Good News From A Far Country

Oh boy, where does the time go? These past two weeks have been pretty quiet around here. We're feeling very settled in and enjoying Estonia. The weather during the day has stayed somewhere in the 20's (Fahrenheit), but it's been toasty warm inside our house. We've been doing quite a bit of exploring on the public transportation. The buses and trolleys are very reliable and will take us all over the city. Mike and Penny were driving to pick us up for church (and take us home) every Sunday, so one of our first lessons was how to get to church on our own so we didn't have to be a burden on them (not that they ever made us feel that way). It takes us about 45 minutes between walking to the bus stop and arriving at church, but it's worth it... and less stressful than driving. The only down side of this long trek is that our friends' home is right by the church, so the separation is significant. But, praise the Lord, we have good news! Next week they will be moving into a new (and much, much larger) home.... right down the street from us!! YEA! It's now only a 10 minute walk between our front doors. When we first decided to accept a position overseas, we had no idea of how God would arrange so many wonderful things for us. It's very humbling to be on the receiving end of so many blessings.

Thank you for all the lovely comments about the home the Lord has provided for us. We are really enjoying it. Right now the home feels pretty bare without our belongings inside, but hopefully they won't be too far behind. We had our house in Jerusalem packed up on December 18th. We just found out today that our first shipment will be leaving Jerusalem on FEB 23rd!! Is that crazy, or what? I'm not sure what the explanation is on that one. The first shipment is what they call "express" because it contains the items you will need right away, such as dishes, pots & pans, linens, clothes, toys, etc. I guess "right away" for them means 2 months. Anyway, they're telling us that they hope to deliver this first shipment to our home by the 26th or 27th, so that will be good. The next shipment is supposed to arrive about 2 weeks after that. While this is an annoyance, it's nothing I'm worried about. Once you've been without your things for so long, it almost feels like a relief. You start to realize that you didn't really need most of those things in the first place. "Stuff" can be such a burden.
I'm hoping to have a few more things to write about soon, so maybe my blogging won't be quite so sporadic.