To the tenants who will occupy our sweet home once we move:

Welcome to a blessed space. 

We prayed for God’s provision when we were looking for somewhere to live once we got married, and this home was the result of those prayers. We then prayed we could use this house to be a blessing to those in our life, that it would be a place of peace and rest and warmth. It has been a refuge for us during harder days, and an oasis for us when the honeysuckle is blooming and it’s hard to not be happy.

I will miss the creaky wood floors in the hallway – and trying to remember which spots to avoid as I tiptoed to the kitchen in the mornings while Eric was still sleeping.

I will miss cooking on that fantastic gas stove – the house may be old, but the stove is new, and I don’t know how I am going to go back to cooking on an electric stove after being spoiled here.

That screened in porch with double french doors is the crowning glory of the house. Please tell me you will refrain from using AC in the spring and fall, keeping the doors wide open to fill the home with fresh air. The twinkle lights are coming with us, but an easy thing to replace. It’s one of the cutest things about this Sycamore house.

The natural light in that living room is everything. Swoon.

This home is where we learned how to do marriage, how to do life together. We moved in exhausted from wedding planning and a late night drive back from the Memphis airport after our honeymoon. To be honest, I woke up the next morning and cried in the kitchen, not feeling like I was “home” yet. Blank walls and rooms full of boxes didn’t help, and it took a couple of months to settle in. Figuring out how to decorate this space actually took a couple of years as I discovered both my style and the house’s style. You may not have realized yet that homes have their own style that you have to compromise with. There is a unique way to combine your preferences with the things you can’t change, dealing with the sense that something isn’t quite right in that spot.

We battled through multiple instances of one income in this home. God always provides.

We hosted lots of parties and dinners here – the small space creates a sense of coziness that larger homes just won’t. Don’t be afraid to fill the home past the capacity you assume it has; rub shoulders with friends and pull out camping chairs and invade personal space. And don’t be too polite to allow guests to help with dishes after all is eaten and enjoyed. Without a dishwasher, you are going to want the help, and it creates a deeper sense of friendship between people when you let them in to the gunk and the grime of your life (both literally and metaphorically).

Speaking of doing dishes, find ways to enjoy that time with your spouse. See it as a chance for quality time and conversation about the day. So often, Eric and I found ourselves complaining when we didn’t maintain the sink and found ourselves with 45 minutes of soapy work to do. Yet there were some sweet moments at the sink, too. Moments when I saw a husband who wanted to serve me despite that service involving a dreadful chore. Unexpected conversations about life and about us. Eric loved me well through dish washing.

{I do suggest investing in a good pair of rubber gloves, though, or your hands will be dry and raw before winter even starts.}

This house was our refuge during seasons of unemployment and seasons of loneliness and seasons of confusion about how to be a 20-something. It was here we curled up on the couch and cried, prayed, fought – together.

We pray this home will bless you the way it blessed us. And don’t mind me if I drive past every so often, just to whisper thanks for the things started here that will continue their story across town.