Well first and foremost we have been trying really hard not to go to crazytown, although many days I am the mayor of crazy town (thank you Lemony Snickett for letting me steal one of your best lines).
Since Christmas John has been in Columbus, Georgia on assignment at a large hospital there. He works 10 days there and then gets to come back for 4 days off. The kids and I went and stayed one week with him which was...umm...gruts. That's great and nuts mixed together. I mean the hotel had two bedrooms, but there's only so much to do in Columbus besides eating fried food and more fried food, and four kids and one mom armed with a tub of books- hello stress! Not to mention that we are still being jolted occassionally by the culture of the south.
The last month has been especially difficult as I have spent countless hours in the car with all the kids trying to find a place to live. It has proved much more difficult than I ever expected. I'm sure you're asking why. Well, first and foremost housing is still somewhat expensive in Florida, even though every 6th house is for sale or sitting empty. Second, many people going through foreclosure are trying to rent their homes in the short time before the bank takes back their property. This is a bad situation for the renter and takes a bit of investigative work to find out about. Last, there are a lot of people in need of a rental. Many times I would put in an application on a home I was 3rd or 4th in line.
During this time I have been extremely stretched. I am a woman of action and so to just "wait" has just about killed me. The kids have been pretty much miserable as well. Three months of sleeping on the floor and having very little personal space or privacy has definately been a strain. Not to mention how despertately they miss their daddy. After all we are all very selfish and being uncomfortable is something that I know I want to skirm away from. This update is probably sounding depressing but I wanted to share our failures and frustrations because it makes God's faithfulness through this time that much more beautiful.
The very first Sunday I flew out with the kids to Tampa we found a church (thank you Nate!). It was SOOOO hard to leave our brothers and sisters at Faith and we just knew that it would take us a very long time to find a church. I swear God has a sense of humor because it truly was the first church we tried. John and I both cried through the worship time and turned to each other after and said "this is it." We had complete peace about it. The people at Gulf Coast Community have poured out themselves into us and it has been wonderful! We aren't serving or very involved yet at all which is pretty weird for us, but the people their have just been such a blessing to us. The church is in St. Petersburg and we have been staying in Brandon which is about a 45 minute drive across the bay (yes, you drive for 7 miles across the ocean- just you, your car, and a little strip of floating road!).
John has been traveling as I mentioned, a lot. This has been much harder than I could have ever imagined. I hate being a single parent. It's really hard not to just be angry because the burden is too large for one person. It has given me a lot of compassion for single parents, for my sister-in-law Kelly who does it so often, and for all the parents I know and meet who have no other choice. It's extremely isolating.
John is also very homesick familysick (we're still confused where "home" is). He is doing quite wonderful in his position. He also does really enjoy the work that he's doing and for that, and the steadiness of his job we are very thankful. Pray that he will be able to interview for a permanent position soon. If I think too much about him going on like this for many more months...well, let's just say my computer will be wet!
We are going to be moving out, into a rental house that I found, this weekend. It's in downtown St. Pete and is quaint, charming, and very old. The kids are so very excited to open boxes and remember what they own! The house is near all the fun things to do so I'm going to pretend that we are on vacation (seeing as I don't know when we shall be moving again!). If anyone wants to visit us, we have room for guests and you could come play in the white sands on the Gulf of Mexico with us.
Thank you to all of you who have been much better than I have at reaching out, keeping in touch, and checking up on us. For so many weeks I felt like I had nothing really to share that wouldn't have been a complaint and I have been trying so hard not to complain (except to John...poor man). We really do appreciate all of our dear friends and family who are so far away in distance. We miss you all very much.
Check out the next post...i put up some pics of the house.
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