Today I paused to reflect and count my blessings. Looking back on a story helps you see how far you’ve come, and hearing others’ stories about patience in creating a home can be encouraging. At this time of year, when many houses look festive and put together, it’s easy to forget that some of them took years and many challenges to reach that point.
I decided to share my “waiting for my dream house” story. Pull up a chair and grab a hot drink—I’ll summarize the last six years of our journey. The whole story goes back even further, but we’ll start in 2008 for the sake of time.
A lot can change in six years. At the end of 2008, after a long, stressful year of unemployment and uncertainty, my husband and I packed up and left our home in Portland the day after Christmas. We drove into a blizzard toward a rental in a new city where we didn’t know anyone.
My eight-year-old son cried all the way because cars were spinning out on the highway in the blinding snow. He wanted to turn back, but we were already halfway there. It was a stressful three-hour drive, but symbolic: moving into the unknown can be frightening, and sometimes turning back isn’t an option.
It felt like an adventure, heading toward uncertainty.
Our Portland house went on the market in January 2009. We were essentially broke and had moved three hours away to start a new church, leaving friends, family, and our teenage daughter behind to finish her senior year. It was a hard season of sacrifice and adjustment.
The year that followed was challenging. Our Portland home took over nine months to sell. In the rental we had only a few pieces of furniture because we’d left much behind for staging. As renters, we were limited in what we could change—the walls were an unfortunate pink and our lease was short-term—so we had to live with things until our situation settled.
Being a home blogger in limbo was tough. I wanted to make changes but couldn’t. We juggled paying the mortgage on our old house while living in the rental and trying to launch a church. Four weeks before the church opened I had emergency surgery, which added more bills. We worked nonstop to stay afloat.
Alongside church planting, I kept blogging. In the early years bloggers often earned little, so much of my work was a labor of love. There were setbacks and stressful moments, but we kept going.
In October 2009 our Portland house finally sold and we were able to buy the rental. We nearly walked away from the purchase because it wasn’t our ideal home, but starting over with another move felt harder than staying. For practical and financial reasons it made sense to buy and make the most of what we had.
It wasn’t our dream house in style or location, but it offered the chance to create a home we loved. For the first few years we had limited time and money because of church responsibilities and paying bills, so improvements were small and gradual.
Fast forward: we’ve lived in this house five years—the longest we’ve lived in any home since we married. It’s strange that a practical choice turned into our longest home. One of my quiet dreams was to find a house we could live in long enough to shape into our ideal space, and that has happened, bit by bit.
In a roundabout way, this house has become a kind of dream come true. It didn’t start as a dream house, but it’s given us the opportunity to build a home we love.
The grass is always greener where you water it.
Over five years we’ve improved our home one project at a time. Mostly small updates, sometimes larger, always working with whatever time and money we had. It took patience, but the gradual approach was worth it.
A year ago we completed a long-awaited kitchen remodel—almost four years after moving in. That updated kitchen has been a blessing. It may not be the biggest remodel out there, but after years of waiting and hard work, it meant a lot to me.
Although the journey included physical, emotional, and financial challenges, it made us more grateful for our home. The path wasn’t perfect, but here we are. Embrace your house journey—it takes time to build the home you want, and contentment grows along the way.
I’m excited to welcome a new year in this house. It isn’t perfect and there’s more to do, but it’s our home and we’re enjoying it more as the years go by. I have many projects in mind and look forward to seeing how our home evolves.
After Christmas I plan to recap the projects we completed this year—maybe even a big before-and-after post of the whole house. Life will always have twists that change direction, but for now I’m savoring this season, sitting by the fire and taking a long overdue breath. It was a long six years to get here, and I’m ready to relax and enjoy the moment.
Thanks for joining me on this long journey of creating a home.
I hope you’re finding contentment in the season you’re in.