Week 18

I've got to admit, I haven't been as intentional about meeting people over the last few weeks as I was when I began this year-long challenge.  In the beginning my mind was latching onto every new name I came in contact with and committing it to memory, but lately I've found myself back to forgetting names by the end of the handshake.  Yesterday morning I still didn't have anyone to write about for week 18.

I believe I've mentioned before that we're living in a semi-furnished upstairs apartment that lacks a full kitchen, and have been looking for something more long-term.  That prayer was answered out of the blue yesterday when I ran across an interesting posting on Craigslist- a perfectly sized house for rent in a nice area at an affordable price.  I called the number on the listing and the man told me to drive by it and let him know if we wanted to see the inside.  It's probably less than a mile from where we're staying now, so we drove right over.

When we arrived the man was already there, showing a cute little cape-cod with a detached garage and a nice-sized yard, just a short walk from the Chemung river to another group of people.  He told us he'd give us the tour as soon as he was through with them.  I thought we were SOL- he was showing it to a husband and wife with three of the cutest kiddo's on the planet.

When he finally finished up with them, we met Larry and he showed us around- the place suited us to a tee- but we were holding our breath, would he be okay with our border collie?  Turns out he feels better about one dog than three kids and two dogs.  Larry left us there at the house with the door unlocked and told us to give it some thought and let him know if we really wanted to rent the place.  It didn't take much thought.  We called him after giving the place one more once-over, and he directed us to his house.  We drove over and met his wife, Karen, and chatted it up with them for a while.

That afternoon I came back and paid for the deposit and first month, which will be June.  The last tenant was a flower-child and painted some of the rooms in wild colors, so we will be painting a bit next weekend, and then take our time moving our "stuff" from a storage unit to the house, since Larry was gracious enough to turn over the keys three weeks before we actually start paying for the place.  God is good!