Our Chautauqua Adventure - Journal Entry July 8

Posting this from a journal entry written the summer of 2014.... because I FIND JOY IN... looking back on tough times & seeing God's faithfulness through the entire experience...

A day in the life of our Chautauqua Adventure - Summer of 2014 - July 8  (all pics from 7-8-14)

There are openings here in CHQ throughout the remainder of the summer -- EXCEPT that one week. Ken Burns will be here that week. If you can come any other time than Week 7 there should be no problem finding housing :) We are just in the beginning of Week 4.

There's a chance we don't have a place for Week 7. The place we found that IS available is a private home which rents out an upstairs bedroom & bathroom suite. They prefer we don't cook meals there. That's pretty much a MUST - with an 18-month old. This summer's already been SUPER EXPENSIVE. Eating our meals out isn't an option! And, that wouldn't work well for a toddler either. WE ARE PRAYING THAT GOD OPENS SOMETHING UP ASAP! Tomorrow's the deadline to let the owner know if we want the rooms under her conditions. I really want somewhere with the full use of a kitchen. I'd LOVE IT if the couple who had rented our present apartment (the teeny-tiny tree house) for Week 7 would CANCEL :) That'd be GREAT!!!

 

My daughter's classes are over on Friday evening, August 20th. We could leave on Saturday the 9th. But, we're bringing our we-hope-to-be-future-daughter-in-law home with us. She's dismissed after her final concert is Monday, August 11th. The LOML is not happy at all that those 3 extra nights are going to cost us over $600 :/

The experience has been wonderful &; not-so-great... all rolled into one big ball :) Overall, I'd have to say that it's been a huge blessing that has come at a great price. I don't regret the decision we made to do this. And, I believe that God was in that decision to support our daughter to help make this possible for her. Our first landlord turned out to be a very creepy guy. He attempted to make us think that we could work a few shifts a week at his restaurant so I'd get an employee pass to the property & - thereby saving me the normal fee for other "guests" of $2100. It turned out that he expected one of us to work EVERY SINGLE DAY we were here from 4:45-7:45p with NO PAY for that work. Our pay was supposed to be me saving $2100 for the gate/event season pass. After 10 days of going to a bunch of people to purchase my own pass so that I could just be here for our Little, I learned that the cost of a season pass for an adult is actually $4000 if purchased afterJune 1st! But, I finally found out that an employer on the property can purchase a pass with the SAME privileges as the $2100/$4000 pass for $350!!! Operations allowed me to purchase that pass since I was the care-giver of a baby of a full-time CHQ art student. 

A lot of other crazy things have happened - related to what the landlord promised about the apartment. But, in the long run, we've made this little place our home. I've moved furniture around to make room for the Pack N Play we brought. I even took a light OFF the wall to get a set of shelves into a corner of our bedroom :) Our sweet Little enjoys time playing with her babies, reading books & having tea parties in her Pack N Play while I clean up dishes, get dirty laundry together, cook meals, etc. A lot of the time, she can just run free in our 2 rooms :)

 

Well, I'm off to look for other housing options for Week 7. I am trusting that God will find just the right situation for us!!!

 

Publishing post for the first time in conjunction with the Tuesday at Ten prompt of "I FIND JOY IN..."