Leaving Arizona and Next Steps

Our time here in Arizona is coming to a close and we are gearing up for the chaos that awaits when we get home (I'll explain below). Though we are feeling ready to be back in Spokane again, we have had an awesome time. Our main goal of the trip was for building our ministry team but we made a vacation out of it too. The weather has been gorgeous, clear skies and average temps in the nineties or higher.

On Wednesday we will board a plane back to Spokane and start a series of some pretty major events over the next several weeks. We had a realtor friend come to look at our house and after his advice and some prayer, we feel that this is the best time to put our house on the market. One thing that we hadn’t anticipated however was moving out before it sells, but he felt that it would be too difficult with young kids (and the small size of our house) to live there while on the market. I had wondered how we would possibly be able to keep it clean with two little ones and toys everywhere, but it never crossed my mind that moving out early would be the solution. In ways we are definitely ready to be free of the burden of the house….keeping up the huge yard, house projects, finding someone to house sit every time we have to leave….it has definitely been stressful, but it’s also very emotional for us. We moved into this little house right after getting married, got our first puppy, put hours and hours of love and care into it, lost our beloved kitty Timon, and had both of our amazing children while living in this house. There are so many memories attached to it! We knew we’d have to let go eventually, but it’s coming sooner than we expected. Nevertheless, we still feel that this is the right timing and have spent a considerable amount of time in prayer about it.

This coming weekend we’ll have a work day to work on house projects to prepare it for the market. My parents will be coming to help. Matt’s parents arrive from Rwanda next week, we are gearing up for the Liberty Lake Community sales the following weekend to sell a lot of our stuff before moving, and we plan on moving out and hopefully putting the house up for sale by the time we leave for our California/Seattle trip June 22^nd. It’s going to be a whirlwind! As far as where we will be living, an amazing couple from Bible study has offered for us to live in their spacious daylight basement until we are ready to leave for Indonesia.

Will you pray with us for peace during all of the transitions and that we’ll be able to get it all done before we leave?

Please also pray that God would be preparing the perfect buyer for our house and that it would sell quickly.
  

The view every morning from our back patio





Swimming in my cousin Michelle's pool!



Blake playing in the water at the Fountain Hills Splash Pad

  

Blake and daddy at the Country Club Pool

  

One day we went to an adorable train park they have in Scottsdale



Riding the little train





Arizona

I never realized just how beautiful the desert could be. The palate of colors (browns, oranges, and pale pinks) that God used to paint the landscape here is so unlike the greens and blues that make up the Northwest…and yet it’s every bit as beautiful. There is a foot-long lizard that greets me every morning at the same time from the kitchen window as he crawls up into the sun to recharge himself. We haven’t run across any snakes yet, though we’ve been warned to keep our porch light on at night to discourage them from curling up on the doorstep, so we know they’re around. And I’ve never been in a place where the “cold” tap water comes out at room temp or warmer! Though every day has been over 100 degrees we are enjoying the heat.


So far we have met with a few churches, spent a day hanging out with Ellie’s cousin and brother (and fam), and explored the local area a bit. In the next week and a half we have a couple small groups who have invited us to share, and I (Matt) hope to reconnect with some old friends from Rwanda who live in the area!

Though Blake is enjoying this adventure he has asked us every day when we are going back home to “Pokane Wasington.” He’s been through a lot of travel in the last year and he’s been a trooper through it all, but it still breaks our hearts to hear him long for home like that. The folks who are graciously letting us use their home down here have many grandkids of their own so the house has all the toys a kid could want. Out in the back there is a large turf putting green that Blake has been enjoying immensely! Just down the road there is a large splash park, and a man-made lake that boasts the largest fountain jet in the world. It spouts off about every hour and it is quite impressive to see.

So as we spend one more week broiling ourselves in the desert sun please pray with us that the Lord continues to open doors for us down here as well as back in Spokane. And if you happen to know of any fun/interesting/exciting (kid friendly) things to do down in the Phoenix area shoot us an email!