Finding a Home

We're due for a little update wouldn't you say? Okay, maybe a really big update!

Second Mile Ministries HAS A HOME!!! Not a facebook page home, or a website home page, but a real live jump-up-and-down in the dirt, get a dog, and plant a garden kind of home.

Thursday, the day the decision was made, we sat on an assortment of plastic and sugar cane weave chairs, behind a cook house, under a mango tree. It was perfect. If nothing else, the meeting place alone made it feel right.

On Friday we arranged a meeting with the Notary Public to seal the deal. We all sat together on cinder blocks in a community just outside of the city waiting for the Notè to show up. He unlocked the gate to his home and showed us to his porch where we sat in carved wooden chairs, beautifully stained and varnished. After a minute of tending to his children he joined us on the patio. He unzipped his briefcase and whipped out a big bound book. As he flipped to an open page we caught glimpses of signatures and thumb prints on every page. Things were about to get official!

We'll share more of the story over time. I will say, life isn't random.

We are leasing land from people we know well at a price fit for a friend. We've paid for the first ten years up front with an option to renew for another ten years, which is what we plan to do. We couldn't be more excited about the partnership that this arrangement will create. The man we are leasing from is equally enthusiastic. I don't think he's the type to admit it, but secretly, I think he likes that his land will be used to benefit others. In a way he gets to give back.

No one asked him to, but he's been clearing away brush and preparing the land ever since we mentioned the idea. And in his enthusiasm he's begun finishing an unfinished home adjacent to the property so that he can move there. He wants to be close, to keep an eye on things. 

This was one busy week and weekend. Saturday we had a great first clinic followed by an incredibly sweet surprise birthday party right in the middle of a friendly village! It was the most fun I've ever had at a party in my honor. I think Saturday deserves a post of its own. It was a great end to a great week.

So many reasons to celebrate! 

Party Games

(More photos to come!)