Our furniture and belongings from Berlin won't be here until Monday, but today the stuff we had stored in Michigan was delivered.

When we lived in Michigan, we were blessed to live in the same circle with some great friends and ward members, Rob and Michelle Wharton.  They saved our bacon many, many times by looking after the kids in emergencies, helping me break into my house when the keys were locked inside, and just being there to help us out as we got to know MI and carved a life for ourselves there. When we left for Germany, Michelle helped me organize all the junk in my basement and Rob took truckloads to give away.  Later, they arranged for a storage unit and moved our stuff there. They could be the poster family for Good Neighbors.

They had the keys to our storage unit in Michigan, so they were there when all our stuff was packed up to make the journey here to Texas.  After it was all loaded and gone, Michelle sent me a message that some "important documents" were packed with some of my tools.  So when I was going through the stuff here this afternoon, this is what I found in my tool bag:

Sweet Michelle had included a Welcome Home card along with some photos she took of reminders of our home in Michigan.  As I stood in my echo-y, empty new house, far from friends and anything familiar, it just warmed my heart and made me cry to see these comfortable images of home and read her kind words of support.  It gave me hope that we will find good people here, just as we found good people when we moved to Michigan, then Germany, strangers in a strange land. 

Michelle, thank you for the little tender mercy you sent to Texas.  I know you don't have time to spare, and I already appreciate all the time you and Rob gave to help us out.  But to know that you also took time to pick out a card for us and take and develop pictures really means a lot to me.  I can't tell you what a boost it was to find it in the midst of all our moving madness.

I'm going to do my best to get to heaven, because I want to be your neighbor there, too.