spoiled

I dropped mom and dad off at the airport last night after a great week together. They helped us put pictures on the wall, search for a few little things that we still needed, did some really fun things aruond Pasadena, and Suzy had a great time playing with them. Her favorite game is "Granddaddy gotcha!" They definitely spoiled us this week, but the title for this post is referring to how God has not only meet all of our needs and surpassed them with provided a cheap, furnished apartment, but he has spoiled us with personal, special surprises since our arrival to Pasadena. For example, like I've mentioned before, Trader Joe's donates to our apartment complex food that is about to expire from their store on Mondays and Thursdays. And they bring delicious food!! We have had steak, stuffed salmon, pork chops, fruits and veggies, specialty breads and desserts, gourmet cheeses and fresh flowers...stuff we love but could never afford being that we are, well, unemployed. Also, Panera Bread donates leftover bread to us on Tuesdays. So we barely have to go to the grocery store!
One little special surprise for Elvis was the one day, Trader Joes donated a big can of fresh, whole bean coffee...definitely a treat perfect for Elvis!

At our apartment, we all have community service jobs each week. Ours is to keep the community laundry room clean and organize the Giveaway room where people can donate their stuff they don't want anymore. The first day we went to organize it, there was a keyboard there that someone had given away! You see, selling my piano in El Salvador was the hardest thing to sell. Suzy and I both cried. I just really wanted Suzy to have a keyboard to learn on and play with but I knew we would not be able to buy one right away. Now this one is definitely not as nice as my full-length electric piano in ES, but it's perfect for her to have a piano toy. Suzy's special treat!



Although we have absolutely everything we needed already for us in our apartment, I really wanted a rocking chair to make Suzy's room feel like home. We looked all over and didn't find anything, so we were thinking about going to IKEA to buy one we had seen on the website. Then we went to one more Goodwill, and found the same rocking chair that we had seen at IKEA! It's even the same color as Suzy's bedspread. I got my special treat too!
So we feel really spoiled and like God has really paid special attention to us, which makes us confident that he will provide a job, a car, and all those other important things!