Our Custom Built House in Byhalia, MS 
My Most Favorite Place in this House
Well, it is official...we have a contract on our house and are planning to be moved out by the end of June. God showed us his mercy last week and for that we are most thankful. The offer was unexpected, exactly what we wished for and proved to be one that was bathed in prayer for many weeks. Praise be!
We were told to be ready to sit on the house for at least 127 days due to the area and the slow market. We instead sat on it for about 62 LONG days. We had 5 showings and 1 finally brought forth fruit. Because Rand's company deals with the written contract and closing and then they will pack us, move us and unpack us... it is sort of a cake walk compared to what other people go through when in this same boat. Because we have not yet found a new house to call home at this time, we are looking for a storage unit for all of our belongings that won't fit in our apartment. We feel very blessed to not have all the stress that this transition usually brings a homeowner.
Our home:
It was a great gift from God. We bought it 4 years ago when the market was booming and prices were low. We literally customized everything from the floor to the ceiling. We didn't realize what we had until we started looking for a house here. Humbling, is the best word to describe it without getting too personal!
Through all of this I am learning that a house doesn't define you, yet your home does. Whether you live in a trailer, an apartment, a modest house or an elaborate house...it is your home and a home defines you as a family or an individual, regardless of what or where it is.
I didn't realize how attached I was to my house until I drove away from it 2 weeks ago with all we could fit in Rand's truck and on his trailer, in order to set up a temporary home while keeping the house staged to near perfection. As I looked in the rear view mirror my heart sank and I didn't like that feeling. My 1.6 acres of perfect Bermuda my husband had seeded and sodded himself, my lilies that my husband brought home to me when we first moved in had tripled in size, my hostas were in perfect health, my irises that my mother-in-law planted for me were budding and blooming all over the place, my Mexican petunia that my mother-in-law also planted for me was making its annual appearance, my rose bush was blooming like never before, my little treelings were all in bloom and my blue hydrangea bush that Mrs. Rochelle gave me when we first became friends was growing like wildfire. I was driving away for one of the last times and it made me a bit angry and sad.
The trouble with all this was that I was thinking "my" the whole time I looked back. When in reality, God gave us that house and we made it a home. My home is where I make it. It is true, as overused as it is, your home is where you heart it is. As much as I will always love and cherish the memories in our first house, I am ready to make a home here in this apartment where we live at this current time. If I have learned anything in my 29 full years of living, it is to bloom where you are planted and that is what I intended to do, once again!
Please continue to pray all goes as planned with the closing and that Rand and I can find our place so we can set down roots in our new community.
Abby
Comments
Love ya,
Melissa
yfa,
tbeo
I'm so glad that you already recognize the life lessons you have learned from selling this home and making a new one! God is good and always has a better plan than we could ever imagine!
love ya
Great photos of your weekend trip to "Star Town"... If Anna Kathryn Beavers is not the "second Coming" of Julie Skutt Beavers I'll kiss a possum's rear end.
Yo Daddy