House Shopping

We've been back over two months, and have yet to put an offer on a house. It isn't that there are so few choices, in fact, there are so many choices, it has been difficult getting around to see them all and make a decision.

We didn't really narrow our search down to one specific location, either. Basically, I just want to be within 10-15 minutes of the hospital in case I have to rush in there late some night. We're staying with Julie's parents for the time being, and they live less than 10 minutes from the hospital, so that hasn't been a problem.

However, as gracious as they are, we can't count on living with them forever!! So the search continues. Hopefully we'll be ready to make an offer soon. It will be nice to finally feel "planted" again, after over a year of living nomadically...

We stayed in a small cottage in Morgantown, WV, along with 2 other couples and their children (when they say "cozy" they mean small) while we took the Tropical Medicine course offered there.

We stayed in an apartment above the daycare at St. Francis hospital in Wichita. It really took us back to our college days and reminded us of dorm living. Except our neighbors were cool International Fellows. Oh yeah, and a wonderful nun.

Then we stayed in an apartment a short hike from the hospital in rural Kenya. Plenty of room, a bit industrial. But you couldn't drink the water, and there were plenty of exotic bugs that may spread things like malaria, sleeping sickness, river blindness, kala azar, etc. Thankfully, many of these diseases were rare there, but the bugs were not. The Kenyan version of Raid is called "Doom". And I know Julie was the harbinger of Doom to many of the pests that visited our apartment.

Buying a house now, after living like we did for over a year, and realizing how little we really need, has been a lesson for us. A lesson in humility, and priority, and responsibility. It isn't the size of the house, or the number of bedrooms or bathrooms or garages, it is the people inside of it. No matter the size, we want the house we buy to be God's house, because it all ultimately belongs to Him! He is the owner of everything, and he just lets us borrow the keys. We want to be the best stewards of our house that we can be, and to be a blessing to all who cross our threshold. Maybe you've moved recently, too, or maybe you've lived in your house a long time; either way, hopefully you can say the same thing.