Home Sweet Home

Our little trailer house is starting to feel more and more like "home." We are SO grateful to Amarillo First Church of the Nazarene and Pastor Shawn for their leap of faith in committing to providing us with a house. Through their generosity and serving hearts, we have a BRAND NEW home. There aren't many missionaries who can say that!

Our home

Vito says, "It feels like home!"

THANK YOU, Amarillo First! We are truly blessed because of your faithfulness!

School Time!

It's the first week of school and we're off to a great start so far!

Walking to school--we only live 2 blocks away.

Olivia loves her second grade teacher, and seems to really being enjoying her first few days of second grade. The first day of school, the teacher asked what language the kids speak at home. Many speak Spanish, a few speak English, and two speak Burmese. Olivia has a love for other cultures and languages, so she's enjoying the diversity.

Olivia's first day of 2nd Grade

Eli was very nervous on his first day of kindergarten, but quickly found out that there wasn't anything to worry about. Most of the students in his class are Hispanic, so there is a lot of Spanish being spoken in his class. The first day of school his teacher pronounced his name the Spanish way and he was a bit confused. However, after we asked her to pronounce it the "gringo" way, all is well!

Eli's first day of kindergarten

We have to give a big SHOUT OUT to Lantana Community Fellowship Church of the Nazarene who sent the kids brand new, personalized backpacks and lunchboxes, as well as all of their school supplies! This was such a HUGE blessing to us, especially since we spent the last three weeks driving to Cactus from Amarillo every day. We spent a lot of money on gas and it was so helpful to have the school supplies taken care of. God provides through His faithful people! THANK YOU, Lantana Community Fellowship!

Thank you for the school supplies!

Around Cactus

The drive from Amarillo to Cactus

The Cactus Islamic Center

JBS -- the meat packing plant that employs most of the residents of Cactus

Cactus Elementary School

La Hacienda Restaurant -- delicious, homemade Mexican food

Looking out in the town -- the white sign in the middle back of the picture is the CNMC sign

Another direction looking out into Cactus

Typical West Texas afternoon thunderstorm brewing

Neighbors

One of the blessings we've already begun to experience is neighbors . . . neighbors with children, to be exact! In Wisconsin, there were not many children in our neighborhood. Our kids had good friends at church and school, but they weren't able to experience the childhood joys of running back and forth from house to house and playing in the yard with neighbors.

Over the past few days, Olivia and Eli have spent countless hours in the neighborhood playing with their new friends (ages 10, 8, and 4). On Wednesday, I took all the kids on a walk to the school playground and we enjoyed the beautiful day. We're praying that these new friendships will continue to grow and will be filled with many great memories!

Eli and Olivia with Daysia (8) and Carlito (4)

New friends!

Headed to the playground!

Fun times on the playground!!

Olivia and Mariah (10)

Electricity or Not

Has it really been a week since I last blogged? What a week it's been, too!

It's definitely been a week of ups and downs. I've personally had my moments of frustration, happiness, depression, elation . . . you name it, I've probably experienced it this week. I'm quite certain that the biggest factor in my emotional roller coaster has been electricity. Well, lack of electricity is more like it.

We were under the impression that we'd have electricity when we moved to Texas on August 4. However, the week before we were to move in, we received a phone call stating that there were some things the electrical company needed to do first. Thus, we wouldn't have electricity right away. We made plans at that point to stay with my parents in Amarillo and drive to/from Cactus each day to unpack what we could (approximately 120 miles round trip). Twelve days later, we're still in Amarillo driving to Cactus every day. And each day, we hook up multiple extension cords from the work trailer on the property so that we can run fans as we unpack. We really do feel like we're living on the mission field!!

As of now, the estimated electricity date is Tuesday, August 20 with the mobile home company skirting the home and installing the a/c on Wednesday, August 21. Hopefully we'll be able to move in on Thursday, August 22 . . . especially since the kids will start school on Monday, August 26. Please pray with us that everything goes smoothly from here on out and that we are able to move in completely sometime next week! We are VERY BLESSED to have my parents nearby and to be able to stay with them as we wait. I don't know what we'd do without them!

Vito, Rick (project coordinator), and a great crew of volunteers installing the electric pole and meter

Our current electrical solution -- extension cords throughout the house from the work trailer on the property

A Peek at Our New Home

Just a few pics to show you our new home. Things are not set-up all the way, yet. That'll take a bit of time especially since we're commuting from Amarillo each day. God has been faithful, and we are excited to be able to call this place "home" and start loving on the people of Cactus!

Looking out our back door.

The view from our front door -- the city is trying to find the sewage line!

Eli watching the tractors and workers digging a hole in our yard.

To the west of our house -- looking out the back door. Dad and Vito were taking down a fence in order to have a place for the shed to be delivered.

The kids enjoying some play-time in the master bedroom.

My mom setting up the kids' new bathroom

Our living room--still a lot of work to do but it's coming along (and the stock-curtains have to go!)

Vito working hard in the kids' room

Olivia exploring our back yard

Our current bathroom facilities :-)

Cactus or Bust!

After a busy week at Wisconsin District Assembly, a minor surgery, and a day where everything seemed to go wrong (dumped half the laundry soap in the driveway while trying to pack, dog got out and ran through the neighborhood multiple times, etc.) . . . we were finally TEXAS BOUND!

Loading the truck

Good friends--we'll miss you!

Since we left later than planned, we only made it to Bloomington, IL the first night. The torrential rain on the way didn't help our timing much, either. However, we were up early the next day and made it to Yukon, OK where we spent time with both of my sisters and their families. Day three took us to Amarillo, TX for lunch and then on to Cactus to unload.

Starting to unload the truck -- this is looking out our front door into the land behind us

There were a few people there from the Dalhart church to help us unload. Unfortunately, we don't have electricity or sewage yet . . . thus we also don't have stairs into the mobile home. So, unloading was a bit difficult. Not to mention it was like 100-billion degrees outside! These Wisconsinites are frying! But, the men got it done and we are so grateful for their help!

Olivia was not too fond of the heat . . . she quickly took up this position and didn't move!

Now, it's time to unpack and set up home . . . little by little. We're staying in Amarillo with my parents until we can fully move in. It's a 59 mile drive each way, so we spend a good 2 hours on the road every day. And, with no electricity, we don't have a/c, so we can only work until it gets too hot. Thankfully we've had a couple of "cooler" days and have been able to get a good amount of unpacking done.

The plan is to have the electricity and the sewage done on Monday, August 12, so that the mobile home company can finish their work on Tuesday. Then, hopefully we'll be able to fully move in on Wednesday, August 13. Please join us in prayer that things go as planned and that we are able to set up home soon!