You only said I'll never go alone...

This line from a Ginny Owens song has been on the Christian radio station often on my drive to and from work, leading to some powerful moments with God. Here are the lyrics:

The pathway is broken
And the signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why you brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I will go through the valley
If You want me to

Now I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise
You're not through with me yet
So if all of these trials bring me closer to You
I will go through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my own
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'll never go alone

So when the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley
If You want me to

I've said often in the last few weeks that I feel like a fish out of water-- like I'm walking into a brand new world, when I was really quite well suited for my old world, thank you. I'm learning to throw up my hands and say, "God, you led me here, so this is not my problem. This is your problem." I think it was Mary Buist, the mother of dear friend Jenny, who said that to me first, and it has stuck. This new situation is truly from God's hand, and though it feels like He got his paperwork mixed up, He is perfect, and we are to follow joyfully. Thank you, Lord, for grace upon grace you give to this whiny soul.

Preparing for a new school year has been quite challenging. The district switched their scheduling programs this summer, which guarantees insurmountable glitches. Therefore, we have all switched classes a few times, and even though Open House is tomorrow night and we have to have a syllabus to hand out to parents, we teachers don't know what we're teaching. Also, the place is, well, Floridian, so I spent my day today up to my elbows in Lysol wipes (BEST invention in the world) wiping yellow mold off my walls and from the inside of my cabinets. The buildings aren't air conditioned in the summers when they're vacant, so the lovely heat and humidity makes the place into a giant petri dish, perfect for culture growth. Thank God for Lysol wipes.

One more challenge has been the mortgage. We learned that since Brad is employed by his father but not receiving a W-2, he is considered self-employed which raises our risk and also raises our interest rate, if they can even lend to us. At first we were in a tailspin, but as Brad said yesterday, we are so sure that this is the house for us, and even Wells Fargo can't win against God's plan. So God, this is your problem. We look forward to seeing you work here.

And now for some good news. Yesterday I had an inservice at the high school by our house. Actually, you can see the fieldhouse from our driveway, and we call it the gray mothership. Anyway, after the inservice I stopped by the house to check on progress, and they had just poured our driveway and front walk! While they finished the top layer I got to carve our initials into the front walk. I carved B + K and a little Icthus fish (the Jesus symbol). I'm thrilled upon thrilled with that. (Hear that, Wells Fargo? It IS in concrete now.) They also installed the sliding glass doors for the bedroom and living room onto the lanai. Now they can "button up" the house, meaning they can protect the inside from the elements and can lay flooring, install appliances, etc. We also saw tonight that the air conditioning unit is installed (in the ceiling of the garage-- weird), the heat pump (we think that's what it is) is outside and hooked up, and the doors that were missing are up. All of the trim work is done, and from all we can see, they're ready for countertops. Also, the missing cabinets arrived and were installed today, so the kitchen is complete as far as cabinetry goes. The house next door which is on the same-ish schedule has countertops and the showers are finished. We're a little behind, but it's still looking good. We still don't have a firm closing date, but I'm hoping by mid-September we'll be in.

So tonight I'm busy writing my syllabi for the classes I think I'll be teaching. Brad is playing World of Warcraft with his Ohio buddies (shout out to Court, Ben and Des, and anyone else playing that I forgot!) and Skype-talking to them at the same time. If you haven't tried Skype, it's an online phone service that is free, computer to computer. If both people have accounts and computers with speakers and a microphone, you can talk free long distance! Pretty cool.

Thank you so much for supporting us in word and prayer. We miss you all terribly and have shed many a tear over the distance between us. Thanks for staying by us!