house guests.

When I was house-hunting last November, I was looking for a few specific things. I wanted something small, with maybe two or three bedrooms (even if I could have afforded a big place, I didn’t want to clean it or pay to heat it). I wanted a yard for the dogs. I wanted it to be within walking distance of downtown Frederick, though after looking at a few row houses, I decided I really didn’t like the narrow footprint (especially the yards). And most important, I wanted a place that needed a little bit of work, that I could fix up and make my own.

I looked at quite a few houses. Many of them had most of my requirements, but only one had everything I wanted. And, as an added blessing, it came with five bedrooms, even though it was still small. I love living here. Still, I knew from the start that God did not provide everything I wanted in a house, plus a bunch of extra bedrooms, for just me and Dakota and Harvey.

So, over the last few months as I’ve slowly fixed this place up and settled into life here in Frederick, I’ve prayed that God would show me who would fill these bedrooms. He has been answering that prayer over the last couple months – T and her daughter K moved into the upstairs bedrooms in July, and sometime in the next week, M and her daughters A & B are moving into the second downstairs bedroom. Both families needed a place to stay for a little while.

I want to be very careful not to share the details of their stories, because they are not my stories to share. At the same time, I’m learning quite a bit about living with others, the best way to help people who find themselves in difficult situations, and also ways that really don’t help. It’s been a fantastic learning experience, to be sure, and in case there are topics that I think are appropriate to post here, I wanted to lay the foundation.

God is doing great things! I told a few friends recently that I felt like I was right in the middle of white water rapids. It’s a thrilling ride and the view is changing rapidly (even from day to day), but I trust my guide.