Saturday, September 8, 2007

Update on life

So much has been going on, so I think it's time to update.
I started working at the preschool a few weeks ago. I started out as a floater, and my second day of work I moved into a classroom. I am teaching 4 and 5 year olds. Right now I'm only working 2 days a week, but in November the 4 day teacher is having a baby so I'm moving to teaching 4 days. It's more than I originally thought I would want to work, but it'll be fun. It's still only 24 hours a week, and I still get to take Karis with me for free (all four days). It's not much money, but it helps.
Robert and I moved (again). It's really a long story, but lets just say that we are in a "fight" with our apartment complex. We had 4 leaks in the 5 months that we lived there, and each one took a long time for them to even come look at them (one took almost 2 weeks... this time made it worse). Two of them had water coming through the wall, so much that the wall was discolored, and all they did was bleach the outside of the wall and paint over it (cause that does a lot for the inside). So, there's probably mold growing inside. It was soaking wet. We didn't want to live in that kind of place, and the lease says that if they don't take care of the property, that we have a reason to leave. So, we did. We have everything documented, including pictures. Robert tried to call the corporate office 7 times (and left 7 messages) and we never heard back. I went back on Tuesday to take pictures and turn our keys in, and as I kneeled down to take a picture, my knees got soaking wet. Yes, that's another leak (in the same spot as the last). So, I'm so glad we left. We still don't know what's going to happen with our lease, but they can't hold us to it because they have been horrible. The manager was less than professional when we confronted her. She did everything she could to try to make herself look good, but it didn't really work. Anyway... all that to say, we now live in a house :).
Robert (and Brian Guenther) were renovating a small house here in San Marcos as a side job. We told the owner that we would live here, therefore, he kept asking us if we were serious. We found out that we couldn't get out of our lease, so we told him that we couldn't. A few weeks later, our 4th leak happened (and it didn't get handled well at all), so we decided that we should leave. We called the owner right as he was about to call someone else who was interested (he told me that he didn't feel right about calling them so he kept putting it off). He's a spiritually led man, and he knew we were supposed to live here. Our rent is $10 less a month than our apartment rent was (and Robert is the maintenance man so we know it'll get done right!). The main reason for wanting to live here, though, is that it is right in the middle of the mission field that I feel called to. Across the street is the San Marcos housing authority (sounds ghetto, huh haha). It's actually much nicer and quieter than the ghetto apartments that we lived in. Anyway... my vision for our children's ministry is to reach out to the children and families of San Marcos. A lot of San Marcos is poor and in poverty. Those are the kids that I want to share Jesus with. We have a beautiful, city playground right next to our house that kids are always playing on. Perfect opportunity to build relationships! Our KidsRock ministry does something once a month called "Kids Night Out." It's an opportunity for parents to go on a date, and an opportunity for us to build relationships with kids. We're going to start advertising in my neighborhood for next month's. I'm so excited about this wonderful opportunity to share Jesus!!
I've already had a glimpse of what God is going to do. The day we moved in, a boy (probably about 11 years old), asked my dad if he could help us. My dad told him no (before telling me!), but I watched him on the playground (through the window). If I wasn't so caught up in myself, I would've gone to talk to him, but we had so much going on. He kept watching us and everything that we did. I was so glad that he decided to come back. A few days later he came and knocked on our door to see if we would buy something for his school fundraiser. We got the chance to talk to him. He's a sweet kid. He has 2 brothers and 1 sister. He's the oldest. He doesn't like being the oldest (I'm assuming he has a lot of responsibility). Anyway... I can't wait til he comes back with what I bought so we can talk more. Praise Jesus for the opportunity to be light to a dark world. I just hope that I don't get so caught up in myself that I miss opportunities. My daily prayer is that my worries will become less and less of a focus so that I can focus on Jesus and others.