Moving Forward

I am anxious to see the pictures my Mom brings back from Kansas. Incidentally, Mom's typical track record with film is to start a camera (she uses one time use cameras) at Christmas and sometimes by the fourth of July, she might be ready to develop it. So for her to purchase, use, and develop one camera in one week is....amazing. ( :D Love you, Mom!)

Anyway, she's been telling me about the "mall" in Haviland. Let me just explain to you the size of Haviland. There's no stoplight in the town...never mind that there's a college there. Kansas towns are so confusing. You would think they would be big based on what they contain. But they're not. Anyway, I'm not even sure there's a convenience store in this place, but now there is a "mall." I guess it has just all kinds of different things for people to take for free. Now that is my kind of mall! She said she took pictures of it, so I am curious to see exactly what this setup looks like.

I talked to Lori last night and found out the following updates. Some of you had asked about these sorts of things, so here's the scoop.

* They will have a vehicle very shortly. The denomination owns a vehicle that is currently not in use, so they will bring it for them to use for the short term future. Perhaps by that time, they'll be able to purchase a new one. Had this unused vehicle not been available, the denomination was going to rent something for them...so they would have still been covered. I'm appreciating the work of the Mennonites more and more! They take care of their own!

* They do have a place to live temporarily. Some people they know have offered them a spot in the upstairs of their home. This will give them privacy and a place to stay until they know what the next step will be. I'm not sure when they move into this place, but it will be soon. A praise here is that the people have cats, so they are welcoming Midnight (Cassie's cat) into their home. I'm told that Midnight will likely not reciprocate that welcome to the host kitties...but she'll survive. (Hopefully the other cats do too!)

* Lori told me they were able to go spend the first part of their voucher last night. They chose to take their voucher in two halves, because once they get it, they have to spend it and whatever they don't spend, they lose. They are learning that there are lots of things you can get for free (probably from "the mall") so they're trying to become educated about what they can get and what they can't...so they don't waste the voucher on stuff that's free elsewhere. They'll go back next week to spend the second half.

* She feels so blessed by all the donations that have rolled in for their family personally. Over and over she said to me, "We have so much more than so many people...we're going to be fine." Friends and family have been sending care packages and gift cards and money, so they're able to get through for this time. This is a huge blessing because they cannot get an insurance settlement on the contents of their house until "the list" is made. (See posts below for info on "the list.") She explained to me that the homeowners in town have already received their settlements - because they were just written off as total losses - and she saw many of them in Wal Mart last night buying microwaves and "bigger stuff." But because they lived in a parsonage, they didn't own their home. So they have to go through the making of the list in order to receive a settlement. So.....the donations are an extra blessing.

It seems like she told me more that I was going to pass along, but I don't remember now what it was. So anyway, for now, thank you to all of you who are helping to get them through this time. They continue to appreciate your prayers!