~my favorite room, a contest~

I am entering a contest here.

The sweet and talented Blayne Beacham is offering

the most fabulous prize, and although I never win anything,

I thought, what the heck.

It doesn't hurt to try right? Her contest goes like this.

"What's your favorite place in your house"

and why?"

Grab a cup of coffee, this could be a while.....................

When we bought our home back in 1996

We were newlyweds and had next to no money.

My husband had grown up here on the lake and

we were back for a neighbors memorial service at the clubhouse.

He ran into an old friend who casually mentioned that he had a home going up for sale in the neighborhood.

After the service we drove on down to the end of the road and knocked on the door,

" the door"

the door that would become ours someday.

We knew we couldn't afford it, but it was worth a look right?
We walked in.
Walked right into this very room and we knew,
knew it would be ours for the rest of our lives.
The sliding glass doors, which are now french doors
stuck when we opened them, we could barely fit through.
The walls were dark tongue and groove cedar and the fireplace was 60's rock.
The ceiling in the kitchen was falling in.
The floors were uneven and the single pane windows were so fogged over you could barely see through them.
It smelled like dampness and was cold
{only a single stove to heat the place}
I was 3 months pregnant with Savannah.
What were we thinking?
Well, we were young and in love and this place,
despite all it's flaws felt like home.
And best of all, we could afford it.

We put an offer in
and on April 7, 1996
it was officially ours.

This was the first room we saw when we stepped foot in this house.
This is the room my kids have had every Christmas morning in since they were born.
This is the room where the only heat source was for a long time,

where we all huddled up in front of the fire day and night.
This is the room where we watch family movies, have friends and family over, and most of all, sit back and remember what it used to be like and what it took for us to get there.

This is the room where we have all laughed, cried,

had sad and happy moments.

It's the room where my dog curls up in front of the fire.

It's comfy and it's home,

and it's the first room we saw that cold March day back in 96.

It's the room where we wrote on a napkin our expenses trying to figure out if we could afford it.

The room where we sit back and appreciate and

are thankful for all that we have been blessed with.

Nothing has happened overnight.

My sweet husband and I are still picking away at this house.

It's a labor of love and I can honestly say,

"There's no place like home"

If you'd like to vote for our room you can keep watching Blayne's blog.

Thanks for listening to my little story,

I'm going to go get a tissue now!

xoxo