OUR CHARLOTTE VISIT

We got to visit Charlotte to look for a place to live and were there 3.5 days. It took half that time to find a condo and get the rental process started. We spent the rest of the time looking around, attending events, eating and visiting with old and new friends.

Before we left we both had explored the Charlotte area online with parameters of where we wanted to live in mind. First, we found the Vineyard of North Carolina in north Charlotte on the south end of Lake Norman. Did someone say "lake"? We thought, "A condo on the lake? Why not?" That gave a general location to look; we like being close to the church.

Next, we enlisted the services of Bonnie Colberg (the Vineyard pastor's wife) to find a rental house/condo for us while Dave looked at what was available online. When we arrived, Bonnie had several places for us to look at and we decided on one by the end of the first morning. However, when we placed our application, we were told it had just been approved for rental to another applicant. Bummer!! Double bummer!!!

Not to be deterred, we went back and looked at the others we had previewed with Bonnie, located and looked at some Dave had found on Craig's list, and simply drove around the lake area where FOR RENT signs might be found. We even made calls on FOR SALE signs to see if someone would rent to us.

Having gone online to look for bed & breakfasts to stay in, I became enamored with the town of Davidson. It is very similar to Liberty (MO): a college town, lots of history yet progressing well with the new century. Bonnie had found a condo in Davidson but it was on a much smaller cove of the lake that is separated from the larger lake by the freeway. She wasn't sure we would like that. However, we liked the location and, after previewing it,decided this was a much better location and property for us. It is quieter and the condo has 3 bedrooms instead of just 2. That will provide a guest room AND an office for my business! God told me that He had a place better than the one we missed out on, and He surely did!

We explored Davidson all we could: drove around several areas, attended a "concert on the green" Thursday night and walked around the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It is a very charming town and seems very family oriented. We hope it is a great place to have our family visit.

On Saturday afternoon we looked up on the GPS the location of the Vineyard's Servant Evangelism outing and just showed up to help. Everyone was quite welcoming and there was room on the pontoon boat to accompany them. Two boats and 20 of us went to give out cold water bottles to people on the lake. It was lots of fun and, as always, rewarding.

Sunday we attended the Vineyard to worship with our new friends and felt very much "at home". Wherever the family of God is, there is connection and community. It was great! We had met and talked with Susan Weakley, a woman whose family was also "newbies" in the church and she invited us to lunch with her and 2 of her kids. Her husband flies for a living and he was gone on this Sunday, Father's Day, and we were without kids so we merged for lunch and became good friends. They are presently in Latvia picking up their newest child,8.5 yr old Lianna, who is in an orphanage there.

We left the Charlotte airport about 5:30 p.m. which was 1.5 hrs late. However, the pilot broke the speed limit and got us to Atlanta (barely) in time to make our connection to San Francisco. We got home late but were quite pleased with our trip and--eventually--with the outcome (didn't find out that we were approved to rent the condo until Tuesday).

God had already been to Charlotte on our behalf and then placed in our hearts the desire to start the next stage of our life in that region. The church is a growing body with a missionary's heart. We look forward to what He has for us to do here and ask you to join in our prayers for His will to be done in us.