The apartment is honestly pretty adorable! I have a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, TWO bedrooms, and a front AND back porch! Quite honestly it is way too much space for a single person, but I am trying to feel blessed and not overwhelmed by it right now. I have the ability to provide a space for people to stay- whether that is just friends who come to visit, or my teammates staying in Waynesboro for the night, or high school girls, or maybe sometime my sisters or other family members. But I also have a sweet opportunity to invite people into my life in a new way- I can serve people by feeding them a meal or providing a place to stay if maybe they don’t have another option.
I am so busy and in and out of our building so often that it’s rare for me to see my neighbors… but here is my impression of them thus far:
Right below me is a couple (Vicki and John, I think) and their dog “Peanut.” I see them the most out of anyone because they basically live on their front porch. John drinks a few beers and smokes about a pack of cigarettes a day (many of which I smoke with him as the smoke wafts up from his porch to mine and in my windows). Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the most graceful person living, so I regularly drop and bang things in my apartment above them, so I worry sometimes that they hate me- but they remain very friendly and say hello every time I come and go.
Beside them on the first floor is another couple (I have only met the man and cannot remember his name). One day a few weeks ago, a few girls invited themselves over to my place (and of course I was thrilled to have them), but let me put it this way: you would have thought my apartment had been temporarily inhabited by a herd of elephants! Now don’t get me wrong, these girls are so precious to me but I’m not sure it’s worth the sacrifice with my neighbors (especially since I just signed a lease to live there for the next year of my life). These neighbors below and to the right of me have been giving me nasty looks ever since.
Beside me, upstairs, is a third couple (did I mention none of these couples are married? When I first started looking at the apartment, my landlord Mrs. Hahn kept mentioning her tenants and their "lady friends"- hilarious!) When I first met the man, he informed me that he and his "lady, Lisa" lived next door- that one definitely made me chuckle! I have yet to see Ms. Lisa, and I rarely see her man either.
My landlord, Mrs. Hahn, is this precious little German lady with a thick foreign accent and big desire to talk your ear off every chance she gets. You have to be ready to hear the same story about thirteen times when she stops by or gives you a phone call.
I have been very convicted about this verse in relation to my neighbors-
"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity."
Colossians 4:5
My prayer is that my presence would be a blessing and not a burden and that they would see Jesus even in our small exchanges.
A few weeks ago, my best friends in the whole world helped me paint my living room-
I knew exactly what color I wanted it to be, so I went to Lowes, bought the supplies, and we spent the weekend making it perfect! Taylor and Katherine rolled the whole place while Britt and I edged the entire room-
I love to paint, and I learned from the best (my parents)- so when it came to my own place you can bet I wanted it just right! And my team was the best I could have hoped for! Thanks guys!!
God is so good- He provides! He has been so faithful and provided a sweet place to live, the financial stability to keep it, and good people to surround and fill it! I am blessed.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"
Matthew 6:25-27
Now all I need is company!! (: So come on over!
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15
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