We found a house!

We hope this one will work out. It's small, but the location is great (midway between the church and my job) and we'll have an in-ground pool. The house needs paint, carpet, and new cabinetry throughout, but it will be very nice once that work is done. Over time we will re-tile the kitchen and dining room. I'd like to add a cage and solar panels to heat the pool so that we can extend our swimming season. The backyard landscaping is very lush and tropical, plus the seller will be leaving all the potted plants. Directly behind the property there is an easement and dead-end, so the backyard is very private. We need to schedule inspections, get insurance, blah blah blah...if all goes well we will close mid-September and move before the end of the month.

It's not what we had in Kansas, but then again, we would have to spend $400,000 in our county to get what we had. We could get more for the money in Hillsborough or Pasco, but the commute would be pretty awful. I've been depressed about it, but I realize that we are paying the price for living in the Sunshine State. The positives outweigh the negatives--it's great being near Mom, Kyla loves her school, and I think Mark will be a real blessing for this congregation.

Speaking of blessings, our denomination has been in the news this week as we wrestle with the subjects of blessing gay couples and ordaining gays to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. I'll publish my thoughts at a later date.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for Kyla...she's going into third grade. Life is about to get MORE BUSY.