Tuesday 4: Houses

 Before we get started,  I wanted to let our fellow bloggers know that yesterday we lost another dear blogging friend to cancer, our sweet friend Debby Ray from My Favorite Things entered heaven's gates after fighting a valiant battle.  Her son Adam posted on Facebook yesterday "Mom finally got her miracle today. It is not the kind that extends her life on this earth, but rather one of being fully restored in every way while finding reunion with the ones that left before her. Eternal-life…the ultimate miracle."

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Ray family and Debby's many extended family and friends. May the Lord comfort you and give you peace in knowing that Debby is safe in the arms of Jesus today, resting in her eternal home.

Houses

Hi and welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 kept alive in her memory.

This week's questions come from Pamela Steiner from Florida and the Open Doors Closed Windows blog.

Hey! that's ME!!  I sent Annie a message this past week and suggested these questions, and she decided to use them...so I guess I'd better be sure to answer them! I do hope you will all play along too, and please give detailed answers! I'd love to hear more about your home...since we could only ask four questions, she couldn't list all the questions I was thinking about...so please embellish as much as you want.  It would be fun to hear all about your house that you live in!  Big, small, apartment, manufactured, condo, farmhouse, ranch...whatever it may be...please tell us all about it! And we'd love to hear how you decided upon this particular place to live. Or better yet, share some pictures if you can!  (But "word pictures" are always good!)

Let's jump right in:






1. In what part of the country is your current home located? North, South, East, West, Mid West,
coastal, rural, city, mountains or plains?

I live in the sunny south, in north-central Florida.  The town where we live is mostly rural...a very small town in between many small lakes.  Hence, the name: Interlachen, which literally means, "between the lakes".  For more information on our town, look HERE and HERE.  It is a small community, but we are within 12 miles of a larger city, Palatka, and to our west we are about 30 miles from Gainesville, where the University of Florida Gators reside.

Here's a few pictures from the old historical downtown area.

This is the church where we attend.

There is a very interesting museum in this building.

2. Why did you choose your present home, and how long have you lived there? 

Most of my regular readers know we moved here about 18 months ago after a long search for the right house.  We were living about 30 miles away, and when our son got married to a girl from this town and moved here, we started coming up here to attend the church where they were married.  We fell in love with the church people and the community and put our house up for sale. It took about nine months for our house to sell, and after searching for a long time for the right house, when our house sold, this house came available for sale and it was perfect for us.  Our # one thing we were looking for was a house on or near one of the lakes or ponds in this area.  Much to our great surprise and pleasure, this house sits on a small pond that is rather private, being that there are no other people except for one neighbor next to us, and another way on the other side of the pond. The pond is too small for boating so it is perfect for watching the wildlife/birds and sunsets. We named it "Still Waters Pond" because we believe God has led us here to live "beside the still waters".  (see Psalm 23:2)  You can read more about this in a previous post HERE

This is our home. Yes, it is a manufactured home, but it is very comfortable and affordable, and we were blessed to find it!  Actually, we believe God was holding it especially for us. 

And here's a sampling of the views...These should explain why we love living here:

Male Wood Duck

Great Blue Heron (catching a small fish!)

Great White Egret

Canada Geese

Bluebirds! 

Beautiful reflections and Sunsets on Still Waters Pond

3. What do you like the most about your present home?

 

Well, all of the above reasons already mentioned, but most of all the fact that our "kids" live nearby...one adult son lives with us and commutes to work from here each day, and our married son and "daughter in love" live about 1 mile away...so that is what we love most. 

 But as far as the house itself goes, I love that we found this house at a very reasonable price in a location that we love, and that it was actually big enough to hold most of our family "heirlooms"...antiques, etc., that were passed down to us from our parents and grandparents.  If you've read here for very long, you know that I have a lot of "stuff", but so much of it is "stuff" that has memories attached from loved ones, and there was no easy way to just walk away from them. I know that when our time comes to move on to our heavenly home we can't take any of this with us, but until then, we will appreciate the things that have been entrusted to us and be thankful for the loved ones who gave so much of their lives to make sure that we had opportunities to move forward in life in a very positive way.


4. If money were no object, is there anything you would change about your present home, or would you keep it just the way it is?

One thing that I want to do is replace the carpet in the living/dining room with a good vinyl plank floor. The carpet was new when we bought the house, but it was a very cheap carpet, and it shows it already.  We track in a lot of sand and it is very hard to keep the carpet clean. 

The other thing is we know that if we live here long enough we will eventually need a ramp to get into the house. Already the steps up into the house are challenging, and we have some friends who have difficulty with steps due to having to use a walker and/or wheelchairs. I love to entertain, but we are limited in who we can invite over if they can't get into the  house.  So that is on the wish list, but ramps are expensive to build, so it may be a while. 

Also, if money were no object, we would finish the landscaping in both the front and back yards. Our back yard in particular slopes down to the pond and there is a lot of run-off when it rains, washing away good soil. So we really need a retaining wall of some kind and some decent grass/landscaping to flatten out the back yard and prevent erosion.  I sometimes fear we will be like the "foolish man who built his house on the sand".  Our house is plenty high enough so there is no danger of flooding, but it definitely needs to have some erosion control.

So that is the story about our house.  I do hope many of you will share what you love about your house too. 

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home"

"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home

A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there

Which seek thro' the world, is ne'er met elsewhere

Home! Home!

Sweet, sweet home!

There's no place like home

There's no place like home!

An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain

Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again

The birds singing gaily that came at my call

And gave me the peace of mind dearer than all

Home, home, sweet, sweet home

There's no place like home, there's no place like home!"

(John Howard Payne)

"Cherish your family for they are your treasure...

A storehouse of riches...wealth beyond measure."

Yes, when all is said and done, the size, shape, location or beauty of your house doesn't really matter. 

What really matters is the love that is found within those walls, and the family that you treasure.

And when our earthly house is gone and we are heaven bound,

to be welcomed home to heaven is the greatest treasure found.

Let's sing along with Perry Como as he sings "Bless this House"

"Bless this house, O Lord we pray

Make it safe by night and day

Bless these walls so firm and stout

Keeping want and trouble out

Bless the roof and chimneys tall

Let thy peace lie overall

Bless this door that it may prove

Ever open

To joy and love

Bless these windows shining bright

Letting in God's Heavenly light

Bless the hearth, ablazing there

With smoke ascending like a prayer!

Bless the people here within'

Keep them pure and free from sin

Bless us all that we may be

Fit O Lord to dwell with thee

Bless us all that one day we may dwell

O Lord! With Thee!

With Thee"

(Mark Ian Stewart)

Good Night every one...Be at peace with one another

and may love dwell in your home forever.

Amen.

Now, let's go over to Tuesday 4 and see what others are sharing about their homes.