The Blakes on a Mission: October 2009

I woke up this morning at 7am bright eyed and hopeful but as I began calling realtors to find a rental home my cheerfulness was over shadowed by a new gloomy reality. In Denver you must make 3 times the amount of your rent...be able to prove it with paycheck stubs and tax returns have great credit and pass an extensive rental history check...which all takes about 2-5 days!!!

At one point I just sat there staring at all the homes I had marked as favorites on the computer - they were all being rented out by realtor agencies...and all of them said I had to meet those requirements. They basically said..."Best of luck...did you get a Sunday paper because the only hope you have is with a rental by owner..."

Then a light when on and I remembered that John did pick up a Sunday paper! So...I started trying to weed through the non-user friendly paper...with no pictures...and vague descriptions. I prayed for a moment and then went to work. I ran into the same problem with many of them because they were by realtors also but I found 3 that were willing to show us their homes.

We loaded up the fussy kids and we met with Andy...who is from another country...not sure which one. He liked us right off and said we could move in today! No credit check...no rental history verification...no employment verification...nothing! Normally I would say this guy is taking a huge risk but I know we won't do him wrong.

It's not that we have bad rental history - it's that the realtors didn't like the fact that we were in Thailand for 4 years and they couldn't check before this last December...and they didn't like that we didn't have check stubs...nor that our past years tax returns show a missionaries salary...not even a fraction of what would be required to rent these homes...but Andy didn't care...Thank God for Andy!

We're going to be moving in tomorrow...I'll post some pics soon. On an awesome...different note...the bible school started today and it went wonderfully! I'm so excited to get to go tomorrow and meet the students face to face. Keep us all in your prayers please! It's supposed to snow Saturday!?!?!?!! Craziness!

I really can't finish the ending of the lyrics to that song...lol...I am done with the road for a while...unless, the Lord demands otherwise. Well, we made it - we're here in Colorado. I have all sorts of mixed emotions and I can't pin down and stick with a one of them.

Some of you may or may not know but after John returned home from South Africa, after having been gone for a really rough 3 1/2 weeks...my mother passed away. It was unexpected and shocking...although I believe it was her time. I still haven't wrapped my brain around the fact that she is gone. I know she's in heaven and I'll see her again some day but it just doesn't seem real. Even as I looked at her laying in her casket...it was like it was a dream...a hurtful dream but a dream nontheless.

John arrived home on Monday - my mother passed away on Thursday - family night was Sunday and the funeral was Monday...THEN we buried her on Tuesday...during all this we had to be packing and preparing for moving to Denver, CO. If it hadn't been for the love and support of the body of Christ - specifically Liberty Lighthouse Church...I don't know what would have happened.

They poured out love on us through cookies...food...hugs...calls...watching our children...cleaning...helping us pack...and more. It's amazing to see the body of Christ functioning as God instructed us. I literally felt the love of God through them...and through loosing my mom...that love really helped me keep going strong.

So we're here in Denver!!! Man, it's beautiful...the mountains are so gorgeous and some of them are capped in white *grin*. I wish I could say I am enjoying every second but I have to say this is one of those times when I am having to bear in and hold on. Leaving everyone behind was hard of course...then my mom...and the stress of funeral preparations and tying up of loose ends...our children are in disarray...and I think this is the thing that bothers me the most.

They missed their dad and nothing was normal while he was gone to South Africa and then once he got home it just got more unnormal. Josiah took the news very hard about his grandmother...Jude on the other hand seemed fine until the end of the funeral upon which he proceeded to cry the most gut wrenching cry I've ever heard come out of him...into my chest...with no signs of letting up.

They then had to stay at others homes so we could work through the night and during the day to make up for lost time due to the funeral...once we finally got on the road they just weren't themselves and it's been a struggle to offer something solid for them to stand on. When kids move around a lot it's important to give them things that are consistant and in this transition it just hasn't happened. Don't get me wrong...they are great...still laughing...they're just testing new boundries and trying to figure out what's going on...

Joss isn't feeling well...the boys are having a hard time being stuck in the car house hunting or in the hotel room with 4 dogs...(which are in a crate by the way)...the only rooms they had available were upstairs...and my dogs have never been up or down stairs so I have to literally drag them up and down the stairs 6-7 times a day for potty breaks.

Two of the dogs are sick...sporatically throwing up or having accidents...the tv has a sound gage on it and you can't turn it up past 5 notches and with the air on you can't hear the tv...and OUR BOX FAN BROKE! And to top it all off...we arrived on the weekend and can't get anyone to visit house and we have until the Tuesday morning to have our 26ft truck unloaded and returned!!!!

Ok...sooo I'm complaining...I know...I'm going to go complain where I'm supposed to be complaining and let him fix up my heart and renew my strength. Matter of fact...I'll start walking in reality now:

1. We have a roof over our heads and each other...
2. We have the honor of going where he leads us...
3. Colorado is beautiful and the weather is a nice change...
4. DBI is starting and I get to be apart of it...
5. My boys are fantastic and so loving (Jude literally tells me he loves me every 20-30 minutes)
6. I'M WALKING THROUGH THIS WITH THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!
7. Jesus is KING and no matter what is happening...that doesn't change.
8. I have friends that I count as priceless treasures in Sherman Texas who love us...
9. This is another adventure and while I don't feel up for the challenge right now...I know that his mercy's are new every morning...and it is in Him that I can place my trust.
10. This will make us stronger...with the end result being that we are more equipped for His service...
11. Colorado has new friends to be met and made and work to be done...