Eric is up in Ishinomaki, and it seemed like great timing yesterday when a friend sent us a link to a rental home in JUST the area where we want to live.  It is the first rental we have seen listed in six months.  Even though it was a smaller home, it still could be a great option for at least the first few months. We have put in an application on a piece of property near there, where we will plan to build a pre-fab home if nothing else surfaces shortly.  We do not have to pay for the property for a few weeks, so we have a little leeway in making a decision, it seems.

Eric called the realtors right away about the rental home.  In my mind I had us already moving in!  He was told pretty quickly that someone was already interested, and in fact there were sixty (60!!) families waiting already.  We quickly realized that even if we had been the first to call, we couldn’t live there- there are many families with plights far worse than ours who need rental homes.  We have the application in on the property to buy, and will make a decision about that in the next week.  The good thing about building a pre-fab is that we will be creating housing, rather than taking away options.

There is a home near the property that friends found that had been left abandoned, and the owners are looking for someone to move in there at least temporarily.  Eric went to see it – it is small and needs a lot of work, and all of the former resident’s possessions are in there, but it could be potential for us for a few months.  The friends have still not talked with the owners about this, so we will see what happens.  In the meantime, Mrs. K., one of the sweetest ladies ever up in Ishinomaki, had Eric over for dinner and insisted that he call his wife and tell her that we could all stay with her until something works out.  Options!  We love options!

We have continued to battle illness in our family – Annie has been home the last two days with a fever that suddenly spiked – she is with me now and pretty sick… so getting a lot of things done has been challenging. I am also sad that we will not be able to go into Osaka for the Be One prayer gathering to remember the one year anniversary of the tsunami.   But I was thinking about how God is caring for us in different and unexpected ways… an amazing blessing that is coming- our friend Shirley from Kauai is coming on Monday night and spending two weeks to help our family pack and move!  It is an absolutely amazing gift of love.  Every time I get discouraged about what I haven’t been able to get done I realize how God is providing just what we need.  It is so wonderful!  Today different friends took our three healthy kids so that I could get some more done.  Annie was happy on the couch with a line-up of videos, and it really was a good day of progress.  I know the Lord will continue His care for us.