10 DAYS OF GRATITUDE – Day 6

I love our home. We moved here in 2017 and it’s everything and more that we could’ve asked for. Old (built in 1920), LOTS of character, original floors (that may creak a little), tall ceilings, original walls, doors, knobs, so much history and many stories within, but my favorite part? The pool.

I’ll never forget the text I got from Dan one morning when we were living in Minnesota. We knew we were moving to Michigan for Dan’s job, but the market was so hot, that it was extremely hard to find a house within our price range – a youth ministry budget. We had 1 week left to find a house so that we wouldn’t have to move to Michigan and wait to close, essentially having to move twice. Every house we saw online sufficed, but just wasn’t exactly it either. Either it was REALLY small or needed a TON of work. The work we could do, but would need the finances to do so.

I woke up one morning to a text from Dan, telling me he put an offer in on a house. Then he sent the link 😀. He knew exactly what we were looking for, knew what we could afford, and we didn’t want to waste any time. As I scrolled through the pictures, it felt so right, but he said to hang on tight for the last picture. Sure enough, it was a POOL.

Our brother-in-law and his friend, kindly walked through the house for us, since we wouldn’t be able to make it back in time to even see it. We wrote a “love letter” to the owners at the time, stating why we would love to live there, and by God’s perfect providence, He reserved it for us. We are so humbled that they chose our family! Yes, we bought it without even seeing it. It was a leap of faith since the first time we both saw it was the day we moved in, but it was the BEST decision.

ALL that to say, the pool has been an incredible gift and what we love most! We use it almost every single day during the summer and we couldn’t be more thankful for the relationships that have been built around that pool. It’s small, but it’s perfectly perfect for us. We have learned a LOT and have big dreams for it, but at the end of the day, we are so grateful for that space and place. It’s a gift that God has given us – it’s not ours. We are purely stewards over it and we love to have people over to enjoy it with us. It fills my bucket (and pool) in so many ways, and I just couldn’t be more grateful for that little body of water in our backyard! Our little oasis. Our marriage builder. Our family gathering place. Our place of respite.

How about you? What’s the best thing about your home and have you taken time to enjoy it?