Well, I really wish I could name this post, “A Longing Fulfilled”, but I need to be honest here, what I’ve been hoping for just hasn’t happened yet.
I’ve been glancing through the online realtor sites in our area for over a year now. Occasionally something will peak my interest and I’ll be drawn to go take a look. It started with a few open houses. Open houses seemed so harmless, not too much effort, no one to call, just show up for a look around someone’s house. Sounds fun for a home decor loving girl. After a few, I gotta admit, I got hooked. Now what started off innocent enough, turned into somewhat of an obsession – finding that “Dream Home.”
I never really had a dream home before. I remember my friend using the term when we were 20-somethings and thinking to myself, “i’ve never really dreamt one up before.” I was happy enough when God seemed to provide the house we are in now. We had been living in a townhouse for our first seven years of marriage. Then out of the blue, a friend called one day to tell me that a home on her street would be coming on the market, for sale by owner, and if we hurried we could look at it before that happened. So we looked. It seemed so spacious compared to the townhouse. The yard was about 1/3 of an acre and it sloped a bit, but we only had one child and one on the way and it seemed fine to me. The biggest draw was the thought of living down the street from our dear friends. I really loved the thought of us being neighbors and that did prove to be one of the best things about living here, until sadly they had to move.
Maybe that’s when I started noticing all the things I wished I could change in this house. Not that I wasn’t grateful for it, but our needs were changing as our family grew. The kids wanted a flatter yard to kick their soccer ball around in; I was wishing the yard was more useable too. I wanted a place to put a fire pit to gather around on cool evenings. Also, the kids opted out of our home school which cut us off a bit from the community and left us wishing we were on the more rural side of town, closer to the school and with a little elbow room.
But the years rolled by and we stayed, making some improvements here and there. We finished the basement, updated the laundry room and added granite in the kitchen. All very nice improvements, but that didn’t address the issue of the yard or location.
The more I’ve looked, the more I’ve realized there are few things that I would want in a dream home. A four bedroom home with a flat yard, a long enough driveway for friends to park on without hassle, a place to gather around a fire pit, a fenced yard (now that we have a dog), some character (but I’m not too picky about the style as long as I can work with it), a nice kitchen, a mudroom, hardwood floors and room for a “she shed”(a place where I can work on projects for my business) and maybe a few chickens.
Well, a couple of weeks ago I found it. I knew the minute we pulled up the driveway and squealed at the site of chickens and ducks in the most adorable coup just off the driveway. As we got out of the car the owner asked if we would want to keep them if we bought the house.
“YES”
The house had everything on our list and then some. It was on the right side of town, on budget, had a pool, a fireplace in the master bedroom and even a bee keeping setup, I’m not kidding!
So why didn’t we get it. Hmm, I think we probably could have, but for whatever reason we dragged our feet a little and by the time we did get back to the owner two weeks later it had sold.
The Proverb says, “hope deferred makes the heart sick” and that is what I felt – HEART SICK over my little dream house.
But, I know I can’t stay wallowing in the “only if’s”. That will only pull me down farther. After a good cry and some house cleaning (I tend to do that best when I’m upset) I realized I need to be thankful for what I have and work with what I have for now. Maybe one day that dream house will be a reality, a prayer answered, a blessed surprise, a longing fulfilled – tonight I’m hopeful.
Here is the result of my frustrated cleaning – 
We moved this pew which had been gathering dust in the basement up to the dining room. 
Brought a chicken crate coffee table that I had up at Sweet Clover Barn home and into the living room and filled it with ironstone. 
And moved this sweet little antique table into the foyer. A little therapeutic cleaning and a whole lot of prayer never hurts when hope’s deferred! Fondly, Michelle
