Meet Simba... and someone else....

Simba is our very first family dog. We got her the day after we moved into our home, in order to fulfill the long-time promise to our kids: "When we get our own house, we'll get you a dog." She is a German pincher and about six months old. We found her at an outdoor market, where sellers and donors line up next to the street. The particular owner of this dog was giving her away (and all of the rest of the dogs out that day were for sale). The kids fell in love with her, so we thought, "Well, what have we got to lose?" So far, she has been a really great dog, the kids are happy... so Dad and Mom are happy! We dowloaded a list of popular dog names from the Internet and "Simba" is the name our boys chose. She's a cute little thing, isn't she?!

SIMBA
DAVEY WITH HIS BUDDY SIMBA

Someone else we got for free is someone we did NOT choose to bring home. We found this centipede crawling on the underside of our mattress about a month ago.... Good thing we were still in that ever-changing mode of moving our beds from room to room every couple of nights so the builders could lay more concrete, etc... Otherwise, we may have found it in bed with us! And you, my dear sweet blogger friends, would have heard my screams, regardless of how far apart we live from each other!

Something did bite David on his leg a couple of weeks ago and left a hard, swollen, painful spot that made it hard for him to even sit for a couple of days. His skin was even very hot to touch in the area around the bite. Hmmm... makes me wonder if this little guy's brother did indeed crawl into bed with us during the night. But, some things are better left unknown......

Snow!

Today, November 3rd, we woke up to our first snow! The men have been working for a week now on getting our heated floors hooked up and running for the first time. Today it was decided that the boiler we bought was faulty. Sadly, here it is not as simple as running it back to Lowe's or Home Depot and getting an exchange or refund. David tried to take the boiler back, but to no avail. So we are going to buy another one (because we can't wait to get it fixed... we are COLD!), and then just work on finding someone who can, Lord-willing, repair this one. The good thing is that we are going to need another boiler anyway, whenever we get to the next phase of heating our home: the bedrooms. So, if we can get this boiler fixed, we will be able to use it anyway.

So, how have we been staying warm? By following a very simple Biblical principle found in Ecclesiastes 4:11 "If two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?" Now, imagine how much warmer it is when you have FIVE, not just two! [And isn't it just fitting that our memory verse in family devotions this week is the verse found just before that, "For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up."] Families need each other!

We have all been sleeping in one room and we have small space heaters that have been keeping us sufficiently warm. God is so good and never lets us go without anything! Slowly but surely life is getting easier here. I can't wait to show you some of the improvements we have made recently. I think you will be pleased! But that will have to wait for another post...

The Winning Picture

At our Couple's Retreat, our team won the photo contest. However, the best picture, hands down, was taken by another team, and I wanted to share that picture with you. Isn't this great?!This picture was entered for the "Unusual Perspective" category... The "strong guy" in the front is Missionary to Odessa, Ukraine, Mark Priem. He is "holding" his wife Lydia and one of the men from his church. Way to go, guys, on truly original creativity! (And, hey, whoever said it wasn't fun being a missionary?! We find ways to keep ourselves entertained!)