Things I'm thankful for: Renters!

When we got an email last week from a man inquiring about renting our house here while we are overseas, we were pretty sure it was our friend Darol playing a practical joke on us.  First of all, the man's name is almost exactly like Pete's name -- only 2 letters different in his whole name.  Secondly, when Pete told him the date we would be leaving the country, the man responded that that was the exact day he and his fiancee are getting married.  And then when Pete told him we are planning to go to Moldova, the man told him that he has recently been on a mission trip there.  We thought this was just too many coincidences.... so it must be a scam.
But, as it turns out, not only was this man legitimate, but there were even more connections between us!  When the young couple came over to look at our house, we discovered the following:

• Not only has the man been to Moldova, but he actually stayed at the house of the missionary that I've been corresponding with over there (the same one that is a friend of a friend of my friend in Kenya -- the small world story I wrote about earlier).
• His fiancee has been to Romania a few times, and loves the Romanian language (which we are currently learning)
• They know one of our neighbors, and a friend from our church
• The man is the oldest of 5 kids (just like me)
• The woman is the youngest of 4 kids (just like Pete)
• They both were homeschooled (just like our kids)
• I've heard the woman's mom give a couple of talks before, so I've heard a lot about her family
• The woman's brother went to Grove City College (which I remembered hearing from the mom)

But the most exciting news was that they do want to rent our house, so we are thrilled that there will be someone here to take care of things while we're gone.  And we couldn't have asked for a better couple! 

We're very thankful for how God has woven all of this together.