One Year Ago Today . . .

was the first day I saw the house we now live in. Well, it's next door to my sister's. So, I'd seen it before. But last year, I came and looked inside to see if I wanted to buy it.








Yup, came by myself. No Rhett. I thought I'd check it out first and see if it was worth the hassle of dragging him out here. It was.



I never dreamed I'd live in a 130 yr old house much less in the country. But when I toured the place, it was like I had just found everything I'd ever wanted but never knew I did. It just felt like a homeplace.



It's funny reading back in my prayer journal at the time when we were making this huge decision. (I absolutely LOVE keeping a prayer journal just for this reason! I forget so much stuff! And you can look back and see prayers that were answered and your growth as a Christian.)



Anyway, I wanted the house so bad!!! I knew it would take tons of work, but I did not care. From the point I saw it, it was our home for me. Now, Rhett . . . uh . . . well . . . he liked the land. Seven and half acres in this area and at the price we got it was really slick. But ol' Rhett was bogged down last January with a new job and working on his Master's Degree. A ramshackle house was not what he wanted or needed.



In one of my journal entries I wrote:

"Rhett came home last night and said No on the house. I cried. I didn't even mean to. I just started crying."



I don't know how we decided. Of course, Rhett make the final call. But neither one of us wanted to be the one to really say Yes, Let's do it because it was so much risk.



Fast Forward One Year:

Now, I walk around the house and look at the work still left to do and think about all my stuff that's been in storage for 10+ months and I have no where to put when we get it out and guess what I do (or at least feel like doing) . . . CRY!!!!! Isn't that hilarious?



And, now, Rhett has researched the history of this house and land. He's researched the whole community. He does phone interviews with people. He drops in on elderly people and gets them to tell him everything they can remember about the house. All kinds of stuff. He's totally immersed in the house and the history that goes with it.



Don't get me wrong though. I am very happy here. And we both agree that the house just feels like home even if the bathroom tile crumbles every time we walk through and the paint is peeling off all the wood siding. This house just has a depth our other house didn't have. I just think of all the generations that have walked up and down the same steps I do each day. What were their lives like? What issues did they face? Were the simpler times really as golden as we think they must have been?



Plus, the longer our infertility continues, I am even happier we moved BFG next door to her cousins. They are so close she kind of gets that sibling feeling. At least they've got the arguing part down pat. :)


(Um, just in case it's not obvious, we don't live in a barn. The barn did come with our property though. I'm just not cool with posting my house on the web. Sorry!)
Mama Said