THE BLESSING OF THE HOUSE (Part Two)

We bought a house. Can you believe it? Well, it’s more like a Chateau.

Actually we are ¼ owner of a 200 year old Mill in Paris, France. Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that we could live somewhere like this. But in fact, it has been a life-long, pie-in-the-sky dream to live in a mill that we never dared hope for. If you have been following our journey you will know that leaving our beautiful cottage on the lake in Canada was extremely difficult as this was the house that God blessed our family with in so many ways while serving in Indonesia and Kuwait. One of my (Debbie) greatest faith challenges was anticipating living in a very teeny, tiny apartment in Paris and trusting God for a place where I could do my art. Indeed, we were told by expats that finding a place to live would be our greatest challenge. Not only have we had a lovely apartment to live in for the past 5 months but on Valentine's Day we will move into our new “Chateau du Reeves”. The date has not been lost on us as we sense this is God's love gift to us. In fact, God has been so good to us that I (Debbie) was feeling guilty that we should live in such a place. Then, as He does, in that kind gentle voice He consoled me; “Debbie, you gave up your beautiful home with water out front. I’m giving you a beautiful home with water all around. You gave up building your dream Haliburton retirement home with the curved bridge over water. I’m giving you a house better than your dreams with 4 bridges (and two are curved). You gave up your large art studio. I’m giving you an even better one. You gave up your little chickadees that came to your bird feeder. I’m giving you 3 resident swans. And on top of that I’m giving you that rosebush you were longing for, just to show you how much I care.” What an awesome and generous God we have! Our plan is to live in the bottom floor, rent out the middle level and use the top level for my art studio. We have discovered while living in Indonesia, USA and Kuwait that the best cultural learning context is to live with the respective citizens whenever possible. The best learning context accelerates how to minister locally more effectively. We have three new French neighbours that have all bought within weeks of each other, all of which speak English and one couple that are Christians that attend MLK church. We asked you to pray for divine connections. God is doing just that! We are excited to start a community as we share the building, land and water space. We are a 15 minute drive to MLK church and a 45 minute train ride to the centre of Paris. The house requires renovation. It has taken us years to discover that working with our hands is a healthy balance to ministering with our hearts. House projects became our hobby while in Canada and now we have an ongoing project in France.

We are finding that purchasing a home in Paris speaks volumes to the French people and we have experienced an uncommon reception into the community as well as a feeling of settledness in France. Thank you for your ongoing generosity.