we can close on our "new house".  Closing is currently set for August 12.  Meanwhile, we are lining everything up so that once the closing happens, work will begin immediately to make necessary repairs and then we can move in.  Hopefully we will be moved in by the end of the month..."Lord willing and the creek don't rise!"  This morning we took a little ride over to the "new house", just to touch base. I like to walk around the grounds and enjoy the atmosphere. We can't get inside the house unless the realtor comes with us, and I don't want to bother her.  But we did have a "visitor" waiting for us when we arrived:

 She was resting under the front deck (one of the things that is going to be repaired/replaced), and when she saw me she found a quick route under the house and out the back to the woods on the other side near the pond:

She is a pretty kitty, but I am assuming she is feral and probably won't let us get too close...although I was surprised she stood still long enough to let me take her picture. I just hope she doesn't have a litter of kittens hiding somewhere under the house...we'll cross that bridge if we come to it...

Here is a glimpse of our back yard and woods and pond on the right.  The steps/deck you see will become a part of a much larger deck that will span the back of the house from where you see them now to all the way back towards where I am standing and will end at the utility room door.  That will give us a nice viewpoint for enjoying the pond.  Our back yard isn't very deep, but the lot is wide...where you see those trees in front of you is a wooded lot that is part of our land. That is where I plan to clear out an area to put "The Secret/Memorial Garden", overlooking the pond.

Here is the back looking from the other direction. The new deck will go from the sliding doors all the way to the utility room door, and be about 32' X 8'.  We won't be able to cover it with a porch roof at this time, but maybe sometime in the future. Yes, the house needs to be pressure-washed and freshened up on the outside.  I will keep you posted as we make progress on this...

So that is enough info for today.  Thank you for hanging in with me. I am trying to get around and visit you all more this week since things seem to have calmed down a little bit. 

(Famous last words! Ha!)

Have a blessed and wonderful week!  May God bless you with His steadfast love and kindness and mercy every day. Amen.