My FAVE Seven Things about House-Renting

It may just be the two of us, but we have been ready for a bit more space for a while. After briefly thinking of buying and nixing that in the bud, we decided to start searching for house-renting options at the beginning of August. It's been a whirlwind of briefly touring (explained below), signing, moving, and organizing, and still very much a work in progress (which is why you will NOT see pics until I feel better about the organization!), but these are my top 7 parts of house-renting so far.

7. Having a Yard
       We haven't had time to put it to much use yet, but we have a yard! The property has trees in the back that has a pond back behind it, so I am going to have to put in some plants to ward off mosquitoes, because holy smokes the mosquitoes! They are relentless!

6. Less Neighborhood Noise
       I'll admit that I also miss this a little, but at our apartment, the neighborhood kids played outside a lot together. Which is good and I don't blame them at all, I'd much rather have them playing outside and getting into mischief together than sitting inside all day, but there were days when I had migraines and it took some effort to not yell out for a little peace.

5. Space for Parking
       We do not have a garage, but we do have a driveway "all our own" (it feels all our own, despite the renting situation). 

4. Space for Everything EVERYWHERE
       It's amazing how creative you get with space and storing things in an apartment. Now that I'm spreading things out throughout the house, it's amazing that this was in our two-bedroom apartment. I'm super excited for a pantry area we have near our kitchen, as well as several built in shelves and drawers that the house has. Our master bedroom also has a walk-in closet (that *might* have been a nice selling point for me) and it's own bathroom. So. Much. Space.

3. My Own "Office"
       As I mentioned, ours was a two-bedroom, and this house has four bedrooms to utilize! At the apartment, we used the extra bedroom as Matt's office (technology is an expensive hobby and takes up so much space...soooo many cables and whatsits and do-dads)/storage. Now Matt still has an office, and we're using another bedroom as a guest bedroom when family/friends come into town, and I get my own office space! I really didn't get to have a space to myself to work on genealogy/crafts/music/work/puzzles...I'd use a fold up table in Matt's office, and I had a desk in our living room at the apartment, but it was all very in-transition still. Now I'll get to have all my hobby items in one room to work on. Glorious!

2. Did I mention there are 4 rooms??!
       It's. So. Nice. And our living room is spacious; we intend to set up our prayer corner soon, we will be investing in a fold-up treadmill for the space as well, and it may work out for my parents to bring up my piano!!! 

1. Housekeeping-Nerd Alert...
       My favorite part of having a house just arrived today...our new (also rented) washer and dryer! At the apartment, I had a stacked unit, and it was "eco-friendly," meaning the cold water didn't get as cold as a regular washer, and the hot water didn't get as hot, and the dryer didn't dry at as high of a temp. Which meant I was running the dryer twice anyways just to get clothes dry. So much for eco-friendly. Now I have them separated out, and there is so. much. space! What would usually take me 6-7 loads over 2-3 days, I have just finished in 4 loads in the span of an evening! What have I been missing out on all this time?!

Stay tuned for a house tour that I'll try to record in the near future as our rooms come together :-)

Can it be too soon to forgive?

"Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace."

We all have been watching the news. We have watched the divisions. We've seen the catchphrases..."#cville"..."condemn violence"..."condemn racism"...

It seems there is a lot of condemnation being thrown around. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of just anger around the events of the weekend. Many of the expressions of denunciation also stem from wanting to create distance between "them" and "me"... I am white, my sincerest apologies, but I am not racist, I do not stand with them, please do not associate us together, please please please... There is a need to be seen as innocent, to have our hands washed clean.

This speaks to the reality that humanity is fallen. There is no us versus them when it comes to concupiscence. We all fall short. And yet, when we see others act so...inhumanely...we try to convince ourselves, and our peers, that I would never act that way... right?

We have all been eager to condemn and distance ourselves from the uncomfortable realities of pride, jealousy, rage, and fear. I have yet to see many messages of mercy. (To be fair, there have been some amazingly awesome thought-provoking blogs and articles including this and this.)

I wince even writing it, because there is an uncomfortable thought lurking that the only reason I can offer mercy is that I am not the people oppressed. That it is my white privilege to be able to forgive because I am not the one having to argue that my life matters. There is no persecution of my own that could measure to the systematic aggression toward people who look different than I, at least in my country. I am left to squirm and feel uncomfortable with this privilege...who am I to offer mercy?

God's grace is bigger than our opinions. Or prejudices. Or political parties. Or hang-ups. "Left" or "right," you're fallen and you need it. Along with the condemnation, there have been accompanying prayers for peace... the peace we need is that mercy and forgiveness are available to all. That is our unity. There is just condemnation of political and philosophical ideologies which speak lies about human worth and dignity. Those battles are worth fighting. To the individual, though, we must have the courage (and it does take uncomfortable, cringe-worthy, do-you-realize-who-you're-talking-to-and-what-they've-done?! courage) to give the Good News of God's ready mercy and grace. Because He does not take pause, as I do. He is the Father who runs vulnerably with arms open wide, without a second thought about "is it too soon?"

Never.