Those of you who received our latest email update know this already, but we left our apartment last night for good. Well, we still have to go back and move everything out, but we aren't living there anymore. I'll quote the relevant portion of the email here...

Today, we had a bit of discouragement. We've come to the conclusion that we can't stay in the apartment we're renting. There was a leak around the time we moved in it showed back up at Christmas time. My Dad actually discovered the leak as it dripped on his head! Prior to Christmas we had concerns of mold or other air borne allergens and purchased a couple of air purifiers to try to deal with it. We also talked to our land lords on the issue. To make what could be a very long and boring story a bit shorter, Rachel called me this afternoon to tell me that she was experience much more severe symptoms including her throat restricting and burning. We decided she and Elizabeth should stay upstairs until I got home. I'd been experiencing an irritation in my eyes while at the house over the last week and as soon as I got home and walked near the area where it had leaked I also experienced a tightening in my throat soon followed by the irritation in my eyes and eventually a slight headache. So, we've packed up and have moved temporarily into the FIM hospitality suite.

We'd appreciate your prayers as we consider our next steps. Our research suggests that appropriate care to resolve the problem would require a significant amount of work and we'd rather not be around when that happens. Our lease comes up at the end of March, but we can of course break the lease for health concerns. Finding another apartment in that range shouldn't be a big deal, but juggling the funds for a down payment, first months rent and all that could be an issue.

I've been researching apartments in the area. We're probably looking at some increase in rent for this move, but we are better positioned to know where we want to be and better networked to know what areas to avoid. We liked the old place, aside from the mold thing. We have 2 places that look promising. One even has a special from the slow Jan/Feb season left that we might be able to snatch up for what would be less than we currently pay and hopefully less of an electric bill also. Maybe we can even get a place with air conditioning and can sell our A/C window units. :-)

Anyway, it's hard to say what God's up to with all this, but we know that He is good and has continually directed us in ways consistent with that care for us. Now we just have to hold that knowledge close to our hearts. That may be the hardest part.

We may be looking for a moving team willing to spend a few hours helping us pack and move things either to a new place or storage in the next couple weeks. I guess there will be more about that "at a later date".