Tender Mercies

Back yard of the home we have been renting

All of us receive blessings in our lives that make them better and help us overcome difficulties.  The Lord refers to these as tender mercies.  One such tender mercy relates to us finding a place to live temporarily before leaving for this mission.  We have lived in Houston since coming back from Nigeria in 2007.  It has been great to be able to spend time with our two grandsons, Zach and Brandon who live by us, we haven't had as much opportunity to do the same with our other 9 grand children in Sunnyvale (near Dallas).  We planned to spend Sept-Dec living closer to them so we could be involved in school and holiday events. Our son, Eric offered to let us stay in  their cabin near Athens, but it is 80 miles from Sunnyvale, which would not allow us to be around during the week and would involve a lot of driving each weekend (as well as living out of suitcase a lot).  We looked for homes to rent in the Sunnyvale area.  There wasn't much to choose from and most were unfurnished and required a year lease.  What to do?  Then a week before we moved from Houston, unexpectedly the home of a church couple (who are serving a mission until July 2015) became available, and we were asked if we were interested.  What an great blessing it has been.  The house was furnished and we have been able to rent for as long as we've needed without a contract.  It has allowed us to spend a lot of time with family here in Sunnyvale that we wouldn't have been able to have otherwise.

The world would call this a coincidence, but I believe there are no coincidences...