So the last week was crazy. Giving a down payment for our new house was much easier than bringing down all the 'stuff' from 4th floor to the new house. Madhu, our man Friday, took the contract and showed great enthusiasm and alacrity in making the move quick and relatively painless. The house is big and roomy. This is the most space I have ever inhabited. The walls are recolored, the kitchen semi functional, the beds are re-assembled. The new house has plenty of space for Nicole to move all that she wants to. I am still amazed at how the provision for this new house came so suddenly and even while we were forming the prayer about it. Our new landlords are respecting and friendly and have accomodated to our needs. We will look forward to forming a friendly relationship with them.

The house has undergone several structural adjustments to accommodate for Vaastu, a traditional Hindu system of design based on directional alignments, This implies that the entrance to the house is actually from the back side of the house. So the front yard is actually the back yard and vice-versa. However, this front yard (which is actually the backyard) did not have any main gate from the street, so the street entrance was from our back side... yes, confusing. However, the new landlord graciously made a new gate at the back entrance to our new house. So our front gate is really at the front.

While meditating on how to form a prayer for this new dwelling, my eyes went to the portion in Psalm 87 where the writer says that God loves the gate of zion, more than all the other dwellings. Making this as the prayer was purely the grace of God. I am grateful that he allows me to form such a bold prayer for this new house (even though mine is probably an out of context metaphor from scripture). So needless to say, I [we] look forward to your entering through this front gate. Come soon! Hot tea and samosas await.