Meanwhile, Life is Changing Drastically

This is a very important time for us. Today was my last day of work. Tomorrow is Ferial's. Tonight, we had a good-bye party thrown for us, by all of our clients and co-workers. Tears, presents and slices of German chocolate cake were plentiful. Tomorrow, I sell my car...my first car. It was the most expensive and, in retrospect, the most important thing I have ever owned, aside from my Bible (truth be told, I probably treasured the former more than the latter, over the last year). As of Monday, we are no longer employed, and we probably won't be in this country for a number of years. It's a strange feeling, freedom. It is bitter-sweet. Although, at this juncture it is mostly sweet. I am very excited for some time off. Really off - I don't have to go back to that apartment building on Monday...not even next month! I will go back one more time, before we move. I have a couple of presents I am going to drop off. However, I am going to try not to see anyone. I will leave presents, accompanied by notes. I don't want to belabor the good-bye process. I had a client crying on my chest this evening. Her tears brought forth many more in our group hug. I will leave my presents and go, unnoticed like a trendy-Santa Clause.

I was reading today in 1John. One verse (2:6) led me to send an apology I owed to Ferial, via text message ( I will miss my cell phone). Another, gave me a bit of an idea of what God wants to do with me, in the coming months. Chapter two, verses 15 and 16 warn against the love of the world and "everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does" (NIV). The ESV uses the phrase "pride in his possessions" and it really took me aback. For me, that has been much of the past year...pride in my possessions - my car, my matchy-matchy kitchen, my wife's artwork on the walls, my big-ass desk, my trendy leather sofa, my liquor cabinet, my wardrobe. The ways I describe some of these things, even now, belie my pride in their beauty and worth. I knew ever since we first considered boarding this rocket, that God was going to use this to cleanse me of my love of stuff. I welcome His work in my life. However, I am not looking forward to what this may mean. Already, I praise Him for the grace to be able to part with our living room furniture, my car, our rug and our rabbit.

July 3rd is Bundipendence Day. We will be taking Havarti to his new home, with Chris and Lori Basan. They really are the bunny-gurus. He could not be going to a better home. On July 12th, we move out of The TreeHouse forever. We will be moving in with Ferial's parents until such a time as the Lord sees fit to give this rocket lift-off. I will leave you for now, as it is getting late, and I am tired. May the grace of the Lord shine on you, and may we all have the courage to step into our own rockets and fly where He sees fit.

And all of our stuff is slowly vanishing...

So, we've started selling all of our stuff. John took pictures of everything and posted it all on Craig'sList. We've had a pretty amazing response and people are coming over, giving us money and taking it all away. It's pretty exciting and rather sad to watch our apartment slowly empty out. The apartment that we've worked so hard in the last year to make our trendy, colorful home. But, in the end it's all got to go, even our wonderful-handicapped-house-rabbit has to find a new home; sad face.

We've also run into some troubles with our visa-process. Turns out it's going to take a lot longer than we'd like for our criminal background checks to be completed. We have to go through this long process of getting them re-done, notarized and sealed with an apostille. Please pray for us as we go through this tedious and somewhat frustrating process.

And, if anyone wants pretty things for their home, let us know. We can hook you up!