My house.....is a very, very, very nice house...
(I think this was a Beatles song...yes? ...no?)




As I look forward to this new season of my life, I'm contemplating some significant changes...like a different home. A home that I can enjoy as a single, empty-nester, yet one that will attract and welcome my treasured family loved-ones and dear friends when they come to visit. And so, the small sign you see in front strip of lawn by the sidewalk, advertises the fact that this house is for sale.
I've raised three children in this house for the past 17 years. We've weathered two new roofs, three dogs, plenty of spills on the carpet, a few holes in closet doors, hornets in the family room, a broken window, hail storms, lightening storms, hot summers, icy winters, lots of birthday parties, proms, homecomings, engagements, weddings, heartbreaks, divorce, prayer and thanksgiving, joyful holiday seasons, Bible Studies, oh...and so much more! Like college sleep-overs, Delti Chi Rho gatherings, tears over the death of a young college co-ed, preparations for travels overseas, prayers for missionary trips, lots of violin recital rehearsals and lessons, angst over a 4-week course at Oxford University, late night hours at the computer doing homework and compiling college and graduate school essays.

Early morning coffee and banana bread
at the kitchen table; the aroma of Thanksgiving
turkey wafting through the house
from the kitchen; card games and
Scrabble; long conversations; laughter
and tears...and so much more.

Banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, french toast, Belgian waffles, Roast Lamb Greek Style with potatoes and carrots, spinach and mushroom quiche and many, many birthday cakes. Oh, did I mention i'Fratelli pizza? Kendall Jackson Chardonnay? And do you remember the Pizza Hut pizza every pay day?

And then, of course, there are the heartaches that always exist within family dyanmics...death, divorce, feelings of abandonment, heartbreak, relationship strains and struggles, spritual battles, financial losses, job losses, job gains, church politics, weight gains (hee hee), competitive loss (Fillies, violin concerto competitions, graduate school denials), broken love lives...just to mention a few.

But...we Vendsels and Bardes's hung in there! We prayed for each other, celebrateted each other, cried for each other, and praised each other (we even fought with each other) within the walls of this "very, very, very nice house"...and I shall miss it sorely!

But I rejoice in my God upon every remembrance of this "very, very, very nice house"...and I pray that all the lessons learned, all the tears shed, all the laughter heard will continue within these walls for the new inhabitants down the line...Bless this "very, very, very nice house" dearest Father and Lord Jesus Christ, and those who will dwell within these walls down the line.