Home Ownership Reflections *edited to add*

*edited to add pic*
 
Yesterday we've been homeowners for 6 years.

Whoa.

It's still sometimes hard to believe it all came together. First-time homeowners. So many fears. So many questions.

Our realtor was Tim's dad. Who has since gone home to heaven.

So much has changed since that picture was taken! (I am not sure but I think it was taken by the seller's realtor.) The house to the left was torn to bits and rebuilt. The tree in the front is fuller. The garden is extended and redone, and the flamingos are gone (with great yippee's and laughter!). A flagpole was added to the front yard. Two plots down the street were sold and large houses were built. Our favorite neighbors moved. We painted. We stripped wallpaper. We painted some more. We stripped more wallpaper. And painted some more. We ripped up carpeting. We laid down laminate flooring. Learned a lot. Changed out our mailbox. Neighbor issues. Replaced the furnace after carbon monoxide almost poisoning (so thankful we had a c.m. monitor or we would not be here today!!!!). We lit a lot of fires in the wood-burning stove. Neighbor dog issues. Replaced the a/c. Replaced mailbox again after it was hit. Had toilet issues. Replaced lights. Replaced lights with ceiling fans. Replaced mailbox again. More neighbor issues. Fireplace issues. Attic strange find issues. Bathroom window issues. Replaced washer and dryer.


And so on.

It's been a very interesting 6 years. Despite all the craziness, rocky-ness, financial messes, re-financing, scary things, calling the fire department, calling the police on our neighbors loud music, calling the police on our non-stop barking neighbor's dog... all the good stuff has made it worth it, like hosting guests, using my hospitality skills with more space, honing my pack-rat skills (lol), helping our neighbors and them helping us, making things right with neighbors, learning more about our area and loving parts of it, thankful for living at the top of a hill given all the recent flooding issues, and the many memories my husband and I have made here.
And I'm so blessed. And so thankful. 

But I'm not going to end this saying "here's to 6 more or 60 more years here" because I really hope to move soon, haha! We both have long commutes and despite being close to church and close to the country, I'm ready to move back in closer to our workplaces. But we'll wait and see what God has in store for us.

In the meantime, I'm remembering to appreciate what He has given to us, and to regularly be thankful for that instead of wishing it were different.