Rain

It's funny how you have a certain perspective on things from living in one part of the country your whole life, and then suddenly you see something that shakes that. Last night it rained. I'm talking serious rain. Like Noah and the Ark kind of rain. I realized one thing for sure. I had never really seen a thunderstorm before. I have now. WOW! The sky was lighting up all over the place. We thought Kowe was going to die from a heart attack. She was panting, her heart was racing, her eyes were totally bugging out, it was pretty crazy. I wish I had a picture of that. I tried to take a few pictures of the rain but nothing seemed to capture the severity of how hard it was coming down. Anyway, I was thinking about how in the Bible a lot of times God's grace and his favor are often compared to rain on a dry land. Now we don't really live in a dry land, but I've been feeling pretty dry lately on a personal level. I think the lack of real relationships, the lack of direction right now, and the stress of finances and all of that are making me feel kind of swallowed up. We've been feeling a bit discouraged to be honest, so rain is beautiful. I pray for rain in our lives as well.

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Kindergarten Part II

Kimi and I have to make some decisions about Kindergarten for Hannah. She didn't score the necessary 98th percentile, though she did get in the 90th on the reading portion of the test. So we are still going to try and get her in to kindergarten as the psychiatrist felt that she was definitely ready. However, if she is turned down by the district we still have some decisions to make. We could simply say ok and wait until next year. Or we could pursue homeschooling for a year. But that would definitely add a lot to Kimi's plate. So - just pray that God makes it clear to us what we should do.

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Kindergarten

So we're trying to get Hannah enrolled for Kindergarten, and apparently things are different here in NC. The rule here is that if you aren't 5 years old by Oct. 16 then you can't go to Kindergarten yet. Hannah's birthday is the 21st of October, so she just missed the cutoff. We got a packet of paperwork from the office that will allow us to appeal to get her enrolled, but the lady pretty much said that once people see the requirements, they never come back. Well, we may be the first. Hannah is required to be evaluated by a psychologist (at our expense of course) and she has to take an aptitude test as well as a math/reading test and score in the 98th percentile. She also has to be evaluated by the school, we all have to be interviewed, and we have to get references from her pre-school teachers. Doesn't that all sound like a bit much? I mean, this is Kindergarten, not Harvard (at least not yet!). Anyway, she is so ready for school and I know she will be bored to death at home for another year. So pray with us that everything will go well and Hannah will be allowed to be enrolled. She is so excited about school and I'd hate for her to have to wait.

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Friends

I am so glad that we are here. I don't really miss our house, our neighborhood (haha), our little city of Yucaipa. But I'm realizing more and more I miss people. I miss seeing familiar faces, running into people I know, going to church with people I know, hanging out with friends, etc. I miss people walking in my front door and knowing they can hang out as long as they want and eat all my food. It's weird to be in a place where everything is new. Every face, every place, every church, everything. I'm praying for friends. If you think about it, pray with me, pray for me.

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Durham

So here we are. It's been a week and half since I arrived here in Durham. Kimi and the kids arrived the next day. I had a great trip out here driving the truck with my friends from Yucaipa - a group of guys I've been trying to disciple over the last six plus years. It was seriously a fun time. Almost every day was at least 500 miles, with only one exception - our short day of 350 miles. We stayed overnight in St. John's, AZ at my dad's place. It was great to see him and his newly opened restaurant. I'm happy for him, but I hope he doesn't work himself too hard. The next night was Erick, OK - which is just inside the Oklahoma state line. We had dinner that night in Amarillo, TX, and the guys were determined to get out of Texas as fast as we could. So we went another 100 miles and stopped in Erick that night. The next day we headed out to Little Rock, AK. Little Rock is a cool city, I really liked it. Plus we got to see some lightning that night, so that was cool. The next night was on to one of the guys' uncle's house in Nashville, TN. It was great to be in a real home with a home cooked meal. They were extremely gracious and we had a good time playing Rock Band on the xbox360. We got up really early the next day in order to get to Durham somewhere around 4pm. I had to meet the real estate lady at my house to get the key. So we were on the road by about 6am, and had a few hundred miles behind us by lunch. We made it to Durham in time, and after heading out to dinner, we spent the rest of the night unloading the truck.

The guys stayed for a few days while we explored the area, played some disc golf, and just hung out talking. My mom arrived with Kimi and the girls and she was able to stay for a week as well. It was nice to have her here, tough to say goodbye. She'll be back again in November hopefully.

So far we love the neighborhood God has placed us in. We have a great home, and some really nice neighbors. Hannah has already met a bunch of kids to play with. Our housing development has a lake, a pool, tennis courts, a fitness center, and walking paths all throughout. I haven't got to fish yet, but as soon as they'll let me get a resident's license, I'll be there. We continue to pray that God will connect us with the right people at the right times. It's a bit overwhelming to know that we are trying to start this church from scratch, but it's exciting at the same time. I can't wait to see where God takes us!

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