from a house to a home…

…and with one last night of sleeping in this house, we are off. 

We never meant for this house to be anything more than a short stop-over for us.  We purchased it with the intention of selling it after two years of living here.   Who would have ever guessed that the housing market would tank and we would be “stuck.”  We didn’t love it.  We barely even liked it.  When we couldn’t sell it, we tried to make it into more than just a house.  We tried to make it into our home.  We tried.  Oh how we tried.  We decorated, we remodeled, we tried to change our attitudes.  We were grateful to have a home that was large enough to accommodate our family.  We were grateful for a warm place to come to home to.  We were grateful to own a home we could afford when so many people were struggling to keep theirs.  We made memories here.  We lived a good life while we were here.  We learned SO many lessons about life while we were here.  Our last little baby doesn’t remember any other home before this one – he had so many of his “firsts” here.  We’ve spent the last 2 1/2 years trying to sell our home, all the while trying to make this a place we could love…all the while, keeping an eye on the market, looking at other houses and trying to decide what to do.

We finally found another house that instantly felt like “home” the minute we walked through the door.  It was crazy.  Seriously, when we came home after looking at it, I felt homesick for it.  Literally.  I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.  After some time, we decided we wanted to make it OUR home officially, so we wrote up an offer and after a lengthy process, we are excited that it is now ours.  Everything seemed to fall into place – one thing after another just “worked out” for us – we jumped through every hoop, met every qualification, found renters to live in this house, etc., etc. etc.  It just feels like this is what is supposed to happen.  It feels right.  It feels good.  :o)

We’ve spent the last few weeks celebrating the holidays, making our final memories in this house, and packing up our belongings.  We finally got the keys last night and we’ll be living there officially after today. We can’t wait.  It surprised me, though, this morning, after waking up and sending one child off to school, when a sudden feeling of sadness came over me.  I still haven’t processed it and I”m not sure where it’s coming from…but I will admit that I am a teensy bit sad to leave this house…the house that never quite felt like home.  I suppose it’s just the idea of change, the recognition of all the “lasts” in this house (last Christmas, last New Year, last Birthday, last time sleeping here, etc.).  Hopefully it’s all normal…I think it likely is.  And so, as the sun lights up this room, I’ve just typed my last blog post from this house.  And now I must pack up my computer, along with everything else we own, and move it from this house that has treated us just fine, to a new home that has just been waiting, very patiently, for us to find it…