God is Sweet!

Beth Kobes often refers to God's blessings/God's miraculous provision by saying "God is so sweet!"  My title is a nod to her phrasing.  I was starting to think we were not supposed to move to Normal, IL.  I think Rudy blogged about the air conditioner in the van breaking the day before our 20 hour drive.  The morning after we arrived in Normal the battery died in our van as well.  Most of you know the Spring was filled with difficulties and trials in preparation for our coming here.  I've been saying either God or Satan doesn't want us here.  After meeting the students on Wednesday night, I was more convinced Satan doesn't want us here.  We seem well-suited to ministry here, we seem to fit right in, and the students here are very open to the gospel.  Satan might be throwing some trials at us to make us give up hope, but we refuse to give up hope! 

Now to the "God is sweet" part...One of the very difficult parts of leaving Austin was leaving our adorable neighborhood with Naaman's school at the end of the street along with the pool and park.  We were close to everything I like to do--kids' activities, the mall, the grocery store, Target, Wal-Mart, friends, my job, etc.  Unfortunately we were 16 miles from campus, so Rudy had a long commute, and it was very difficult to get students to our house.  We started looking at houses in Normal online months ago, and it did not seem we were going to find a house close to campus with all the amenities of family life.  We also needed to find a one story with an extra room for Rudy's mom in case she needs to come live with us for a while.  Impossible, right?  No!!!  Nothing is impossible for our SWEET God!  We looked at many houses last week, including a beautiful historical home that was unfortunately in the wrong school district.  We put in an offer an a house on Friday, haggled with the owner a bit, then had our offer accepted.  Let me describe the house we found...it doesn't look like much from the outside--orange brick with very minimal landscaping, no shutters, etc.  However, it has a huge maple tree in front, and you can see Naaman and Kyra's awesome new school from the front yard.  It is actually at the end of the street, even closer than our home in Austin was to Naaman's school.  It is a ranch style home (one story) with hardwood floors throughout (another feature I REALLY desired.)  There are 3 small bedrooms and a medium-sized living room.  There are 2 bathrooms including a master bath, which is a definite bonus for a house from the 1960's.  The kitchen is small but open with brand-new cabinets, countertops, backsplash, and appliances.  By the way, the bathrooms are all remodeled as well.  There is brand new, nice tile in the kitchen with an eat-in area.  The laundry closet is off the kitchen and on the main floor ( a rarity for houses in Illinois.)  The kitchen windows face the large backyard, another necessity with small children.  And all the neighbor's yards are very well-kept on this quiet street.  There is actually a formal dining room beyond the laundry room that could be easily enclosed to make an office or a room for Rudy's mom.  Can you believe it?  God is sooo good!!!  Now for the big bonus...the basement has been beautifully finished with a HUGE family room perfect for ministry and a lovely bedroom complete with closet and egress window.  And we were able to negotiate into the price of the home the completion of the roughed in downstairs bathroom.  now when our friends from Texas or family from wherever come visit they will have their own bedroom and bathroom!  Did I mention that the house is only 1.2 miles from the Illinois State campus?  Oh, and it just happens to be very close to our good friends and fellow ministers Mike and Michelle Klunke who have 3 kids close in age to our kids.  Oh, and it is only a short distance from Veteran's Parkway--the big highway that goes through town with easy access to Target, the mall, restaurants, etc.  Oh, and it cost $20,000 less than what we sold our house for in Austin.  Now for the extra sweet part...we went to check out a Normal pool yesterday with our friends the Klunkes.  The pool pass was fairly inexpensive, and the pool is amazing (complete with water slides, a huge kids' pool, and beautiful flowers and vegetation everywhere.)  There is a huge park beside the pool with the largest playscape I have ever seen and tons of green, green grass.  We were in the pool, and Rudy said..."I think our house is right over there."  We got in the car upon leaving the pool and found out we only have to walk down our street in the opposite direction from the school, turn left and walk down another street, cross a pretty wooden bridge, and end up at the pool, park, and the kids' junior high school.  Isn't God amazing?

He gave me everything I wanted and everything I hoped for.  If you want to see pictures, get on realtor.com and search for 402 Centennial, Normal, Il.  The pictures might still be up.

Please pray for us as we continue to make new friends.  We had dinner with a very sweet couple last night who have a 2 month old baby.  We desperately miss our friends in Austin and still cry every day just a little, but God is so sweet.  I know He will provide comfort and continued blessings.