Finding a home continues

Well, as exciting as that last place sounded, it fell through! Found out that it is very cold in the winter, the wind blows through the windows and it takes a lot of wood to keep it warm. I DONT DO COLD! So back to the drawing board! As I only have one more week from today to find a place to live, I'm delighted that I can rest in the fact that my Heavenly Father is on the case, He will come through for me! I did look at place where I can only see the outside and the inside sounds wonderful. Total opposite of the last place; everything is brand spanking new, 5 rooms, and that is only on the first floor of the three floor house, the landlords live out of country and only come back for a two week summer holiday, no one else lives in the place AND..... it even comes with a dog! Many people have been praying that I would find a place that would be even grander than I can imagine! This is a place that is certainly fitting that description, because it too has that prayer room possibility. I'll know more once the keys arrive from Switzerland and I'll actually get to see the inside. The price has already been set within budget, I just need to see the inside and give a final decision! So.... will the keys arrive before the 22nd? To be continued ........

Finding a home

I just love the people who live here! The guy who will be building the handicap ramp on the OT clinic made it his personal "mission" to help me find a house to live in. He even showed me his home. He drove me around in his car to see many places, and even though he said he had a lot of work at the moment, he took most of the day to cart me around to places and to speak with landlords. He phoned me up on Friday with another option, he came across town to pick me up just to take me back across town again so as to see this house. Now every place I've seen until now has been newer furnished homes on a busy street or on the third floor with no lift (which is rough on the knees for me) or has shared entrances with families with noisy kids. They have all been nicely furnished, yet they all lacked one thing that has been a priority on my heart, and that is a quiet entrance that leads to a prayer room, where other believers may come and go freely in order to have quiet time with their Father and to be refreshed. So, this place on Friday, It has a nice huge yard (nice plus), the house is older than the hills. A family is in it but will be moving out on the 15th of Sept. The cupboards are old and the drawers don't sit straight. It has an old electric stove for which maybe one burner works, the current tenants are the owners of the carpets, the couches, the refrigerator, the furniture in all the bedrooms except one, the wood stove and the wash machine. I think even the curtains are theirs. However, an old couch with holes in the cushions, sitting on the front porch, will be staying. The floors are old creaky wood floors, the boiler is at least 30 years old and barely hanging on the wall, the bathroom has a toilet and a sink and a spout with a shower head for a shower, so no tub or shower basin (the water just runs onto the concrete floor, as well as a drippy pipe that runs along the wall). However there is a tub in a bathroom upstairs but water leaks everywhere and out into the corridor so it is currently used for storage. Yet there was something about the place! Maybe it was the peacefulness sitting on that old couch on the large balcony, sheltered by grape vines, or the front separate staircase that leads up to yet another large balcony and two rooms for which are potential to have not one but two prayer rooms and retreat places? Even though the house is more like a "project" and it will take much time and finances to make it my home, I felt as though the Lord said, "Here Di, I'm giving you a whole house, make it your own." On a side note, the rent price was the same as a two room one floor place and the owners live out of country and really could care less what happens to the house as long as I don't blow it up or something. The yard is closed in and has plenty of space for a couple of dogs and there is a covered place for stack my wood for the winter. It also has a basement where I can put the dogs while company comes and they will have a dry place to sleep in the winter. (still haven't decided on getting them, but the house is set up for it). I said "yes" to the landlord in spite of all the work that will be required to get it furnished. I'm excited about this "project" of a home! I'm excited about what God is going to do in it and through it.

Return to Kosova

On August 15, 2011 I landed back in Kosove. As I was sitting having supper with some dear Kosovar friends last night, one of them said, "Were you even in England the past two and half years?" His meaning was, "seems as though you never went away." It's interesting and even scary how "normal" it feels to be here. Scary because I would never want my two and half year experience in the UK just seem like a dream or quickly fade away as if I was never there. I cherish those times, I cherish those years and the people that were part of my life there. As I'm looking for a place to live here in Kosove, and am not yet fully engaged in what is going on around me, I feel as though I'm slowly walking through a long tunnel where when I look back I can see scenes of the UK and looking forward I see scenes of Kosova and the walls of the tunnel are intertwined with scenes from both, plus the states, plus future visions and dreams; a mishmash of everything! Not exactly sure when I'll reach the end of the tunnel, but don't necessary feel like I need to pick up the pace either.

Help in quietness

The other day in my devotions I read Ex. 14:14 which says, "The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." I just love that promise! This verse keeps going on around in my head over and over. I think its because I usually associate battle with chaos, striving and fatigue, but here it is the total opposite; When I am resting in Him and keeping silent before Him, yielding myself and the battle over to Him, His role in the fight is even more pronounced. It's kind of like, if we were engaging the enemy in battle along side our fellow soldiers, our attention would be solely on where the enemy was at so that we could use our defensive moves and offensive moves against them. We wouldn't have any idea how our comrades were doing and what they were doing. But if we stepped aside from the battle and sat up on a hill above it and watched what was going on, we could focus on what each of our fellow soldiers were doing and how the battle was progressing. I'm finding the more I quiet myself before God, the more I purposely shut off the computer, close the books (even the Bible sometimes), shut my mouth, turn my mind off of what is going on around me, curl up on the couch and fix my eyes on Jesus, the more I'm seeing Him take over the areas of my life that I have been fighting for and battling with. I can't see what He is doing if I'm too wrapped up in the battle myself, using my own strength. It sounds so simple, why do we make it so complicated? One of the things I fear the most as I prepare to return to Kosova in July is to find myself getting caught up, once again, in the everyday battles of busyness. There is so much to do, there are so many needs to be met, there is so much organization that needs to be accomplished, so many people to visit, so many people to reach. It is easy to think that I need to be the one to engage in all of those "battles", in reality, I need to return to Kosova so that I can "rest" and be quiet before the Lord, then watch the Victor do His thing.