Last Monday, we caught the tail end of a Pacific storm, and as I was approaching the house, I saw a blue-white flash light up the clouds in the east, then the power went out. A brave struggle by some power got the lights back on, but seconds later they were out again. It lasted half an hour, so no worries about the contents of the fridge and freezer. We have a gas range--handy to have when power outages hit--but I was going to cook a chicken breast and reheat some left over canned mixed veggies. I decided that it would be better if I had a PBJ sandwich, grape Crystal Light, an apple, and some ice cream for dinner (they're closing down Fresh N Easy because the company ran out of money-

--so I got some of their delicious ice cream--summer peach and wild blueberry). I think what happened was someone forgot how to drive in the rain and hit a pole.
The plan for the house is we're going to pretend to pack up as if to leave, but we're still taking the landlady to court. Debbie says she's leaving at the end of this month, and we're hoping Cookie has good enough credit to take over the satellite TV contract. I need to organize my stuff, anyway, so....
I noticed that Lisa got a copy of the CA driver's handbook, so maybe I can borrow that and get my learner's permit and then my driver's license. I heard Lisa say she was going to get her license even though she doesn't have a car.
Pastor Brian once said in one of his sermons that there's a scene in Back to the Future III where the train Doc and Marty McFly are on is heading straight for a bridge that's supposed to enable them to return to their own time. The bridge, however, has only a couple of ties on the rails, which is dangling over a cliff. They get the train up to maximum speed, and in faith believe that the train will cross the broken rails. As the train's front wheels begin to cross the broken rail, miraculously the rest of the track appears, bridging the chasm and enabling them to return to their own time. Just as they had to cross the broken track, God wants us to do something to get what we need, even if it seems to lead to disaster.
The last time Pastor Brian and Danielle had to move, they were going back and forth with the Realtor, because the seller was hesitant to sell for the amount Pastor could afford. Pastor had set a moving date of Aug. 31st, and packed up. The morning of moving day, he had a few guys from church help him load the moving van they'd rented, and the Realtor called, again unsure of what the seller wanted to do. So Brian and the guys just hung out, played basketball, and generally refused to worry about it. Finally, at 6 p.m., they got the call they'd been waiting for. The offer was accepted, and Brian could finally move his family into their new home.
CJ says she's looking for a real lawyer to represent us, and she's got a ton of dirt on our landlady and the managers of the women's homeless shelter next door, that we came from five years ago. Pray for our success in getting new places to live should this house fail. Because we are prepared for that, but as long as we can stay here, we're staying put.