Livin' Like Nomads

Not too long after we were married we bought a nice house and were planning on staying there for a long, long time.  We thought we would pay the house off early and then retire there so our bills would be really low!  Selling it and moving to Romania wasn't in our plan at all, but when God called us there we trusted that he was in control.  We had no idea what was in store for us as far as our future living situations.

One... help me count here... two... three... how many different places did we live while we were in Romania... four... five... we were there for five years... six... seven!

Now let's keep counting: one... how many places have we lived since being back from Romania... two... we've been back for almost six months... three... we've moved once a month so far in 2015... four... with more to come soon!

At this point we feel kind of like the gypsies (as pictured above) that we often saw passing through in Romania.  Not having a place to call our own has been one of the hardest parts of our transition next to missing the kids in Romania and being overwhelmed at the abundance and choices in America.  We have been very blessed by the people who have let us stay with them and are thankful that we have never had to worry about not having a place to live.  But the longing for having our own place has just kept getting stronger and stronger the longer we don't have our own stable housing.

God is good though and has been showing us glimpses of what he is working on for us.  A while ago we were meeting with our pastors at FairHaven Church and they mentioned that we should look into Westown Jubilee Housing.  This is a ministry that FairHaven is heavily involved with that buys fixer upper houses in the West Side of Grand Rapids and totally renovates them.  Their program helps people who otherwise might not be able to afford a house to buy a great, like new home.  This also helps bring stability and pride of ownership to a neighborhood which is suffering from a high percentage of rentals and poorly cared for houses.

Here is an example of the work that Westown Jubilee does.  They first buy a house that needs a lot of work.

They totally renovate the house making it very efficient in order to reduce cost of ownership as well.

The finished house might as well be a new house, and thanks to donations and volunteer work the houses are very affordable!

Here is an example of the inside work, the houses are typically gutted and redone from the studs up.

What an amazing transformation!  By God's grace we have started the homesteading process and are excited about the possibility of being able to move in to the neighborhood we will be ministering in. The process could take up to a year so we will rent a place from Westown Jubilee until then. 

There are many things we need prayer for as we go through this process, would you join us in lifting these up to our Father?

-for our final approval for homesteading with Westown Jubilee

-for God to provide an inexpensive house for the initial purchase

-for God to provide materials and volunteers to help rehab the house

-for God to provide an affordable rental for us until the house is done

-for continued patience, leading and guiding from God as we navigate through this process

Thanks for your support as we continue on this incredible journey!  We really appreciate your prayers and we know that God uses them to carry out his plan!