15 of 31

It's been an interesting few weeks.  I sit here tonight in the quiet of the house...everyone has gone to bed.  Now, when I say "everyone," I mean the Hub, our Fleet, our friends whom we are living with right now, and their son.

On Dec. 7, our boiler went out, and our house has remained an empty, cold reminder of life on Dec. 6.  I had done the laundry; it's still in the dryer.  I had folded other laundry; it sits in the laundry baskets, ready to be put away.  I had made some hot chocolate that morning in my brand new mug that I got from my sister at Thanksgiving; the remains of it sat on the counter for weeks.

It is difficult to imagine just how cold the house is.  You think that it can't possibly feel that cold; after all, it's still a house.  Wrong.  It can feel that cold.  And colder.  Twenty-five degrees inside the house feels a lot colder than 25 degrees outside; it must have something to do with the fact that inside the house, all of that cold air is contained.  Brrrrr!

When it first happened, it took a little bit for the inside temperature to fully drop.  But when it did, any thought of running into the house to grab a few things and maybe put away the laundry at the same time went by the wayside.  Your fingers can last about 10 minutes before they feel like they are about to fall off.  It's cold.  Really, really cold.  Are you getting the picture?

At first, it was very strange to walk into the house, as it felt a bit like a tomb.  Like something had died there, and the remains were very ugly.  I'm sure that there are many spiritual analogies that will leap off the walls at me when we are finally back home.

But we are very much alive!  A little worse for the wear, but that's okay.  God is sustaining us, day by day, with his all-sufficient grace.  There have been setbacks that have been hard to accept; changes that have needed to be made that have been tough to swallow.  But as usual, His grace is enough for today.  And tomorrow, there will be more where that came from.

It'll still be awhile, but when it's time, we'll be home.  Can't wait.