This has been an unusual week.
We live in the basement suite of a house. Over the last month of living here, I've been irritated on numerous occasions with the tenants above us who have yelling matches and frequently make use of the "F-bomb" during said yelling matches. Not good when you have a one year old learning to speak. And also not good when you are trying to get a baby to nap during the day. I had just imagined that we would probably move out at the end of our 6 month lease because of this (although we love the basement suite-its quite cute!), but last weekend we found out that these loud tenants would be moving out.
They are an odd pair of roommates. A woman who seemed to be in her late 50's, who most obviously has lived a hard life, and a man who appeared to be in his mid 40's. The man had a bad temper, and the woman was always peaking out her windows in, what was to me, an I-Spy-With-My-Little-Eye creepy kind of manner. I never actually met either of them in the last month, due to my shy tendencies and my lack of leaving the house to venture into the outdoors, but I haven't been all that fond of these people I've never met.
We were told on Wednesday that this duo was being evicted this weekend. Thursday morning I heard lots of moving and packing going on upstairs before Josh left for work. I packed up my little family to drop Josh off at work, and as I was pulling out of our driveway the little lady came out the front door, presumably to smoke a cigarette, as she bent down to pick something up off the step near by their ash tray on the front step. Her face was just ridden with sadness and she looked a lot older than I remember her looking.
My heart sank.
In December we found out that we needed to move out of our beloved "Tiny House" due to mold issues in the house. We also found out that Josh needed a $300 medical exam re-do for his immigration process. We also found out that maternity leave is 50 weeks and not 52 as I had thought, and so another $375 we expected to have in December was not in the ol' bank account. We had to pay a damage deposit for the new place, and didn't get all of our old damage deposit back from the other place (because the owner said that the fridge I spent 25 minutes scrubbing out on my hands and knees was not cleaned... but that's another story). Things were extra tight in December. I didn't go grocery shopping, and just used up the ingredients that were in the freezer-fridge-pantry.
Amazingly in that time we had plenty of food to eat, and not just rice and beans either, good exotic sounding dinners, because of the grace of God and a well stocked kitchen.
January has not been easy either. In the last month a couple of Josh's pay cheques came more than a week late because of company mix-ups. Including his pay cheque right before Christmas. But we've made it. And we've made it way more comfortably than I thought we could have.
So, Thursday, as my upstairs-neighbor's face weighed heavily upon my heart, my mom tells me that my dad is performing a wedding on Saturday for this couple who don't have much. They were just planning on having a simple ceremony with only their children present (this was the second and third marriage for the couple). They scraped up the money to have a wedding in a church. My mom said, "Dad will perform the ceremony, I'll be the witness, and we'll probably take a picture of them with our cell phone to give to them." And my heart sank again. I decided I really wanted this couple to have some good photographs of their wedding day, and so I offered, through a tight-trying-not-to-cry-throat, to take some pictures of them at no cost.
Today was the wedding. I was a surprise free professional-photographer. It was such an amazing experience getting to see the bride's face light up as my mother explained that I had wanted to do this for them on their wedding day, and to see her so thankful.
The ceremony was lovely. The bride and groom looked so happy. And it was just good to be a part of this kind of wedding.
We don't have much, but because of this, I feel the need to give to those who go without.
It is an awakening event when you realize how close you are to the other side of the coin. It could have been us being evicted this weekend, but its not. We are blessed beyond measure.
Where others live in a constant state of frustration and dissension, there is no fighting in this small home of ours.
Our two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, and living area are filled with peace and harmony.
Our pantry is full, even when I think it seems bare.
We live in the basement suite of a house. Over the last month of living here, I've been irritated on numerous occasions with the tenants above us who have yelling matches and frequently make use of the "F-bomb" during said yelling matches. Not good when you have a one year old learning to speak. And also not good when you are trying to get a baby to nap during the day. I had just imagined that we would probably move out at the end of our 6 month lease because of this (although we love the basement suite-its quite cute!), but last weekend we found out that these loud tenants would be moving out.
They are an odd pair of roommates. A woman who seemed to be in her late 50's, who most obviously has lived a hard life, and a man who appeared to be in his mid 40's. The man had a bad temper, and the woman was always peaking out her windows in, what was to me, an I-Spy-With-My-Little-Eye creepy kind of manner. I never actually met either of them in the last month, due to my shy tendencies and my lack of leaving the house to venture into the outdoors, but I haven't been all that fond of these people I've never met.
We were told on Wednesday that this duo was being evicted this weekend. Thursday morning I heard lots of moving and packing going on upstairs before Josh left for work. I packed up my little family to drop Josh off at work, and as I was pulling out of our driveway the little lady came out the front door, presumably to smoke a cigarette, as she bent down to pick something up off the step near by their ash tray on the front step. Her face was just ridden with sadness and she looked a lot older than I remember her looking.
My heart sank.
In December we found out that we needed to move out of our beloved "Tiny House" due to mold issues in the house. We also found out that Josh needed a $300 medical exam re-do for his immigration process. We also found out that maternity leave is 50 weeks and not 52 as I had thought, and so another $375 we expected to have in December was not in the ol' bank account. We had to pay a damage deposit for the new place, and didn't get all of our old damage deposit back from the other place (because the owner said that the fridge I spent 25 minutes scrubbing out on my hands and knees was not cleaned... but that's another story). Things were extra tight in December. I didn't go grocery shopping, and just used up the ingredients that were in the freezer-fridge-pantry.
Amazingly in that time we had plenty of food to eat, and not just rice and beans either, good exotic sounding dinners, because of the grace of God and a well stocked kitchen.
January has not been easy either. In the last month a couple of Josh's pay cheques came more than a week late because of company mix-ups. Including his pay cheque right before Christmas. But we've made it. And we've made it way more comfortably than I thought we could have.
So, Thursday, as my upstairs-neighbor's face weighed heavily upon my heart, my mom tells me that my dad is performing a wedding on Saturday for this couple who don't have much. They were just planning on having a simple ceremony with only their children present (this was the second and third marriage for the couple). They scraped up the money to have a wedding in a church. My mom said, "Dad will perform the ceremony, I'll be the witness, and we'll probably take a picture of them with our cell phone to give to them." And my heart sank again. I decided I really wanted this couple to have some good photographs of their wedding day, and so I offered, through a tight-trying-not-to-cry-throat, to take some pictures of them at no cost.Today was the wedding. I was a surprise free professional-photographer. It was such an amazing experience getting to see the bride's face light up as my mother explained that I had wanted to do this for them on their wedding day, and to see her so thankful.
The ceremony was lovely. The bride and groom looked so happy. And it was just good to be a part of this kind of wedding.
We don't have much, but because of this, I feel the need to give to those who go without.
It is an awakening event when you realize how close you are to the other side of the coin. It could have been us being evicted this weekend, but its not. We are blessed beyond measure.
Where others live in a constant state of frustration and dissension, there is no fighting in this small home of ours.
Our two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, and living area are filled with peace and harmony.
Our pantry is full, even when I think it seems bare.
"...we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’" Acts 20:35b
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