Learning Thai

We are currently living in the Elisha House, an RMM apartment for homeless people like us. The past week has been like living in a whirlwind. The early part of the week I was at home packing (with some help- thanks Eve and Twila!)- my boxes started out all organized and type specific and then degenerated to a box containing an alarm clock, bath toys, an iron and jewelry. The end of the week was filled with conference. It was wonderful connecting with lots of old friends and people we've met through our church visits and it was great having help with the kids (both sets of parents stayed at our house and attended conference with us). Sunday morning was an especially meaningful time of spirit-filled and convicting worship and preaching and our commissioning along with the other newly appointed missionaries.

After conference ended we immediately focused on getting ready to be out of our house by Tuesday night. It was a HOT few days and everyone was sweating buckets!! Thank you Mast and Rhodes mom and dad!! We would have been lost without your constant packing and fixing and cleaning. My mom, who is a far more thorough cleaner than I am, spent hours on cleaning my cupboards and everyone helped entertain the girls. On the second day Claire started getting more emotional. She kept saying, "I don't want to leave this house." We kept trying to reasuure her that it was okay to feel sad. She mentioned her cat Perry a lot too- he died a few months ago and she was pretty much over it, but leaving the house made her miss him all over again.

Our church friends were a wonderful help on Tuesday night moving out the big furniture and doing a final cleaning. It went so fast we couldn't quite believe we were done a few hours later. After everyone left. Tom and I, Claire and Eliza went through each room and cried and talked about our memories (this is making me cry again!)....seeing Claire crawl for the first time on her shaky little legs, bringing Eliza home from the hospita, putting angels on the Christmas tree, eating Chinese food on the couch, etc. We said good-bye to our good neighbors and then ended with one last chocolate milkshake at the Indian Dairy bar.

We are really enjoying being at the Elisha House (air conditioning-ahhhhh!). It feels like God knew we needed this restful and refreshing time. We are finishing up last minute details like banking, driver's licenses, dentist appointment, etc, but have time to relax too and enjoy just being together. We're having fun spending time with Eliza since Claire has gone to spend a few days with her grandparents in Delaware (she was very excited to ride in the big moving truck!). We miss Claire but realize we haven't had a lot of time to focus on just Lize...she wants to do nothing but hold our hands and walk!

We plan to leave on Sunday for some time with my family in VA. We are praising God for his answers to so many prayers - we feel like he has been smoothing the way for us and meeting so many needs. He is GOOD.

-Candice