As many of you may have already heard from Facebook or my updates, I (with my roomie) have recently moved into a new house. I was so happy to be able to make the move because it is a bigger house in a quieter, yet more central neighborhood, and all for the same price as we were paying in the apartment. You can't ask for much better than that. We worried that the bills might be more expensive in a bigger house, but as it turns out it looks like it might all add up to be about the same; possibly even LESS.
God has taken care of our every desire in this move, but one thing I can certainly say is that it has made me very TIRED. You see, when we made the decision to move, we did it rather quickly, seeing as the house was everything we have been looking for for more than a year and it was being offered at a STEAL of a price. If we were going to make the move we needed to do it quickly. So, the 2 weeks we were scheduled to move house, I had also agreed to house sitting for another family in town while they were on a small vacation. Oh, and did I mention we did it all over the week of Christmas as well?
So, now I am finally feeling a little more settled in and I am almost feeling like the house is my home now. I love it so much, even though it has its own various quirks as would any house. It is what is known in Albania as a "cold house", meaning it gets very little sun throughout the day. Thankfully, though, the rooms in the house heat up a million times faster than our apartment (also cold) ever could have. Every evening we can heat up the living room with our wood burning stove, and once it is warm, little by little is is nearly possible to adequately heat the whole house. The only down side to that is that we are using more wood than before, but if you knew how grumpy I can get in the cold, you would use the wood too.
Another of the houses noticeable quirks is that it has concrete floors. This, in Albania, is a sign of being poor and is an absolute shame to many of our "working class" friends. We have heard many snide comments from many people and have even watch a few turn their noses up. However, little by little we will refinish the floors, likely with a stain of some sort. We are very excited about this option, because it is unique in Albania. No one has stained floors in their house. You either have unfinished cement or you have ceramic tile. A few people here and there may even have linoleum now, but this is a fairly new trend and hasn't completely caught on just yet. Like I said, we are excited to try out something simple, yet uncommon. Here's to stained concrete.
The worst quirk of our house, and it may even be found a considerable fault, is the bathroom. Thankfully it is not an eastern toilet, as you might have imagined. However, it is only one step up from that. It does have a porcelain toilet, which (I'm sorry) is SOOO cold to sit on in these winter months. I mean seriously? Other than that it is also what is considered a "wet bathroom". This means that it has a faucet and a shower head when the shower/bath should be, and a drain in the floor for the water to run to. No shower base, just freezing cold ceramic tile beneath our feet and covering the walls around. The water almost runs directly to the drain with a slight miss that can cause major flooding. So, with various towels directing run away water, we have managed to make it work, and although I had a grumpy outburst about it in the beginning, I am happy to say that the routine is working well for us now. How we can improve that situation in the future is still yet to be decided, but for now it helps me feel more like a missionary.
All this to say, that above all else, what matters is that God has provided for us in such a miraculous way. We prayed long and hard for just the right house. We would offer more than we could afford (in reality) for houses that were not quite right for us, and somehow it still didn't work out each time. But GOD. He KNEW. It never ceases to amaze me how much He cares about the little details in our lives. I mean, not only is the house cheaper than any price we had offered for any of the other house, but it even came with a cactus. I know, I know... a cactus????
For the longest time I have been talking about buying a little cactus to take raise in our garden. This has been a huge step for me because I am dubbed (by my own choosing) a plant killer. This all originates with a sweet little TINY baby cactus someone gave me when I moved out of my parents house and into my first apartment. I LOVED this cute little plant. It was like my baby. I'm sure I even gave it a name. However, the day I came home from work to realized I had over-watered and killed it ended everything plant related in my soul. Ok maybe that's dramatic, but for a long time I have not touched plants. My roommate, having heard the baby cactus story before, got very excited when I started to toy with the idea of trying again. So, one of my Christmas gifts for me this year was a beautiful ceramic pot with butterflies painted all over it. At this point we had nearly finished all our moving and had spent a lot of time in the new house. However, it wasn't until just a couple of days ago, that my roomie, while working in the garden, discovered a tiny potted plant that had been tipped on its side and fallen out of sight. As she picked it up she nearly shrieked. It was a tiny cactus. Yesterday I planted the little guy in my butterfly pot and I have studied the internet over to make sure I don't kill him (your prayers are much appreciated). Only time will tell, but I know that God took such good care of us that He found us the right house at the right price at the right time... and a cactus on top of it all.
Thanks for reading,
Julie
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