We are finally settled in our permanent house, and I can say that I've experienced my first military move. The Thursday that we moved from the Nordau house to this house on Wingate was crazy busy. Thankfully, Darren was able to get the day off so that there was one adult to oversee the movers who moved us out of the Nordau house, another adult to oversee the unloading of the shipment of all the household goods, and a third adult to direct and unpack inside the house. Our goal was to unpack the boxes and get them out of the house as fast as possible, even if that meant returning to bookshelves and cupboards later in order to reorganize. By working together, we got a lot accomplished and organized in just a few days.
The house is three stories but six levels - tons of stairs! It is perfect for entertaining and it's awfully fun to live in, too. The kids rooms are all in the top level, enabling them to play and be completely separate, in their rooms or in the family room/toy room in the basement, if they want to be.(Sorry about the sideways pictures of upstairs. I couldn't get the file download to recognize that I had rotated and saved it and I didn't know how to make it!) Halfway between the main floor and the basement, my room shares a landing with the school room and a bathroom before the stairs continue down to the basement. The main level is the representational area where large sliding glass doors open up into a couple patios and the rest of the yard. My favorite patio is this one, just off the dining room, because it is enclosed by the trees, flowers, and red wooden fence that separate it from the alley below.
Three weeks after moving in, we are throwing our first party. It is a blessing to start with a church party, the kick off party for the youth group who are Beka's age(around 13) and who have just moved up to the next class. Beka is nervous about fitting in and not being able to speak Hebrew. Maggie and I were able to make her laugh and, hopefully, reassure her from our own growing list of mess ups that, "Well, Beka, it can't be any worse than this!" The Lord has blessed us with a wonderful house, and we hope to use it as a ministry opportunity to invite others in and proclaim truth from our lives.