GREEN

Our new green rental! Green on the outside AND on the inside

I haven't updated our blog in so long, my computer doesn't even automatically type in our blog address when I go to it.  A lot has happened this summer and I hope to post about past family events over the next month.  This entry is about our new rental.  We sold our home in Lawrence and packed up the family and moved to Emporia.  We were hard pressed to find a rental for a family our size, but with the help of a great realtor, she found 3 houses that we could possibly rent.  We fell in love with the sprawling ranch layout of this home, the half acre lot, and the nice kitchen--complete with stainless steel appliances and granite tile countertops.  The electricity just so happened to be off both times we looked at it, so when Westar finally got the lights on, we found mold.  Upon moving in, we also found that the fridge was taken out by our landlords, undisclosed to us...  That wouldn't have been too bad, but our fridge was 1 inch too big and we had to buy a new one!  

We had wonderful friends and their kids come and help us clean this house from top to bottom.  The carpets were filthy and animals had definitely marked their territory, band-aids clung to the shower, and black "stuff" covered the downstairs toilet.  The kids ran the Rug Doctor and did an awesome job!  They scrubbed walls, mopped floors, cleaned windows, and more.  It was such an incredible blessing! 

After friends came and visited and we had shown people the mold, the sniffles, colds, asthma started in at the Avila house.  Alex and I have been sick for about a month.  We had air samples taken and it was bad.  The landlords are "remediating" it, but our stuff is definitely not being cleaned--only "visible mold" on our stuff will be wiped down and our couch.

This has definitely been a time of trial.  A definitely good learning experience to say the least.  I thought renting would be easy.  :)  This morning during quiet time, I felt that God was wanting to see if I could be a good witness to my kids through this.  Well, I've already failed, but I've asked forgiveness and we've prayed for our landlords.  The way we handle hard situations and difficult people is being watched by 4 influential young kids.  So, we are walking through this inconvenience  one day at a time.  Hopefully, we'll be breathing better soon!  Hopefully Emporia will only get better from here on out!!

Part of our moldy basement

 Our awesome elm tree in our backyard