Out With the Old, In with the New-Old.

One week from today, Waylon, Jonathan, Julia, and I will begin a new journey. Our journey won't take us far, only about 10 miles down the road, to another road, to another house.  Another chapter of life. The task of scraping, sanding, painting, sweeping, washing, repairing, restoring, mending, stapling, hammering, scheduling, and whatever else this journey entails--- will be balanced by the pleasures of dreaming, growing, relaxing, moving, and just living, in a different and beautiful place which we very much hope to make into a lovely, comfortable, home for our family. Yep, we're moving.

     How did all of this come about? Hmmm, good question. I'm not really sure what happened. One day we were contentedly living life, the next-- we decided to buy a new house. Yikes! To be totally honest, perhaps life did have a few bumps this year (When doesn't it?) but we were content enough. We were making it-- pushing up the hill of life; attempting contented happiness.  Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Anyway, the main point here is that we did not set out with the goal of purchasing a new home this year, and the real catch here is that the “New home” is really very OLD.

     Built in the 1920's, the house sits on a beautiful 40 acre track of land once owned by a local farmer. It was later sold to owners which lived there for years, who then passed the place on to their family. The family divided the land into four sections, making four, nearly ten-acre tracks. One of the mentioned tracks, will come with the house we are purchasing. The two story wood house sits overlooking a hill which gradually slopes off in the front toward a winding driveway lined with crape myrtle trees, bulbs, and poison ivy (Which will be removed!). In back of the house beyond the immediate yard, the pasture slopes down with beautiful grass, wildflowers, a few thistles, and some weeds (All giving it such a lovely “pasture” smell). This place is just the kind of house that we've always had a yearning to sit out behind on a swing together, watching as the sun goes down behind the trees. The yard smells like home. The trees beckon to have a hammock hung from them; a book awaiting in it begs passersby to stop and relax for a moment.

     In the past, for the most part we have chosen to be content. Together we've made do with what we have worked for and been blessed with. As choices and challenges of life have arisen, we have generally faced them by stewing-over, researching, conversing, praying, laying sleeplessly at night, worrying, trying not to worry, and lets be honest here---  even arguing about them, before deciding if we want to rise to the challenge. There have been occasional disruptions in this pattern, when we have made spontaneous, impulsive, decisions, which generally have brought regrets, but also some FUN times, coupled with some hard lessons learned. Our typical way of thinking and doing, is to make it on what we can. We have fun dreaming together of what we might; all the while knowing that it's okay if those dreams never come true, happiness in life is not all about material things. Having time with your loved ones, accepting what is, and having faith that Christ is your destiny, now that's the real aim here.

     Yet, we do believe in making the most of what we have. That is why we purchase used cars, budget closely, vacation modestly, eat out less frequently, and haven't once bought a new piece of furniture since the day we married (Not that there is anything wrong with buying new furniture-- this is just US; our style, our way). Yes, we are Mr. & Mrs. Thrifty (For the most part). I love to shop at resale shops, garage sales, and gladly accept hand-me-downs for our children and myself, if offered.  I've welcomed the challenge of recovering more than one sofa, and even built a hen house from 95% recycled materials at one point to, “make do”. Goodwill is my friend.  I have probably come close to wearing out the computer keyboard from looking for specific deals on craigslist, ebay, or easttexas.com.  I'd say that Waylon has done his share of practical repairs around the place as well, and as long as he has a set of directions to follow (or youtube) he's able to complete many do-it-yourself type projects that I would never dream of taking on. All-in-all we're not usually a compulsive couple, and we are frugal in many ways. But that said, “compulsiveness” is what leads me back to the original point of this post... The new house.

     So, against our usual long thought-out-research, sleepless night, followed by an argument sort-of-way, we seem to have compulsively bought a 1920's farm house because it is just right for us. You know how sometimes you just know something is right? Well nothing has so far sent me a message telling me anything other than that this is just right for us. WE are so excited, and I know that this is going to be a special chapter in our journey together. Which brings me once more to how it all began a couple of months ago.

     It all began as we were driving to a super bowl party (But it probably really began a few years back when I dreamed out loud to Waylon of what I thought of as an ideal house-- a beautiful wooden farm house, or perhaps it began the day that we conversed about which areas we would like to live if we ever moved, and/or maybe it began when we asked ourselves would we ever want to move?). Who knows, really, but this particular day on the way to the party, Waylon looked out his window and said, "Hmm, there's an old farm house for sale". I was preoccupied (yup, probably messaging on the phone) and grunted an acknowledgment to him,  but didn't look up in time to see it. One month later, he had a dental appointment in town, and made a sneaky (But he wouldn't call it that) trip over to look at the house. This was followed by a conversation at home and me begging him to take us out to see it that very evening. He said, “I think you're really going to like it”. As we drove up the driveway I knew he was right. A week or two later we had made our offer and were signing a big fat check to start the process. May 8th, 2013 we will close on our new-old house. Did I mention that I am REALLY happy about this?!

     So, welcome to this new part of our journey. We've now joined the others who have seen beauty in the old, and dreamed of making something special of their own piece of earth. Although many hours will be invested in renovating, decorating, and repairing; the journey will be part of the process. In the end, (God willing) many family moments will have been shared in our space, to be enjoyed and passed on.

May this process bring joy to our family, friends, and to our Savior.