Life goes on and God is good

So my dad left this afternoon, heading back to Niger. That was hard. Its not a fear of being 'alone', its not even necessarily so much that I know I will not see him for a while, I think its really just that I love him so much and it comes out so strongly when he has to leave. The feeling is hard to express. My dad is awesome.

My God is even more awesome. Yesterday I was worrying (which was aggrivated by the fact that I knew I was going to have to say goodbye today) about our housing situation here for Jo and I. Id been looking around for a while for a place to move into because the place I am in right now is first of all really too small for Jo to be here too for a while, and second, because the owners are trying to sell and probably none of us guys are sticking around past June. So nothing turned up really great, but we did have a few possibilities that would have been do-able. Then today I happen to mention in passing to one of the guys at church that Jo and I are looking for a place to move into. And he says, well I just think I might be able to help you out there, and maybe be an answer to prayer. Turns out he has this place upstairs of his little financial advising business office of his, and hes been trying to rent it out forever. Hes still fixing it up a bit, as in, getting a shower in the bathroom, and putting stove and fridge in. But all around it looks great. Jo and I went to see it tonight. Its three bedrooms, a kitchen and bathroom, and not really any livingroom area to speak of. The bedrooms are good size; there are closets. He said he didnt really know the going price of appartments these days, but I told him the prices of some of the 1-2 bdrm places I had checked out and he gave us a figure that was very reasonable. It looks like it should work out great for us. He thinks it should be ready to move into in about 2 wks. That will be less than ideal but very workable, and only as soon as anything else we could find. He loves having the Moody Av guys around, and is totaly behind what we are doing and wants to help us out. We could easily fit in there with Kars and Milligan (two classmates) and I think at least Kars will be delighted to move in. I talk to him tomorrow. Having 3 of us in there would be very reasonable for rent, and 4 would be excellent. God is awesome. I worry, but every time I have had something big like this going on, the last couple times I have had to find a place to move into, He has come through (often it seems at the last minute) with something better than I could imagine.

Ginny Owens

I just got back from a Ginny Owens concert with my dad and brother. Good times. If you dont know who Ginny Owens is, Google her or something. I had only heard her songs a few times on the radio, but liked them well, enough to say I liked her music. I liked it tonight as well. She is blind btw, and plays piano, and also guitar a bit, which she claims she does poorly, which then puts me in a poor light. Its been great to spend time with my dad and brother. It will be hard to have my dad leave in a few days, and weird to have my brother staying. I interact with my dad more obviously on a peer-to-peer level. Strange how things change with time. He is now more of a well known, well respected older friend.

brakes

So my bro, dad, and I worked on the rear brakes on my brothers car because they had allegedly been acting up. We replaced the brake shoes on the left brakes, with some minor complications, but were a little disapointed because we didnt find any discrepencies that would cause the alleged problems, and we had suspected that it was that brake assembly that was causing the trouble. But, then we began to disassemble the right brake assembly, and quickly decided that there was our problem. One part of the assembly had broken in two and much of it had simply dissentegrated. half of it was jammed inside of one of the springs in the assembly, and the other half of what was left was rattling around in the bottom. The brake shoes were severly worn, with one set nearly worn through, and the other set breaking apart in chunks. It was all rather educational. Essentially, the back right brakes hadnt been working for a few days presumably, and thus when Jo took his drivers test on Friday, he took it with only partial brakes. This also accounted for the left turning tendency while braking. Unfortunately, the parts stores had closed by the time we discovered the need for the part, so we must wait till Monday to get the car back on the road. But, Id say this was a Saturday well spent, what with, those interesting brakes, getting greasy repacking bearings, hanging out with my long lost dad and brother, and having a good time all around

got me a phone... and other news

another step towards being "american"... I got me a cell phone thing, one of them things where you get a cheap phone from Walmart and then you buy minutes as you need them and in theory its cheaper than a regular cell phone, if you dont use it too much which we hope to not do-my brother and I both got us the same thing.

Ive been enjoying having my brother and father here. It is rather a strange experience. They dont seem to belong here, yet it hardly seems that I actually hadnt seen them for a year and a half. God is good.

The Rebelution

Yeah, read this

Bloggerell

"Bloggerell- 3/23/06-for Jon"

A knitting circle,
A crocheting bee-
Eating McDonalds
As you fly across seas.

Whittling away-
Sprinkler technician so grand
Look- a completed sock
I see in your hand!

Everything works together for good
For them who so love the Lord,
Who seek Him, and His kingdom first-
And will find provision- says the Word.

Blessed is the man who endures
For he shall receive a crown,
From the Father of lights-
From whom every blessing comes down.

Go and make disciples!
Teaching them to obey-
The things he hath commanded you
Jon, may you never stray!

Be happy to live
Merely on rice, and beans
Showing to them heaven
Teaching them what that means.

~J.L.P.

that folks is a poem for me by a friend