we are supplied with every grace...even when life feels crazy.

WOW.

Well, it has been a crazy past two days.  We are all moved into our new home, and I love it so much better than our old one, praise the LORD!  It is so refreshing to have TILE instead of CARPETING. But don't think this has been an easy past few days...oh no, tears have been shed.  I've been utterly ridiculous and emotional and it hasn't felt much like a vacation yet, but I am thankful all the same.  Bear with me as I recount my tales of the stupid little things that can so easily throw you off sometimes...By the way, I am in no way, shape or form trying to get pity here...this is just me being a little more real about my emotions...and it's hilarious now, anyway, which I knew it would be [it always is...after the fact...please laugh with me - seriously! I'm sure those of you who know me well can imagine all of this]....

First of all, our landlords sprung a $75 cleaning fee on us for moving into another one of their apartments, and our place has had LOADS of problems already.  $75 might not seem like a lot, but the fact that I have thrown away several things from mold damage, spent a bunch on trying to wash/salvage other things...I have no motivation whatsoever to pay THEM money.  So, I am determined to clean our apartment on our own and avoid the fee [hopefully].  Remember that is in the back of my mind as you read on...

I also went to the doctor's office yesterday to finally address a health issue that has been persisting since August.  More fees.  But I did get a prescription, so hopefully everything will be fine in a week or so...

I have also been trying to get my contacts prescription taken care of and ordered so that my parents can bring them down in a week.  I went back to the doctor [for the second time, last week she was sick] and asked if they could fax the prescription to an international 1-800 number since that was the policy of the site I was using to order them.  Easier said than done, apparently.  I quote, "If she wants to order off the internet, that's her own problem."  Wow, thanks.  And this comes from the doctor who said it would be "no problem" to order off line since it would be at least a $100 in price difference.  So I am pretty much hating Grenada at this point.

So about 20 minutes later, I am in the laundry "closet" washing some of the afore-mentioned mold-damaged goods and one of the girls who works in the apartment office comes up to me [the same one that informed me of all the cleaning I would have to do to avoid the cleaning fee] and says that our new place is ready if we want the keys to move in that night/next morning.   I look at her without much grace and say "Yes, that would be fine, thanks"...and burst into tears.  Geez, pull yourself together.  Grenadians don't appreciate that kind of stuff anyway.  So she shows me the place, goes through inventory, and then my gracious husband proceeds to move EVERYTHING over in one night [I reminded him that it was "great that we don't have to do this in the hot daytime sun, right?"...Right.  Still sweaty.]  Anyway, all this time I am re-cleaning so that I feel comfortable with the cleanliness of my own house [something that I lacked at the other place] and so we are both pretty shot on patience and hydration.  End of the night:  we are showered and in our new bed [two twins pushed together] and very happy to have some better air flow, but rather overwhelmed with all the unpacking/reorganizing we have to do again.  To quote my husband, "I am sick of moving."  I reminded him that this was going to be the norm for a while at least...God's grace is sufficient, and I need that grace.

Anyway, this morning was filled with me cleaning the other place some more...and J in bed with a horrible headache that he thinks is stemming from a toothache.  Awesome.  If it isn't gone by tomorrow, we are going to the dentist down the road.  The adventures never cease...Thank God He is allowing all these things to happen for reasons unknown.  I keep reminding myself that every little "something else" is from Him, and for a reason...and life is only going to keep 'em coming, so how will I react?  With anger/bitterness/rebellion?  Or gratitude that His ways are better and beyond my understanding - meant for my good and growth in godliness?  Don't you long for eternal, glorified bodies?  No more toothaches. No more moving.  No more change.  Just beholding supreme, perfect, unchanging glory in unending joy.  Ah, yes!!

ANYWAY, finally, around 2pm, I am done [and J did help when his head wasn't about to explode, plus he moved everything last night].  I walk into the apartment and exclaim that I need the pool.  I am hot, sweaty, and gross, and I need to stand in some aqua.  Plus, it is pool day at the University Club, and J is feeling a bit better [and I think he understands that we both need to get out of the house], so we grab snorkel gear and head out.  It was the fastest we had ever tried to leave somewhere in a long time.  

We got to the Club and tried to snorkel, but the beach there is mostly sea grass, and further out is mostly sea urchin infested.  I told him I couldn't handle it, but he could go on his own if he wanted.  Eh, he didn't want to.  So we kayaked for a bit instead.  It was fun, and a much needed break for the both of us.  Then we hung out in the pool for a while, met up with some friends, and then headed home.  I made dinner and we have been chillin' ever since.  So the day ended pretty well if I do say so myself.  *Sigh.  Let's hope things feel a bit more vacation-y from here on out, shall we?? :)  And pray for J, he still has a headache...but we have some friends who went to the dentist here and they said it wasn't so bad...

I praise God that we are in a new place...that we have been given the means to rent an apartment, the means to clean it, and the means to eat and live here comfortably.  I am excited to share a home with dear friends in January, and visiting family and friends sooner than that :)
Much love to all.  I will post pics of the new place once everything is settled/decorated by Marieke.  :)