He answers prayers....He answers prayers.....He answers prayers.....He's so good to me

I just couldn't help but write the whole verse to that song because just saying one phrase of it made me want to sing it. For those of you who may not recognize it, the song is "God is so good". I think I first heard it and sang it when I was little. Anyways, it is true, God answers prayers and he has answered a big prayer of mine this week.

As some of you (especially Jen, Steph and Becca) are aware, we have been having some problems with the guy that lives in the basement suite of the house that we live in. At first when we moved in, it was the cigarette smoke and the fact that our whole house smelt like it that really bothered us. However, as time went by, there was often a lot of marijuana smoke drifting around too. We had discussed this issue with our landlords (who are his parents which just complicates things that much more) early in 2004 when Becca was still living here because it had come up (I mean, literally, it had come up through our vents) when we had some people over and they asked us why our house smelled like marijuana smoke. His parents were shocked and couldn't believe it. After that, it stopped for awhile. However, exactly a weekend ago, it got really bad again. We were pretty much choking up here it was so bad. I mean, if he wants to do that crap I guess that's his business but when it affects us that is a whole 'nother matter. I sure don't want to kill brain cells, especially when I'm trying to do school! We all got in a huff and I was determined to see if I could get him on possession charges or something just in case the parents did nothing. Anything to make it stop!!! However, I was really tired that night so I didn't seriously look into the legislation on marijuana. The next night it happened again around 10:30 so we called the parents. The father was shocked although he shouldn't have been because we had discussed this before with him and his wife. We resolved that if nothing was done, we should write a letter to our landlords because if its in writing they are more accountable for it. I started praying hardcore because I felt helpless. I did not want to live in a pot house but I didn't want to go through the hassle of moving because I really like the neighbourhood and the house.

So....the other day we got our rent receipts in the mail. No biggie, right? But I saw there was a letter with it and I was like "what's this?" . It was from our landlords informing us that their son will be moving out within the next month. I almost screamed for joy!!!! I never thought that this would be the solution to our problem. They said that they appreciate us as renters and would like to have someone like us and so if we know of any friends that may be looking, we are supposed to mention this place. It would be totally awesome if we could have some friends move in downstairs because then it would be like we have the whole house, up and down. We have a few months because the suite downstairs needs to be finished after Tyler moves out. I'm just praying we can find some friends or at least someone we sort of know to live down there. YAY!!!!!

So I guess one of my goals in the next year is to learn some German. My friend Rebecca, who I met in Peru but who is actually from Germany, emailed me the other day and said she is engaged. Her and her fiance are getting married May or April of next year and she wants me to come over to the wedding!!! We used to joke about how she should come to Canada and I should come to Germany and I remember saying that if she got married I would for sure try to make it. Well, I guess that time has come and I really want to go. I would want to take a few weeks in Europe though to make it worth it. She says that most people in Germany speak English but I want to learn at least some basic German in case some members of her family don't speak English. If I'm meeting her family and fiance (whom I don't think speaks that much English either) and they don't speak English, that could just be awkward. I wouldn't understand a word they would say and so I'd just have to smile and stand there like an idiot.