God is so incredible!!!

Wow! That can sum up today for you! The day started out not so good. I had guys come to my door (ringing the doorbell about 15 times in rapid fire mode no less) at 2:15. They were there to finish fixing my laundry room floor but no one had called to tell me they were coming today at all. I was so angry, I spoke to his boss on the phone and voiced my disapproval maybe a bit to harshly. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, literally, and he bore the brunt of probably more than his fair share. I haven't had the use of my washer and dryer for 5 days now and have laundry piled up so high! I would have turned them away until tomorrow but I am so desperate to have clean laundry that I let them in after checking their work order several times. Anyway, an hour later Michael got home from his interview and quickly noted that they had brought the wrong flooring! So, they will be coming tomorrow to finish the job now anyway.

Then I finally had the chance to talk to Michael. I learned that the job he interviewed for REQUIRES overtime, its an 8-6:30 sort of job everyday anyway, and one weekend per month is required as well. That pretty much rules out all opportunity to take any classes at all. Michael and I sat down, almost at our wits end. We felt like we were at a dead end. Here we are with our 6 month old house 1/2 packed, no idea where we were going to live (I had spoken this morning to the housing dept at the seminary and they said it might be September before they would have anything for us.) our hefty savings now depleted to next to nothing and seemingly no good job prospects. The job Michael had applied for at the seminary hadn't called him back despite what we thought was a great interview on Wednesday.

Then it happened...a phone call letting us know that we had been overpaying on our car insurance since we sold our car a few months ago. We do not owe on it at all this month and next month is discounted. I am just remembering right now that a week ago we got our power bill, known to be quite large here in TX, and we only owed $4 because they overestimated it the previous month! Then as Michael hung up the phone and we were both a bit teary (it's been an emotional few days/weeks) and my cell started ringing. I practically broke my neck getting to the phone and I just missed it. I saw that it was the seminary # and started yelling at the phone to ring again...it did. It was the housing department lady letting me know that this morning when we spoke she hadn't seen the files yet for the daily assignments but now she has them and we have a place!!! I could hardly contain myself! She went on to tell me that it is an apartment that is 2 bed, 1 bath and 675 sq. ft. and we can hopefully move in by Aug. 10th. I was in tears again. After thanking her profusely I ran in to tell Michael. He was speechless. We sat down again in much different spirits and thanked God for providing at the right moment. 675 sq. ft. is do-able, we started planning out the space, what to take what to store where to place the couches. Then we called to see if we could tour the apartment or on like it. The lady said we could come right now and get the key to check it out. So we rushed over since it was so close to closing time. I ran into the office and introduced myself to Amy; she shook my hand and said, "I think I am going to be your new best friend!" I said "what?” She proceeded to tell me that she had worked some magic and needed to talk to someone. She disappeared for a few minutes then came back out to talk to me. She went on to explain that they had accidentally assigned a town home to a couple that had no children. The townhouses are reserved for families with kids. She then asked if we would be willing to trade the 675 apartment for a 996 town home. I almost yelled/cried YES! Of course! Square footage aside they have washer and dryer hookups, walk in closets, dishwasher, and many more wonderful things that the apartment didn't offer. It was almost as if God needed us to be happy with the least in order to let us have the best. 6 months ago the apartment would have gotten a nose turned up at it by me. I wasn't prepared to make that sacrifice. It was too much. I wanted the house, I wanted the neighborhood, and I guess I wanted it more than I wanted Michael to be in school. But today is much different. Michael and I were rejoicing at God's goodness for giving us the wonderful tiny apartment with coin laundry and tiny sink to hand wash dishes in. God can really make you change your perspectives in a quick period of time.

Wait, I'm not done with the day! I called my friend who is allowing us to stay in the very nice doublewide on their property while we wait for our housing to be ready. I asked if Aug. 17 was okay, it was a week longer than we had planned. It turns out that her parents, who live in the trailer, are coming home on the 16th! It couldn't be more perfect! [I know I am using a lot of exclamation points but that's how I am feeling!!!!!!!!!]

So then we stopped by our house on the way home from the TOWNHOUSE tour to pick up hotdogs to take to Michael's brother for dinner and Michael decided to check his e-mail. He had e-mailed the seminary to follow up on his interview earlier this morning. We they had replied saying at one point, "please don't accept any other offers or positions:) "! They asked him to send some more info about his beliefs and his history and understanding of the SBC (those who know Michael know that this is not a hard assignment for him). We feel like this is a confirmation that this job is a shoe-in. Through this job God is providing for us beyond our needs. It will cover everything and give us surplus.

What God did today was incredible. We had to be broken from our good life so that it could become great in Christ alone.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement. It really means so much that we have so many of you out there rooting for us.

Our last need is to find a renter for the house quickly. I know God can do it and I feel like he is going to make it better than we could have imagined. We love you all! Rebecca