God's Care For Us In Moving

Last week in our women's Bible study, something we read encouraged me to reflect back on how God has been at work in the past and how He has answered different prayers. I specifically remembered a time that I prayed that God would show me His love, and He answered in numerous, astounding ways. I sensed last week that He wanted me to pray that He'd show me how He cares for us. And once again, I can see the floodgates of His answering. We got a call on Monday from the guy who would bring us the moving truck, saying they were back from digging potatoes in the village. We scurried around, packing and disassembling. Even in the midst of it, I didn't feel stressed. I must admit I had in the back of my mind that we'd have all week to move out smaller stuff with our own van and to clean the apartment (you'll soon find out this wasn't the case, but it was nice to not feel worried!) We even went on a little family picnic in the evening, trying to keep things low-stress and pleasant for Anneka and Ella. On moving day, three of Leif's friends came which was a huge gift! We'd assumed that there would be a few guys coming with the truck to help us move, but it was just the driver. Between the five men, they worked fast and efficiently.

On Tuesday morning (moving day), sweet Vera from church called to ask if we needed any help. "I don't know!" was what I said, as sometimes it's hard to know what is needed. Other than the refrigerator and freezer, our entire kitchen still needed to be packed up. Vera came and I REALLY needed her! She and I packed up the kitchen- with her doing most of it, as I had needy girls and other rooms to help direct and help with. Another answer to God's care for us.

We know two Lenas with the same last name. I'd meant to call one Lena and had accidentally called the other. I told her my mistake, and she offered to come and help. She walked Ella around in the stroller to get her to sleep and took Anneka to the playground. Another huge help and reminder of God's care! I wish I had more pictures to post of everything. Another thing I hadn't even THOUGHT of was feeding everyone who helped us move! Juli called me and told me that it's expected I feed the workers. In the States, this would mean ordering pizzas or sub sandwiches.... but here it's a little trickier without a functional kitchen and in the middle of moving! Juli didn't even pause, though, after telling me about lunch- she simply offered to bring lunch for everyone!! She made a ton of egg salad, baked cookies and cut up fruit (along with pickles and juice) and piled it all in her backpack, hopped on a bus and brought it over! Do you see a theme here? God showing His care- and in ways I would've never even thought to ask for help!! We were all ravenous, too, after all of that hard work. Not only this, but Juli brought our family dinner and some treats for the week, too!

In the middle of moving, Katia called me to say that they wanted to move in the next day. "Ah!", I exclaimed, as we still had all of this stuff (and more) to go to the apartment as well as cleaning (and it gets pretty gross underneath furniture, etc)! She said, "Don't worry, we won't be there until 1:00 or 2:00". So I thought I had the whole morning to clean. Originally I'd asked Anna to come and babysit at 2:00 so that I could clean and I'd called the other Lena to come and help me. I tried to call Lena to ask her to come earlier, but couldn't get ahold of her. While we were loading up the truck with this stuff the next day (around 10:00am), Katia called me again and said that her husband had just left home with all of their stuff and would be over soon... another "Ah!" from me! The girls were wild, undoing stuff I'd done, rolling around in blankets, etc. I put Anneka to task, asking her to help Leif carry stuff down the stairs to the van. She loved it and wanted to carry really BIG things. So I let her. Leif got all of the stuff into the van and I had one room clean for Sasha to put their stuff minutes before he arrived. Then as I was giving the girls a snack next door, Lena showed up! I was so happy to see her... so thankful she came early! Both her help and the use of the Brubacher's apartment right next door (they're in Ukraine right now, getting visas) is another showing of God's care for us. Ella got a nap and Anneka got to watch Berenstain Bears, and Lena and I rushed around cleaning. And we got done minutes before Katia's whole family came back to settle in. Whew! It was a whirlwind, but now that it's done, it's so nice to not be doing all of that stuff now!!

Anna still came at 2:00, which gave Leif, Lena, and me a chance to take a last van load up to cram into the tiny room next to our new apartment. And there was even time for Leif and I to go on a date! I'm so thankful for the friends God has brought into our lives and for His care of us. The picture above is our new kitchen/living room with the wall knocked out. In the picture it's not painted yet, but it's looking good, and I'm feeling ready to settle our family in! And now we are just waiting for the finishing touches in our new place (floorboards, cabinets, outlets, lights). It's nice to have a little time of "limbo", hanging out at the Brubachers. Leif had meetings yesterday and has them all day today. The girls and I are playing- yesterday at our Romanian friends' place and today at the Jordans'. I'm thankful for these many blessings!