The Story of Our Home
Right after my husband and I got engaged, we immediately began house hunting. We had our list of “must-haves” and “negotiables” as most people do, and after much internet browsing and dragging our realtor all over town, we found a house. Though it was at the upper limit of our budget, was plenty large (maybe a bit too large), and didn’t have the backyard we wanted, it was in a nice neighborhood, had a lovely fireplace, and was generally a nice house.
We put in an offer and scheduled the inspection.
Inspection day came. As we walked through the house with scrutinizing eyes, we noticed door frame after door frame that just wasn’t quite square. Hmm… The inspector finished his work and came over to speak with us. It wasn’t good:
The house was going to need 34 piers put under the foundation.
You didn’t misread that. 34 piers. We walked away, out the money for the inspection but all the wiser and saved from buying a house that was sinking into the depths of the earth. God spared us a giant headache.
Fast forward a few weeks. We were both working full time, I was planning a wedding that was now only 5 months away, and my husband’s apartment lease was going to be up in 2 months. It was find a house or renew the lease. I was living at home with my parents and my mom mentioned that her friend from Bible study had a daughter who was selling her house soon. Was I interested? I kind of brushed it off since I was busy wedding planning and the first picture I saw of the house wasn’t my ideal gingerbread brick house with the cute little windows on top.
She brought it up again a week later.
“I really think you ought to look at this house.” Okay, mom, I’ll take a look at the listing photos since it will make you happy. The house had not gone on the market yet, but mom’s friend had sent her some photos privately to show me. I looked at the photos. “Maybe. Let’s schedule a time to go see it.”
We met the owner and her fiancé at the house the evening before it was scheduled to go on the market. As my husband (then fiancé) and I walked through the house, we realized it was meeting almost all of our “must-haves.” Mind you, it did not have everything I had always dreamed of, but the things it was lacking were negotiables. They were overshadowed by all of the wonderful aspects and potential of the house.
I vividly remember standing with my husband, looking out the window that would become our living room window, and saying, “I think this is it.” “I think so, too” was his reply.
And so we bought our house – the house we would shape into our own – the house where we would raise two beautiful children, who at that point were only a vision in the eyes of their Creator.
My house does not have a fireplace.
My house does not have a laundry room (laundry is in the basement).
It does not have dormer windows.
It is not very large or architecturally interesting, and it does not ooze charm from every pore. But you know what? That’s A-okay, because
I know it was meant to be our home.
And so it is.
