We're Home Again!

We just finished moving the big items last night over to our new, make that our new/old house. Taking time to pray and reflect on God's plan was the best part for this very tired and sore mom. We know it is just a house and believe me we have learned over the last year that it is very possible to live with MUCH less space, but I think there is a time to celebrate God's blessings, even the material ones he gives to us.

This is an old picture of the front of our home, since my camera cord has decided to leave the country and no forwarding address(actually I just lost it), but I wanted to show you a visual of how God can move you and turn situations around in ways that aren't comfortable for a while, but if you WAIT and TRUST, you will see His plan and His goodness.

I thought it would be fun to do a top 5 reasons why I am so happy to be back home in my old house.

1. The neighbors are awesome! We have been welcomed back with smiles, hugs and good wishes left and right. That is something I've really missed. One older lady told Skip how happy that there will be more of a male presence on the street again. He was always out working on the yard, playing basketball with Seth or washing the cars. There are also two new babies that were born over the last year within a couple of houses of ours, so my soon to be 15 yr old should be plenty busy with babysitting jobs in the near future.

2. We have more room. Exactly double the space of the last home we were renting. Ashley and Annie have a six year age difference and you can imagine how sharing a room was not their ideal situation. Ashley is 5'9 now and sharing a full size bed with her 9 year old (sideways sleeper) sister was the root of many arguments between the two. I gave away/sold a lot of our furniture during our first move, so it is going to be nice to slowly fill in some space again. I just recently became a fan of Craigslist, so I'm hoping to find some awesome deals there.

2. The way this move is affecting my husband. We both have been very impressed with the precious rent houses we have lived in over the last two years, but there is just something about living in a home you own. It was a little hard living only a mile or so away from something you own and not being able to live there. Skip worked so hard moving all the furniture(with his two titanium hips) and never complained. We did basically the entire move (except for the fridge) ourselves. Well, I still have a bazillion smaller things to move, but the majority is here.

3. The entertaining that this house allows. This is where the majority of my kids' teen years will take place, and it is able to hold many more bodies than our last two. I can't wait to get another bible study going, as well as dinners and family gatherings.

4. The opportunity for projects. We have an empty backyard that is just screaming for some landscaping. We can also paint any room we want, take down a wall if needed, or create whatever crazy idea pops into our (my husband's) head. I want to really make this house a home over the next year or so.

5. The last reason I am happy to be back home is because from the first moment we found this home, I knew it was a gift from God. Even though we tried to sell it for over a year, ended up with two mortgages for a while, and finally leasing it out for well under our monthly payment, this house has given us lessons we would have never learned otherwise. I thank God that I didn't know His plan, but that He always knew the path he wanted for us.

Thank you all for hanging in there with me through this crazy journey. Love you all bunches and bunches!