Then and Now

February 17, 2025 | My Jottings

We have lived in our current house for almost thirteen years now, and time has definitely flown past. Michael died in this home, and that makes this place sacred to me. I didn’t want to move into this house because it wasn’t my style, but we needed to down-size to a one-level home due to Michael’s declining health, and there wasn’t much available in 2012 that would suit our needs, so we bought it.

Since then, I have come to see countless times that God knows what we need even when (or especially when) we don’t.

I. Love. My. Home.

It has been a haven, a gift, a sanctuary, and I thank the Lord for giving this dwelling to me. I ask Him often to help me be a good steward of it.

When we moved in, our goal was just to get settled, get our two foster gals settled in their rooms, and not do any decorating right away. It was a nicely decorated home when we bought it, it just had a spare, Swedish vibe to it. I appreciated it, but it wasn’t us.

Here is a photo of the dining room fireplace the week we moved in. We just put a few things on the mantel to make it look not so bare, and we lived with it like this for a few months.

My daughter Carolyn painted the fireplace for me, and I eventually worked out a pattern to hang my transferware plates above, for a configuration that was unique and fluid-looking. We also had a gas insert installed, and it’s a wonderful thing to press a button and have heat and flame and cheer in our dining room on winter mornings.

This room below was the previous owners’ nursery. Taupe colored walls (I do like taupe) and some dots and mirrors. It’s a smallish room and I knew it would be my office, but being a toile lover and also craving deeper jewel tones in my decorating, I planned to change things after about a year.

The red and cream toile wallpaper and the teal/aqua velvet drapes have never failed to please me all these years later. My office is a place I love to be.

I put a white folding table in here to give me space to do paperwork. And today there are piles of paper, photos on the wall, a little more clutter than I like, but that’s okay.

Each January I write down what it costs to live in this house. It’s paid off, but the taxes are pretty high in my area, so they’re almost like a mortgage payment. I’m sixty-seven now and hire a fine young man to do snow removal and lawn care. Living here is still less expensive than downsizing to a smaller home, because my utility costs are low and I don’t have a house payment. So when the thought comes that perhaps it might be time to move to a lovely senior cooperative building not far from here, or get a house with less square footage, I dismiss that thought pretty quickly. Even though this house is more than I really need, it’s still wise financially to stay here. Honestly, I would like to die in my home, if the Lord would see fit to answer that prayer.

I don’t know why I have a home and so many other people don’t. What little I do to help others is a pittance compared with what God has blessed me with.

And I thank Him in my gratitude journal, in my heart, in my conversations, in my prayers, and here on this little blog… for being so kind and generous with me.