Such a Great Day!

This was a totally fun and productive day - something that has not happened so much since the fire. Isaac was dropped off at our new condo to do some serious carpet cleaning (which of course meant that Caleb cannot go in now for 3 days due to his history with Kawasaki Disease).

Gary was dropped off at work where it is probably nowhere near as chaotic as living quarters right now. Please be in prayer for him, other staff, teens, and our four kiddos as they will all be heading off to camp for a week starting this Sunday. I think it will be a wonderful "normal" time of fun and growing, and I'm looking forward to working slowly and steadily making the condo feel a bit more like home.

The kids and I then ran a series of errands; picking up clothes at one place, some dishes at another, getting a few more perscriptions, and then off to Target for several things to make other steps easier and more beautiful. One of the things I loved about our other home was that there were wonderful flowers and fruit trees growing right outside our bedroom patio door. So, today I purchased some wonderfully fun and pretty flowers to decorate our small patio and front doorway. It's nice here because flowers grow and bloom year round (not all, but many).

Then, we picked up Gary and he dropped Tati and I off at the condo and went back to swim with the others at our hotel. Soon, Lisa and Debora came with some bedding and a futon (probably the girls' bed for awhile, but maybe part of our living room motif. It was a beautiful futon, so that was so nice. Our only surviving piece of furniture from the fire, a wonderful rocking glider, matches the futon perfectly and felt so delightfully "familiar" now that Lisa cleaned the cushions so they no longer smell like fire.

Tati and I also did quite a bit of cleaning which also felt simply joyful! You even miss the irritating chores when they are suddenly not necessary or even possible. One task we are finding rather confusing is doing the laundry. Because everything is new to us, we often don't recognize what belongs to whom, thus doubling the time spent. Soon it will all be familiar, but today it wasn't.

It is such a joy to hear from so many of you, run into quite a few friends when we are out and about, and knowing that your love and God's love is truly sustaining us in all of this. Big hugs!