The Gift

With orientation complete, we are settling into life...a new “normal”... here in Uka. I feel like I’ve spent the better part of the month we’ve been here in a fog. So much to learn and adjust to, but it’s been good even on the hard days of navigating a new way of life. This last week the fog seems to be clearing and we’re getting into a groove and a routine which helps everyone settle in a little better.

The view on the way to pick up the kids from school.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous...cool nights and mornings with warm, mostly sunny days. I find myself wearing sweaters and jackets on a regular basis! (This is shocking if you know me well or have seen me on an August day in Texas!)

Our house is a complete and total gift from God. The details are lengthy, but through a series of conversations, prayer and God’s orchestration of just the right people at just the right time, we had a house here before we even left the States. A completely unexpected gift. I’m still in awe of how He worked the details out long before we even laid eyes on this country. 

And I’m still overwhelmed at how much He loves us to give us such an undeserved blessing.

The house is older and has it’s own personality complete with a few quirky things, like the fact that my 9 year old is almost as tall as the refrigerator. Or like turning electrical outlets on and off. (I have reminder notes stuck everywhere that read “TURN OFF THE SWITCH”)

Or the fact that our drinking water come from runoff on the house into a tank that connects to our house (feel free to pray for rain!) 

Or that we’re washing our clothes in water from a nearby river. Not to be confused with washing clothes IN the river like I did in the village! I’m ever so thankful for a washer and a line to hang our clothes outside!!

And the yard...wow...it is HUGE and FULL of the most beautiful flowers, close to 30 banana trees (yes, I counted), a pineapple grove and a place where a full garden once grew. My green thumbed grandfather would have loved to have worked in a yard like this! I have no idea what I’m going to do with everything, but we have enlisted the help of a yard man who reassured me that he would teach me!  

New bananas

In just a few weeks these will be ripe and ready to eat!

Poinsettias...in our yard...year round!

Yes, those ARE coffee beans in our yard! Jason was very excited!

One little pineapple...still growing!

There’s also a huge Poinciana tree in the front yard, complete with a tire swing that the kids just love!

And with this house comes the self imposed responsibility to share this gift we’ve been given. We want to open our doors easily, welcome and love on people with the same love He has lavished on us. 

We’re pretty excited about the possibilities of our future here.

View just across the street

I never would have imagined that the Lord would bless us in such a way when we sold our house in October 2011. 

But He did.

Lesson learned (again)...you can never, ever out give God.