It was late August and we had nowhere to go. All we knew was that we had to be out of our home on the 15th of September and that there was no way we'd actually be leaving Canada until at least the end of that month. We had no place to live once we left Bay Street, and our home in Maldonado wasn't going to be ours until our support was at 100%.
And it wasn't.
In the last week of August we put a note in our church's bulletin making people aware that we needed a temporary home for our family, that it would be at least for two weeks (probably more, but indefinite), and that we were willing to consider anything from a camper parked in someone's driveway to house-sitting for someone.
By the end of the afternoon we had received three offers of places to live, and a week later we knew where we would be.
Our temporary home has been provided by families from our church who have a large home with 3 apartments. Each apartment is fully equipped for a family, but the three units are joined by an additional kitchen: the Big Kitchen. Our apartment is the upper level of the original farmhouse on this 60 acre property, and, we are overwhelmed with the way God provided for us in this time of transition.
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| Our front door |
We were originally told that our apartment wouldn't have appliances in the kitchen, and we were prepared to go downstairs and do our cooking in the Big Kitchen. But on the day my Dear Man began to move our belongings into the apartment, the owners told him that they had just arranged for a fridge, stove, and dishwasher to be installed before we moved in!
Once again we were flooded with thankfulness. We had been ready to 'make do' camping in a driveway, and here we were going to be living in an apartment larger than the home we'd moved out of, with space for the kids to play, and fully equipped with all we could want - including living-room furniture brought in from the family room of one of the other homes.
(And again we cry out a mighty thank you to the fellows who brought all those items up: the furniture from two floors below, and the appliances, including two trips for the fridge!)
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| The upper floor is ours - the first three windows on the left are the living room, the next two are from our bedroom, and the last two are My Girl's room. The kitchen, bathrooms, sun room, and two more bedrooms are at the back of the house. |
For five weeks now we have lived in this gift of a home. Little Man and Brown Eyed Boy have revelled in the spacious property: woods with a tree-fort, fields to play baseball in, and a ditch explore!
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| A glimpse into the forest from the 'baseball field' that's next to the barn where The Ones I Love keep their bikes. |
My Girl has also enjoyed the outdoors: soaring in the tire-swing that hangs from a large tree just across the driveway from out door, space in her bedroom (the room she chose because the colours were exactly the same as those in her old room and matched her hand-made quilt) to do her school work in peace, and a place to entertain friends.
It has truly been home, which is so much more than 'temporary lodgings' could ever be.
