Saturday, May 9, 2015

109 Things

     Kaleb and I, while we were tearing out juniper bushes in the front yard, 4 hours into the project, were thinking up 109 things you should know when you buy a 109 year old house.

 It was easy to see,
 you find gaping holes in plaster behind wall paper, 
raw plaster with no paint to seal it,
 50 year old juniper bushes completely over running the yard, 
plaster textured over wall paper,
 linoleum over wood floors, 
windows that have been painted shut,
weird configurations in the layout of the house
a yucky stainless steel sink in the kitchen while an awesome porcelain sink is in the shed,
the list goes on and on.
 I am sure we could come up with 109 things.

     Now that we have been here over two months, there is a certain charm to moving into this old house. I can see that the previous owners who lived a good life here really liked their house and updated things. Which is why there is plaster textured over wall paper. They cared enough to add on a garage, extend the kitchen, put an automatic fan in the attic so when it got to hot up there it would turn on. We found out that the old guy loved golf and made golf holes in the back yard. It took us days to clean out the out building of the junk and debris that had gathered over the years including a few tree limbs and an abundance of saw dust. We could see that the fellow tinkered and maintained his household from here with the jars of rusted screws, old hardware and lots of stuff we didn't even know what it was.

     Living in a 109 year old house has its quirks. I love living in a place that has been here so long that the trees are established and have seen out houses, dirt roads, wood stoves and long dresses. I love that our closet is so small that we have to switch out our winter clothes for summer. Of course they would only have hooks in the closet....in 1906 you only had a few clothes. It reminds me that our lifestyle of today is all about abundance and that living simpler is a good thing.

     This house has watched horse drawn buggies and Model T Fords pass by its front walk.
How cool is that?

     Really, we should be thinking up 109 ways that God has blessed us with this move. We see God's hand in our every move from the apple tree in the back yard, to the healing from losing our house in Arizona after the economy crash. We keep finding more and more of God's blessings. It brings tears to my eyes when I walk out back and hear the breeze whisper through the pine trees. From the time the kids were babies, I would find peace and serenity while we were camping listening to the wind whistle through the pine trees. I never imagined that I would find that on our own property. 
     Actually, we all know that we won't be able to count the blessings. That is how God works. He overflows us with all his grace and love. How lucky I feel that we are his children.

1 comment:

Mt. View Academy said...

Laura really liked your house and yard Pam...she said it was HUGE