Dreams Come True – Nov 2017

Christmas Greetings Dear Readers,

I am looking out over a snow-covered hillside outside Lafauche, pop. 80, in Champagne-Ardenne where a wonderful group of Americans with a heart for missionaries is living out an open vision that they received, slowly renovating a “chateau” as a free member care ministry for missionaries and ministers who need a little TLC. We are taking advantage of it after an exhausting couple of weeks, but more about that in the next newsletter!

Our fall season was beautiful and David’s intercession trip to Copenhagen and Oslo was one of the highlights! He has joined the Operation Capitals of Europe initiative (https://oceprayer.com) on several occasions, but he had been waiting 5 years for these particular capitals to come up because he is half Norwegian and had never visited. Thanks to YWAM connections, the 2 week trip cost next to nothing. He had never been with a better group of people from all over the world and enjoyed quality time with everyone. He got access into beautiful government buildings and leaders for prayer, thanks to the local intercession teams. He felt a real connection with Scandinavia and stayed healthy. The Copenhagen news reported a breakthrough in an area of corruption that they prayed into that very week.

In Oslo, he received 30 minutes of prophecy, not only for himself, but for our entire family – a real gift of encouragement! The icing on the cake was a visit with 2 old Norwegian friends from his year with Up With People 36 years ago. The last time he saw them was at our wedding, but they picked up right where they had left off and he was treated like family. Truly a dream come true for him. And my time at home was equally refreshing!

The second dream has been to move to a residence where we could age gracefully. Our current house is starting to feel more and more like a carnival fun house, where the floors are wonky, the stairs steep and narrow, the doorways low, the view depressing and the windows are few. I am also craving a private place to sit outside. Unfortunately, our house has not appreciated like the ones in Denver and Scotland. We love our village, but other local homes in our price range have similar problems, being built in the same era. We also aren’t interested in apartment living, which feels very confining here for two homebodies who still want to welcome others comfortably.

Well, last month our dream started to take shape: Our pastor’s son, Raphael, is in the credit business and an opportunity fell into his lap when a house sale fell through this summer. He had been keeping his eyes open for a new home for his own family and his parents. This property looked ideal, but he needed one more couple to help finance it, as it would be big enough to cut up into 3 large apartments. Would we be interested in seeing it? You bet! We jumped in the car and drove a few minutes to a sleepy village in the foothills.

We’ve nicknamed it “The Beast” and we bagged it for a ridiculously low price, leaving plenty for the complete renovation needed with the sale of our current residences. We plan to move in a year from now, but I am already the on-call babysitter for Raphael’s 3 children, 3, 4, and 8. There is a mutual understanding between myself and his wife Ekaterina because she is also a foreigner and far from family support! She calls me her Mary Poppins…
She runs a Montessori day care in their apartment on the 4th floor without an elevator and cannot wait to live at street level on a cul-de-sac with a yard! Our pastor Luc and his wife Manuela, who founded the school, still live in the school chateau, but are passing on the baton, so they too are eager for calmer environs for retirement. Manuela is a wonderful grandmother, but she also has her mother and 3 other children in town who need her support, not to mention all the needs at the church. So this plan suits us all!

Blessings, Angela