I am excited to finally post these pictures and share an amazing story of love and blessing.
I say it began in May but really God was weaving this story long before that. Last summer, we moved from a two bedroom condo to a new house that gave our growing family and energy-filled kids more space to run and live life. After a long and crazy selling and buying process and much prayer, we knew this was the house God had specifically for us. We loved it. But it needed a lot of love. It was outdated and had way too much wallpaper. The walls in the picture below? Those were beige with gold sponge painting.
We slowly began cleaning it up throughout the fall and winter....taking down that half wall above, pulling out bushes, trimming trees, painting, tearing down multiple layers of wallpaper. We received a lot of help along the way. But there was still so much to do and with three little ones, our margin of time and energy was low. I often wondered how long we would just stare at walls with half torn down wallpaper.
Fast forward to the spring. After my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage four cancer in May, we decided to spend the summer with him and our family in Pennsylvania. House projects seemed insignificant at that point and our priority became packing up for the summer. So many people helped us get ready to go....watching the kids, running errands, even helping weed, plant and mulch our barren landcaping areas just to add a little life to the yard.
After a whirlwind couple weeks of getting ready, we left.
On the drive to PA, my phone rang. It was a friend who had offered to paint my dining room while we were gone, since I didn't have time to finish it before we left. She casually asked what other projects were on our list for the summer...just in case she had some free time, maybe she could work on something. I told her I would email her the project list I had made before our plans for the summer had changed. And that was that.
Now, this friend happens to be
incredibly gifted in making things look beautiful. I can't explain it...you just have to see how she transforms anything ordinary into something amazing. She also happens to have an incredible heart to love and serve and an incredible capacity to get things done. And we happen to have a pretty amazing community of people who love to take care of each other and family who loves us a lot.
So as we lived life a few hundred miles away, our house became a work zone. For eight weeks, people were in and out of our house....stripping wallpaper, painting, repairing, remodeling, decorating, mowing, trimming, cleaning, organizing...etc. Everyone who helped was sworn to secrecy so we had no idea all that was being done.
Imagine coming home after eight weeks away...emotionally spent, spiritually poured out...hearts torn between wanting to stay with hurting family and wanting to be home. Knowing that whatever condition a house is in, it is still home...still comfortable, familiar and refreshing.
And then imagine walking in your front door and not seeing half torn down wallpaper or the hole in the floor or the half finished bathroom or holes in the screens or boring beige paint or unfinished trim around the doors or overgrown bushes or spots on the carpet or the dust and dirt that would naturally accumulate when left untouched for eight weeks.
Imagine, instead, seeing freshly painted walls, a brand new bathroom, painted trim and doors, amazing decorating, a beautiful tile solution to that hole that would have stayed in the floor for years, new screens in the windows, clean carpets, clean windows, fresh flowers and scripture throughout the house, an organized pantry, a stocked refrigerator, frozen meals in the freezer, fresh fruit on the counter, and dinner hot and ready in the crockpot.
Any one of these projects, or even just a clean house, would have been a huge blessing to come home to. But it was all done. Years worth of projects done in eight weeks.
I don't really have the words to describe what we felt when we walked in the door, except that I cried. A lot. And felt loved. So overwhelmingly loved. It's unreal. Because this doesn't happen. Friends don't do this. Even really good friends.
Except that this does happen. And friends do this. And family. And some people we didn't know that well. And some people that we have never even met. Not because they have nothing better to do with their time. These people have jobs and houses and kids. In fact, the friend who organized this whole thing has four kids. And the friend who redid our bathroom has a new house that needs more work than ours. And people came from not just down the street but from across town and even from out of town.
Why? That's what our neighbors, who watched people go in and out of our house all summer, wanted to know. Who does this?
People who love Jesus and as a result, love the people around them. They may tell you that they wanted to bless us because we sacrificed our summer. But all of what went on this summer... us moving, them serving us...it's all part of a much bigger story going on. It's the gospel in action....a reflection of God's love for his people even when we don't deserve it. A picture of how God is making everything new. How, through Christ, He breathes life into dead places and restores what has been broken. It is a picture of love and sacrifice and undeserved blessing.
And in the end, this is just a house. It is an incredible blessing and the gift of a new home has, in many ways, refreshed our family. But I know that the newness will fade. Things will be broken. Dirt will stain (and already has). My hope and comfort cannot be in a house because a house, no matter how beautiful, cannot fulfill. But what happened this summer points to Jesus and Jesus does fulfill. He doesn't fail or fade. He is where life is found. His love for us is so real and His glory is so great. Everything good is from Him. I am thankful for this truth. And I am so thankful to live life with a community of believers who know this truth and daily live it out. Our lives and our relationships are not perfect and are often messy, but our pursuit of Jesus is what unites ordinary people on mission together to bring heaven to earth.
Here are some pictures of what we came home to! You cannot fully appreciate the newness if you didn't see the house before. But hopefully it gives you a glimpse of the amazing work they did.
