A Home.

So....
the rental we love is ours!
Hooray!
We got news last night from the owners that they were indeed interested in us occupying their home, and everything was finalized this morning. We will "sign" our year lease on Saturday.

This is a big deal for me personally.
One of the hardest hurdles with this whole change has been letting go of our home.
As I have expressed in my previous entry, I love our house.
Note: I do not like the payment, or decreased value.
But I do love our home.
Ryan and I have spent many, many ours making it ours.
Making it a reflection of us.
So, letting it go and leaving it has been more then emotional for me.

In our initial conversations, when the rental house hunt began, I cried.
I didn't want to leave my colorful walls (that took me a year to get just the right colors).
I didn't want to leave our yard, that we worked on the whole first year...and have continued to care for adding little things here that there to make it ours.
I didn't want to leave our memories.
The stories this house holds are already some that I will hold tight to my whole life.
Yes, we have only lived here three years-but they have been three years of stories.

Sniffle.
So, moving on from our home here on Tourbrook Way is a big thing.
One of my greatest hardships in accepting the fact that we were going back to being renters. The thing about renting is that you lease a house that's not yours, it belongs to someone else. Someone else who might have a different style, or might not care about the yard, or might not like color on the walls-therefore having white.
I stressed over what was going to be next.
What would we live in, what would the house look like?
It was important for me to "see" us living there.
And trust me, in the rental house world many houses are...well, just well used.

Then, we found THIS house.
The house we will be renting for this next year.
The house we will move into on June 22nd.
It's a great house.

Located right in the Southport area.
Across the street from a quaint little park.
With taupe walls (some color!)
A beautiful backyard.
And little pieces of character that make the house different.

No, it's not my house. And it might not have everything Tourbrook Way has.
But we will be honored to call it home this next year.
God has answered my little whims.
He knew just what I needed to help this transition be a little smoother.
It will still be VERY hard to let go of this home.
But, knowing there's something lined up next, that I am pleased with....brings peace.

Someday we will own a home again.
One we can call our own.
I can spend a year picking new paint colors.
We can landscape,
and make new memories.

But until then, we have a charming house to call home.
For that, I am thankful.
We have a place to call home.
A roof lined up over our heads.

At the end of the day. A home isn't defined by walls and a roof.
It's defined by the love that it holds.
Our love goes with us.