David's parents have spent many years of their life owning and managing rental houses. His dad bought a pair of houses at one point in Griffin thinking that maybe one day one of his children would use them. Five years ago, David and I were engaged and his parents so graciously offered to sell us the yellow rental house for a very good deal and help us fix it up. Living over 6 hours away I discussed all of our plans over phone calls and it all sounded great and so exciting. All I could think of was living in a cute little house with my new husband, and in my mind it was very cute.
I will never forget the first time David took me to see the place! It was this yellow and white house that was sort of run down. The floors were a mess and everything was stained and sort of outdated. There was wood rotting on the front porch and even a piece or two hanging off the roof. The best part was when David and I started looking in the kitchen and found an old pizza still in the oven weeks after it had been vacated! I am sure as a newly engaged girl with the boy that I love that I put on a sweet smile and said things like "it looks great!", but all the while I was thinking "I am going to live here! This is not the cute house I imagined!"
I am a very blessed girl though because for months David and his dad worked for hours every night after David got off of work redoing cabinets, tiling bathrooms, painting, buying all new appliances, etc. One weekend I even helped put hardwood floors down, and I must say that I got pretty good with a nail gun! David and his parents worked so hard to get the inside of the house livable and attractive before we got married. Every time I would visit and see it it got better and better. In June David and I were married and I was excited but also nervous to move to a new state. I didn't know anyone here but David and his family, and I will be forever grateful for David and his parents working so hard for all those months to give me a cute first home.
This is the house that we became parents in and the only home that our girls have ever known. I will forever remember the way that Addison's room looked when we decorated her nursery or how we turned the office into another nursery when we had Kendall. I loved how our front porch looked after our family would decorate it the day we brought each of the girls home from the hospital. We have spent hours walking these floors with crying babies (mostly Addison :) and rocking them to sleep in the glider in our living room. Images of my girls sleeping sweetly in their beds, playing in the backyard, and dancing in our kitchen will be forever etched in my mind, and I will forever love this house, our girl's first home.
And now five years later all the remodeling is complete inside and out and we are ready to sell. When we found out about David's job, we decided that it was time to sell and be close to whatever church he is called to whether it is in Georgia or in another state. And so we walked together and put a sign up, which was bittersweet for me. I am so excited to see where God leads us as a family and for this next stage in our life. And although I know that I will love the next house we live in, I tend to think that there will always be an extra special place in my heart for this first house... the house that I originally could not imagine having to live in, the house that I became a wife and a mother in, and the house that became a home I will remember forever.
