Super Saturday

Michelle and I returned to Aurora this past Saturday to search for a place to live. I ended up being a great day and I wanted to share a couple highlights. In case you're interested in the general but not the specific, I put the general praise in bold and then wrote more about it after.

We found an amazing place to live that is perfect for us right now in many ways...that's what I describe below.
We started the day looking for a place to live in Naperville, then went to Warrenville, spent some time on the east edge of Aurora, and ended up on the west side of Aurora. Most of the day was pretty discouraging in regard to the places we were seeing. However, the last place we went, the one we thought would have no chance, ended up being great and we are approved to be able to rent it. Here are some of the reasons it's so great.

There is a huge unfinished basement. It will need a little sprucing up, but this will be a place that can hold 20-25 people so as we have parties and as our cell group grows there will be plenty of space to meet. Since it is in the basement it is also far enough away from the kids' rooms that they would be able to sleep while we are talking, singing, or whatever. Most of the places we looked didn't have anything like this and we would have had a hard time fitting more than 10 people in the living room.

It is in West Aurora. All along we have liked the diversity of Aurora and wanted that to be the place we were centrally located. We thought we might have to compromise that some because it is so difficult to find a place to rent in the area right now. So we had been preparing ourselves to be in a less than ideal location, at least for the first year. This is in a very nice neighborhood, is only 5-7 minutes from downtown Aurora, and will be a great place to be. We think we could be very happy living here for a number of years, which we thought was out of the question until we saw this place.

There is a huge backyard. Not an easy thing to find in any city. This will be great for our kids, and beyond that there are only partial fences between yards and the person renting to us said people will play across the yards--sounds like a great way to meet the neighbors!

The rent is the cheapest of any of the places we looked at!! Enough said.

The second, and more important, great thing that happened on Saturday happened at lunch. We got together with a couple we met for the first time in May and they told us that they wanted to be a part of Infuse!

The first time we met with Brian and Sarah we left lunch and Michelle said, "When he talks it sounds like you! Or maybe when you talk it sounds like him. Either way, you two think so much alike about the church and what we need to be in our culture." It is a blessing to be joined by a couple that is so seriously pursuing how to live out faith in our culture and are mature in their faith. As a bonus, we sincerely enjoy being with them and just look forward to growing our friendship. They are a really amazing couple!

We have prayed for a long time that God would give us at least 8-10 people by the time we start. We are now up to 6 and look forward to who else he will bring to be a part of this.

Overall we just want to praise God for the way he is abundantly providing for us. We don't function out of a mentality that he owes us or anything, but it is a good reminder during times like this that he does answer our prayers and enjoys providing richly for us (I don't mean he gives us a lot of money, let's please not go there). So praise the Lord with us!