Thanks for friends who are walking through our move with us!  These days are a bit up and down and so we appreciate the emails and the prayers on our behalf.  Here are a few updates from the past week.

The BIG house came in at a higher price than they had first told Eric even – beyond what we could even try to pay, not to mention all the repairs that would be required.  We were glad for this confirmation NOT to move forward on it.  While Eric and Annie were up in Ishinomaki, a Japanese friend called other realtors up there who hadn’t been contacted yet — there really are NO houses for rent or for sale for our family at this point.

The night after Eric came back, we talked again with a friend who is willing to help us buy a pre-fab house that is built in the US and shipped over – it could all be done in three months, and at a much cheaper price than building Japan homes.  At this point, this is our best (only?) option.  So we are going to keep moving forward and see how God directs us.  We have found a couple of possible pieces of land on the internet that could be a good location- we need to inquire, pray, and pray some more.  (Tonight I did my first Google map prayer walking – it was kind of fun).  If we have a house built, we are considering living for the first few months in the temporary housing that they have built for residents up there (because there are some that are only half full, they have opened these up to volunteers).

Before going to sleep that night, I opened up the Bible by my bed – an Amplified New Testament that used to be my mom’s – and the pages fell open to Hebrews 11:9:  [Prompted] by faith he dwelt as a temporary resident in the land which was designated in the promise [of God, though he was like a stranger] in a strange country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs with him of the same promise.”  We have some great witnesses who have gone before and led the way with temporary housing…

But, there are some days where I lose perspective and forget who I am trusting.  This afternoon, I called a moving company today to ask them to come and give us an estimate.  We actually need to get two estimates – one to move our things up to Ishinomaki in late March;  the other in case we do a prefab home and need to have the moving company  pick up our things in late March and then store our things for a few months.  The lady who answered of course used all of this polite gibberish Japanese that is nearly impossible to understand over the phone. After getting through some preliminary information,  I was able to discern that she wanted to know our address here – that was easy- and then our address in Ishinomaki.  When I said we don’t have an address yet, she said they can’t give us an estimate until we get one (apparently if the house is on a narrow road, they need to send everything up in several small trucks rather than one big truck, which makes a big price difference).  So they won’t give us an estimate; and  they obviously can’t reserve a truck for us on the busiest moving week of the year in this country!  I got off the phone and burst into tears.  It isn’t a big deal, as Eric reminded me. Moving will work out… my eyes were not trusting in Jesus.

Last night, we talked on the phone with a friend in the U.S. who is giving us a wonderful donation towards purchasing land.  It is a beginning that greatly encouraged us in this journey.  Tonight, as we shared with the kids about this pledge, Annie said, “Mommy, I think God wants us to move up to Ishinomaki.”  Wow!  That was huge.  God is at work — most importantly in our children’s hearts.  We don’t know where this is all going to lead, but we know step by step — when we have faith and when we don’t — we will see evidence of His work and His sweet care for us.