Part 2: What now?

Back in Greensboro, Andrew began work at his new position. We basically stayed in the house every day in hopes of not seeing anybody. We didn't know what was going on with our lives yet, so of course, we didn't want to try to explain why we were back. We slept on our mattresses on the floor and wore the same clothes around. All our stuff was in the trailer still and we had about a week to figure out what we were doing since there were two girls moving into the rooms we were occupying.

Rewind back to Nashville: the day we moved into and out of the scary house, we met a neighbor who told us the house was a drug house and the guy who lived there was on house arrest. She also told us there was a cute house for rent two houses down on the same street. We had checked it out while we were there, but it was out of our price range with only three people paying rent. The realtor we met through that house though was a huge blessing to us. She looked for houses for us the whole week and even when we left to come home. She also knew the landlord of the cute house and talked him down in rent. Another Laparra brother was planning to move to Nash as well and wanted to live with us. So, with a lower rent price and another person paying, we could afford that house.

After all that we had just been through, however, we were hesitant to send any money or sign anything (even though we had seen this one). We prayed and prayed. We even had thoughts like "are we not supposed to move to Nashville?" But we believe in a Sovereign God who leads by His Spirit and who allows us to make our own decisions--as long as we love Him and love people, we can live anywhere. We still felt strongly that Nashville was where we wanted to be. Instead of asking "where now," we asked "what are we supposed to learn through this," and we pressed on. We were still moving to Nashville.

After working two weeks secretly in Greensboro, we moved back to Nashville on the same street we had tried to move to in the first place--two houses away from the original house. Maybe God brought us to the drug house in order to see the cute house (that wasn't listed). Yes. Maybe God was trying to teach us how to trust Him more. Yes. Maybe He was humbling us. Yes, always, yes.

Our trailer and all our stuff made it to Nashville with us this time. Our neighbors greeted us right away, and one even helped us move in. We pulled our stuff out of the trailer after three weeks. I could cook a homemade meal now! I could stop wearing the same clothes all the time! I had a place to call "home" and I could let me sweet three year old play with her toys agin.
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Now we are here, and we are rested. We are loving our neighborhood and have found a church we really enjoy. We have a schedule once again, and it feels so good. More on our life here later, as it unfolds. But for now, those of you who are pursing a dream and encountering road-blocks, just keep plowing through and asking what He's trying to teach you through it all.