thankful for the blessing of our home...
tonight we decided we should bring the previous owner's grill to her (we've been meaning to do it all summer, since she called and humbly asked us, saying, "my kids won't go get it"). she and her husband moved into town because they were having trouble getting around and maintaining the home and the acre lawn, garden, flower beds, etc. this was a very bittersweet time for them (99% bitter, 1% sweet). they'd raised their family here, both sons got married in the back yard, and they loved country life. how thankful i am that when she decided to sell (and her kids didn't want it), she came to conrad first. last june (2008), we went over and she showed us the house. each room held a memory. she modestly explained the upgrades/maintenance she and her husband had done throughout the years, and said "this home just really needs a family with kids." despite random people knocking on her door and offers over $100,000 more than what she offered it to us for, she held true to her word and we got the keys in december.

sure, there have been changes we've made, like changing the tangerine walls in the living room to a more modern dark khaki, the peach walls and lacy curtains in the master bedroom to deep garnet and shimmering bronze, and pulling out some evergreen bushes. there's definitely more we'd like to change to update. but, the fact remains, it's a great, solid home with an EXCELLENT location that we plan on being in for a long while.

when we went over tonight, after a few minutes of small-talk outside, she asked, "would you kids like to come in?" we said, "sure." she shared that it was still a hard adjustment living in town and she misses "that place" a lot. i told her i absolutely love all the flowers the planted--the tulips, peonies, roses, oriental poppies, daisies, lilies, etc., that all bloom in their cycle and then make way for the next blooms to show off their beauty. she was thrilled that i admired her flowers so much. she told me to be careful if i dug out by the rosebush in the garden because their one-eyed cat sylvester is buried there..."if you start digging into a yellow towel-stop!" at one point she said, "you kids are so sweet." more than once, she got tears in her eyes as she talked about the old house, or the changes she and her husband were trying to adjust to in town. when we were going to leave, she shook conrad's hand and then reached her arms out to me for a big hug. and i mean BIG hug...it was a genuine, long but not too long, heartfelt grandma hug. she said, "now you guys have lots of kids to fill up that house. that house needs kids." conrad said, "we'll work on it." she walked us outside and after a few more minutes, we said good night for real this time. again, she reached out to me for a hug. it was another *good* hug:) i thanked her for doing such a great job with the home and for giving conrad and i a chance at buying it. as we pulled away from the embrace, she had tears in her eyes and said, "i'm so happy for you two." i told her i'd like to have her and her husband out for dinner sometime after harvest and she said she'd love that.

thank you, God, for everything you've done to provide us with a beautiful home. we're so undeserving! help us to be good stewards and bless this precious woman and her husband who passed the home on to us. help her to see You in us in every interaction.