A New Chapter Opens

Tomorrow we're heading to Saltillo to look for a house. (I hope the kids will do ok with yet more travel. I made sure to let Eva know that we'd be gone only two nights.)

I'm looking forward to our trip for a number of reasons. First, I think it will be fun to look at houses. I'm surprised to think this and hope I'm not kidding myself. Because in all my prior experience, househunting is an exhausting, painful emotional roller coaster.

It certainly helps that I've lived in Saltillo before so I already know the lay of the land. Also friend Heidi who recently moved from Saltillo has offered plenty of great advice. The biggest factor in my feeling of peace is knowing that God already has our next house picked out for us. We definitely felt His leading when we chose this house. It wasn't our first choice at all, and we negociated hard for the house we did want. They agreed to an acceptable price, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to sign up. Instead we felt led to this house. And it has turned out to be a great fit.

Now I'm looking forward to perhaps nicer bathroom fixtures and more counter and storage space in the kitchen. Maybe even a tub! I'm looking forward to fewer cucarachas. I'm looking forward to more temperate weather (though not the colder winter). I'm looking forward to a new set of day trip possibilities. I'm looking forward to seeing more folks from Palliser Winnipeg when they come down on business.

We've been invited to stay at the home of fellow Palliser expats Jim and Lorraine. And Lorraine has offered to babysit the kids while we look at homes. How kind and generous! I'm looking forward to getting to know Lorraine better and to spending a couple of days with fellow Winnipeggers.

On Sunday we'll attend the international church in Saltillo before we leave, and that is another thing I'm excited about!

As far as Eva's school goes, I was worried a bit about whether I should send her now, given that we are planning to move in a couple of months. When I spoke to the director, she thought that it would not be in Eva's best interest so that made up my mind. Eva was feeling some trepidation about going anyway and I am determined that her first experience with school should be good, as it will set the tone for the years ahead. I imagine that she would just be adjusting as it would be time to pull her out and move. A bit much. I was going to look at schools tomorrow but Heidi gave me some excellent advice, to wait until we're moved in so we can spend at least a morning at each prospective school. It would be very difficult to choose well based on just a short meeting. It sounds like there are a number of good possibilities there so I'm praying ahead about that as well.