"Gracias" for the build up, I say. Before that last one, I set up the tale of our current adventures only to drop the story like a hot spud. When we last left our hero, he was an emotional wreck, holding on by few small shreds of hope. What then? Did he go on in that piteous state for the remainder of the last month? It is time for a tell all. Bring the reader up to speed for the sake of all that is scrumptious and overpriced.

I hate that I keep doing this to myself. Trying to condense a month or so of happenings into a single post. I am sure that it is no fun for the reader either. There are times that so much happens for me that I scarcely know where to begin. As you know we came here with little and in a short time expected much. To find a place to live, a job, ground level friendships, health care benefits, and possibly the opportunity for maternity leave for Ruth. We have been here a little over five weeks at this point. Honestly, I could easily memorialize this period as a five month extraveganza for all that has happened in this short period. The next morning, morning after that stress-filled eve in the hostel, Ruth and I prayed fervently for a real place to stay, one from where to work out all else. For the first half of that day all that came was of no regard. Two hostels, each offering long term stay but at a high price and in rooms not joyous to remain in. I mentioned that we had heard of a "Russian woman" offering her spot for short termers but every attempt to call her the day before or on this day came to naught. Ah, and I must not forget that this day was 11-month anniversary day. Big motivation to find light at tunnel's end. By mid-afternoon, we had all but given up on this day's light and decided on a bit of a short term mope in a central bookstore. Benjamin had been with us all morning but now with him departed, the situation seemed more grim. Without one's trusty, GPS bearing sidekick, what might one find but excellent spots for an ol' mope. I decided to give the "Russian woman" one more call. The fateful one. Somehow, this time a voice answered and from the onset, I knew it would be our spot. Herself a young mother, she sounded excited to offer a place to a couple of similar circumstance. Said that one month would not be a problem and at no incredible price. "Russian" turned out to be Ukranian and five hours later we had a bright yellow room to call home. That's about the size of it. That evening as we sat to eat our modest anniversary meal, we marveled that Father's fingerprints were once again all over the scene. This was the first needed step. Hostel living would have made our low-finance stay impossible.

Alright, that is step one, but surely we are not so naive as to think that is where new-beginning transition ends. Let me give some semblance of a run down of the facts in four weeks. Facts that need to be understood as coinciding with having until April 18th (our one year anniversary) to find enough work and finance to continue to remain here. It is a testament to how much God desires to work everything through relationship. On March 23rd, after sending out a horde of applications (names of agencies provided lovingly once again by Benjamin), one translation agency gave me the green light to do a test proofread for them. Technically speaking, I am no proofreader, but I do write (my current activity) and am ready to learn to do almost anything. Around here, being a native speaker of English definetely adds validity to one's job application claims as well. In the last month, the infrequent work for that company has paid for groceries. Something to check off. On March 24, I got my second proofreading job. Another Benjamin connection by the way, this work is with one of the translation teachers from his faculty, an American chap needing someone to aid with the complicated documents that he is graced to decode. I quickly did a test proof read for him but was to receive no work for the first twenty-two days after being hired. When the work came four days before rent was due, two days worth of it paid for 90% of rent for the next month. It was a lesson to learn about how sporatic such contract work can be at times. God answered our prayer. More must be said of our difficulty trusting in that.

How do you find work for a non-Slovene-speaking, seven-month pregnant Romanian woman? We have the answer. To be continued...