Surprise security

This is a little story of how God has blessed us beyond what we would have thought to ask.

Niether Darren nor I are working right now. Darren quit his job the day before our wedding. There are a couple of reasons for this:

• he moved to St. Catharines with me, so the commute is rather lengthy and he had applied to be a full-time student in the fall and hopefully make a career change afterward so keeping the job would have been temporary anyway.
  
• I have the first half of the summer semester off and will return to teaching the first week of July, taking over for teachers who want to spend the summer months at home with their children. But for now we are income-less.

Neither Darren nor I are panicked about finances right now, either. There are a number of reasons for this:

• our wedding has pretty much been paid for (we have some outstanding payments on our credit card still, but that will be taken care of soon)
• our friends and family were very generous with their wedding gifts
• Brock offered Darren a substancial financial package with his acceptance into the Master's program
• we are rather frugal people so our living expenses are reasonable
• we have a bit of money in savings

So, while we certainly couldn't laze around forever, we know that survival until the fourth week of July when I start receiving paychecks again isn't an issue. Consequently any discussion with God regarding money of late has been thanks-related, not request-driven.

Nonetheless, last week a conversation with our landlord proved to be very encouraging. We got a note from the rental office just before the wedding saying that there was a $50 credit on our account. I knew right away what happened: the lease papers were written up not including the $25. parking spot, but I had included this in the first and last months' rent. But when we spoke to them about the mixup, the landlord said, "Well, since I made the mistake on the papers, I guess you get your first year's parking free." That is a $300 savings over the year.

Also, I thought I remembered something about a sign-up incentive in which the rental company would reimburse the hookup fees for telephone and cable lines. However, I wasn't sure if that was this building or another that I had looked at. When I asked about this, I was reminded also of the $200 cash back incentive from the company. That's another $300 savings.

I write this to encourage you. It seems as though God does take care of his kids, and even gives them extra sometimes.