One Year Ago...

One year ago yesterday we were handed the keys to our very first home EVER!!! I can't believe 12 whole months have passed and we have celebrated every holiday in our Little Red House. This was once a dream we never thought would become reality.

 As I was sorting thru all the house photos trying to pick the best ones to post, I realized how "fuzzy" it all was. We signed our contract 6 weeks after the big move down south... an afternoon drive by chance turned into the beginnings of a whole new chapter in our life.

 Our rental home sits right down the road from our new development. We would pass by The neighborhood every time we left our home and admire the "cute colorful homes" in the distance... especially the RED one! Jason kept saying that he wanted to drive by those homes ut didn't know how to get to them. They seemed way at the bottom of the hill away from all roads. Little did we know they were in the back of our neighboring sub-division.

 A family emergency brought family down to visit. My Mother-in-law saw the potential in the up and coming area and decided she would buy an investment home near us. We spent the day looking at beautiful homes. Of coarse they were all just slightly above our price range. Hubby and I had NO plans of buying until the summer of 2008 but it never hurt to look. God had other plans for us though. Hubby mentioned to his mom that there was just one more neighborhood with really nice homes. Those homes were to expensive for us but fit her budget so away we went to one more stop. We waited in the car while Hubby ran in to get some packets and prices. My mother-in-law looked around and commented on some of the models. The next few hours were history...

 Hubby ran out of the office waving the floor plans..." We can afford these, 4 bedroom, 3 bathrooms BRAND NEW HOMES> WE CAN AFFORD THESE!!!" He was beyond excited. He had the keys and we drove further and further down the lane into a huge half finished neighborhood. Construction crews lined the streets building peoples hope and dreams. We drove and drove down the small hill, twists and turns and then entered a row of beautiful smaller colorful homes. 

"These are them!!" He said as all of our faces pressed up against the windows of the van. How precious they all were. We stopped in front of one half finished home and began running through. Hub  loved it but I knew right away it would never work. I was not feeling it. I started to break out in sweats watching my husband chatter away to his sisters and mom. I knew at that moment we were buying a house. Wow!!! I almost dropped baby Abby right there...

 "Hun" I said quietly... deathly afraid of crushing his spirit..."No, not this one, I don't like it... I can feel it."

"He tried to point out a few features and mentioned a million times that it was still being built... "TRY to picture it..."

"I can't.. I just know..."

He took the news better than I thought and said they had one more 4 bedroom option that was a bit bigger. We hopped back in the van and drove just a few feet further. We stopped in front of a cute green picture perfect home. The realtor met us at the door and escorted us inside. Im not sure what happened next, I just remember standing in the foyer and saying..

This is it.. this is our home." 

 We 20 questioned poor Rich. Kept asking him the price and could not imagine. We could own our very own, brand new... all ours!!

 Once Rich left , we ran around and dreamed. We talked some more and headed to the sales office. This was a Sunday afternoon. We sat at my kitchen table while the kids played and talked and talked, crunched numbers,laughed, cried, sweated and wondered. We could apply for the loan online.... What the heck.... Hubby got the nerve and filled out the forms.

2 days later we got the call saying YES!!! That wednesday we went and signed the contract and went to a separate room and picked out colors, cabinets, windows,lighting,faucets,flooring,and everything else imaginable. It all happened so fast I can't even get a clear picture.

 We jumped on a golf cart with RIch and drove all through our new "home..." past the pool and construction crews. Rich waved and said hello to everyone he met and told stories of when he sold so and so their home.

 We turned on a pretty empty cul-de-sac and stopped.

"Now its time to pick your plot..."

WHAT!!!! That sounded so final. hubby,his mom and his sisters and I have spent the last 2 days crawling all over this clay trying to decided where to build but now that he asked us it seemed so permanent. I have trouble picking out my clothes for the day, how would I EVER pick land?? This took a few days but finally some clay tickled our fancy and we signed.. again...

 Exactly 30 days later the building started. We were there every day AND night taking pictures, inspecting the work and marveling at the sight. I wanted to touch every beam and walk on the ground my home would be built on. I wanted to see every nail hammered and every screw drove in. I touched every window and ran thru every beam. We have the pictures to prove it!! We let the kids run thru the house and begin making memories even before it was officially ours. I opened and closed the door before it had knobs... imagining how it would be to welcome guests. We laid on the wood floors upstairs pretending the kids were in their beds and we picked out EXACTLY where we would put our Christmas tree. We sat by our "fireplace" wondering how many we could squeeze around it. We climbed in the tubs and ran thru the bathrooms. The kids played hide and seek in the closets and got just excited as the walls and paint were put up. We broke thru the windows at night when we didn't have the keys and ran thru the darkness around our property. By the time we moved in we really felt we were home. We were familiar with every nook and cranny. This truly was OUR home.

 My kids roll their eyes now when I blurt out..."Hey, did I tell you how much I LOVE this house???" They laugh and think its funny. I say it almost every day. Its true. I LOVE this home. Every day thats spent here captures another piece of my heart. Sometimes it seems like we outgrew it the moment we moved in and in some ways we did... But the thought of leaving this place breaks my heart. I have grown attached to every bush,tree and new plant planted. by ME!! My little red house which is now my home!

"WE MUST NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT OUR HOMES ARE GOD-GIVEN TOOLS TO BLESS OTHERS."

"THE HOME IS A TINY WORLD - GOD GAVE YOU THE HOME TO MANAGE. YOUR JOB IS TO MAKE THIS SMALL KINGDOM A PICTURE OF GODS GREATER KINGDOM,WHERE BEAUTY SHINES IN EVERY WORD AND DEED,WELCOMES STRANGERS AND FRIENDS WITH ABUNDANT HOSPITALITY AND GRACIOUS CARE."

I thank God every day for my blessing!