What A WEEK!!!

Wow folks!
This has been an action packed week!

Ryan, Jess & Kaitlin have been out this past few days, Sarah has been up and down feelings-wise... and our apartment situation is still unresolved.

Ry, Jess & Kaity flew in on Thanksgiving Day. I went to pick them up, but half way to Denver, I got a call that their plane had turned around in St. Louis and went back to Chicago for repairs. They were going to be about 2 hours late. So I decided that instead of going directly to the airport, which is East of the city a bit... I would go downtown. I haven't been there since '99, when I went with my roommates from college. So I drove into town, and since it was a holiday, nothing was open, but parking on the street was easy to find, and free... so I drove to the 16th street mall and parked. (The 16th St. mall is THE place to be in Denver, and very neat. It's an entire street of stores with two free trolleys that go up and down it all day. There's no actual traffic on it, so it's really nice.) I walked around, and got some coffee at a Starbucks that was open, and sat with the homeless and talked to them for awhile. It was really eye opening, and I heard some sad stories, and some happy stories... it was a great way to focus on the things that God has blessed us with. When it was time, I hopped back in the car and drove to the airport to pick everybody up, and head back. We took our time, and drove through Garden of the gods when we got to Colorado Springs. Everybody was really happy to see Sarah, and be done traveling. I cooked dinner, which was a nice roast with potatoes and carrots. There was green bean casserole, and dinner rolls, and sweet potatoes made from scratch. Everything turned out great!

The past several days have been spent hanging out and having fun. We have enjoyed having the company, and the help around the house. It's been nice for me to have Ryan, and Sarah to have the girls for emotional support. Sometimes it's hard to share your feelings with your spouse when you're feeling something you've said before. Or a dozen times before. It's hard to say, "This really has been getting me down... again..." without annoying them, or frustrating yourself. Sometimes, having someone who truly cares to listen to your common issues, can go a long way.

Ryan's "cow" (Gateway laptop) died on him early in the trip, so he's had issues with that, but otherwise, things went really well.

Oh... the apartment. Well folks, I don't know how many of you will understand this, but we are coming down to the wire and we're not worried. Well... we're worried to a point. But we know that God is going to provide in an amazing way, and I can't wait to blog what that was! As we stand, we have found an apartment we can afford payments on ($515 per month) even though we're single income now... and we will be able to pay off the fee for breaking our lease in payments to Tanglewood. (How appropriately named is this place?) And the really cool thing is that it is across the street, so it's easy to move to, and there is a first month free special on it. It would be a two bedroom, one bath. It isn't stinky, or old, and it has new carpet and vinyl. There are of course, problems. The main one is that they have a policy that requires you to have all money owed your last apartment paid in full. This is not possible at this point, so we are asking that they look at this situation differently. The second issue is that we may not make enough at this point to pass the application. The third, is that my next paycheck is ON the day we need to be out of here, and it's not going to be as high because I wasn't able to work my full 40 hours this last week! So it's gonna be tight no matter what! I really haven't a clue as to what's going to happen, but I am eager to find out. We have done everything we could, and we are at the end of ourselves... so we step out on faith that Jesus won't let us fall. For those of you praying, the amount we're praying for is about $1,000. That would allow us to get out of Tanglewood, into Summer Grove, and would provide for Sarah's medical expenses. Thank you for your prayers.

In conclusion, please continue to pray for Sarah as her health continues to give her problems. Her stomach is very delicate, and she continues to have morn-afternoo-nigh-twiligh-daw-brunchtime sickness. She has been holding up valiently, but needs rest from her bodies problems. Thank you.

Well, I need to head to bed.

Love yall.
Jim