Pergolatory

The building that I live in is three stories tall.  The first floor apartment is Mami, my dear sweet 73 year old Haitian neighbor.  The second floor is mine and my roommate's apartment, and the third floor is my friends' apartment.  Although we have two separate apartments, the four of us eat most meals together and basically live together.  

One of the perks of the third floor apartment is that it has access to our neighbors roof.  It has a nice view and a great breeze.  Since they moved in upstairs, we've had a dream to make that roof somewhat of a sanctuary.

We made lots of plans and ideas about what to do and how to do it.  We debated on what the structure we wanted was actually called.  Some people said arbor, some of us said pergola, and others said gazebo.  In the end, one of us got confused and called it a pergolatory....and it stuck.  We assumed it would take most of the year to finish it.  When our dear friend Emory came to visit and heard about our idea, he quickly got to work helping us make it happen.

In a matter of days, what we had drawn on paper appeared on the roof just as we imagined it.  However, it was not completely finished.  We still had to treat the wood for termite and rot protection and cover it with grass mats for shade.  Our project was paused momentarily until we had the funds and time to finish it.

The Lord is good and loves to bless us so much.  Last week, I got a phone call saying that someone had donated money specifically so that we could finish this rooftop project.  We were so surprised and overjoyed to hear this news!  It blew me away that God loves us so much that he put it on someone else's heart to help us with this project. 

Now, we have a beautiful breezy sanctuary to retreat to.  We are looking forward to many times of peacefulness, rest, laughter, and worship under our beautiful "pergolatory".