not hard to rejoice

it's not hard to rejoice when you're surrounded by friends. that's what this move into Northside has done for me. For my family, too. Every day, our neighbors come to our house, use our internet connection, chat, drink coffee, cry, pray...
Every day I see Zach, JP, Smitty... Chris, Danielmatt, Christine...

As if it weren't enough to wake up to Judy, Aaron and Seth! I mean, this is an unreasonably blessed life.

Add in Grampa living downstairs... Tim Koschmieder (1 year high school foreign exchange son)...

It looks like Prari and Lauren are gonna rent our top floor, too!

I mean, in just a year or so our life here has become wonderfully full. We have all the folks at the Chambers House over there, all the folks who live at Chase House... It's so great!

And I know It'll get greater.

All this started with a search for a house where we'd be able to do hospice care for Grandma. Stage IV Renal Cell. She passed in June of 04. Her passing was a painful time (understatement of the world). Her absence is... indescribable. The Hope of Glory, though. Knowing that She is there, with Him, waiting for us... Knowing that one day we'll be with Him... In fact, our loneliness for her is totally surpassed by our longing for Him, Jesus.

Now, we have these neighbor kids in our lives. Like JP is putting bikes together for the kids! People give him bikes (nice ones) and he fixes them up and gives 'em out! I mean, they're like broken and stuff, so people don't want them, but for junk, they fix up fine...

So, I woke up this morning and got to have this wonder all around me. Power Rangers in the background...