house #4

House #4.  We spent years referring to this home as the one that held the "glory years" of our marriage.  But looking back, this is only partially true.  This house was our home for a whopping 3 years.  A record for us at that point!

We moved out of the cute old brick house 3 weeks before I gave birth.  We spent one week in a hotel, our "things" in a storage unit.  I kept thinking please Lord, don't let me give birth while living in a hotel.  And thankfully our prayer was answered.  We moved into our little 1600 square foot all-siding home in the north part of town just days shy of birth.

Friends from church laid me on my couch and unpacked my kitchen for me.  People rolled out to help.  And yet, a whole week passed before I had my next little bundle of joy.  A boy.

We decorated his room in a barn theme and our daughter's in the cutest shades of pink and green.  Life was good on little ole Poppy Lane.  We were happy, arguing less and less, and finally figuring out that thing called marriage.

I was a stay-at-home mom in the truest sense of the word, enjoying every minute with my little ones.  We had many parties, playdates, and library story times.  I was finally getting to do all the things I couldn't with a daycare being run in my home.  I was LIVING THE DREAM.

The Mister, meanwhile, was working in pharmaceuticals still.  And during this time, he finally got on with a great company with an awesome product.  Remember the year the U.S. ran out of flu shots?  Well Mister was selling Flumist, a new product, and the windfall for that company was amazing.  He had a great season.

And YET.  He was still discontent.  He and his brother had talked for years about making a go of a home building company.  His brother had been mostly in commercial construction to that point and was interested in building homes.  Mister was the best salesman we all knew.  So WHY NOT?

Once again, the stable-job-holding part of me was crying out NOOOOO!!!  But the now-content wife was fearful of holding her husband back from his dream.  I couldn't stand the thought of hearing my husband tell me for years to come that I had kept him from his DREAM.  Nope, let's follow his lead!  And off we went.

He was having a great time working for and with his brother.  Life hadn't been better.

And YET.  At home, the walls were beginning to close in on him.  So I'm sure you can imagine what happened next when he came across what we call "house porn".  This little website where you can see all the houses for sale in our area?  Yep, he had found the next dream house.  It was in the far northeastern part of our town and it was huge!  And dirt cheap!  With a pool!  In a cul-de-sac!  He wanted that house.  And he wanted it bad.  We had the cash to remodel!  WHY NOT??..........

(to be continued....)