Our home will be...

Dani had a great idea, and I thought I may as well copy it (check out her blog in my links). ;-) She listed everything she wants in a home and it's so simple but the act of writing your wants and needs out and being able to see them (and especially in a blog where others see them!) makes them so much more real. There's amazing power in writing out your intentions. My mom is a big believer in this idea, and I wrote a list like this when I was car shopping and I stumbled over a car that was EXACTLY everything on my list. I had forgotten about the list long before finding the car and happened upon it later and was astounded. So, that said, Matt and I will be house shopping this Spring/ Summer (please God let us be approved for a good loan!) and I have paper lists around, but here it is out in the open:

My home is:

• A short drive from the beach
• Exposed to a lot of direct sun
• Walking distance to a park
• In a safe neighborhood with at least a couple great neighbors
• A rambler with a basement
• Easy to renovate
• Perfect for entertaining
• Energy efficient

And has:

• 3 bedrooms, 1.75 baths, and space for my office
• A very open and large living room
• A view
• HUGE windows
• Good energy
• A large enough yard for a swing set, 2 fruit trees, and a vegetable and herb garden.
• A big porch

It's a tall order, I know. I have faith that God will put us somewhere wonderful though. It's time to put down roots. As Pastor Tim says, "gotta have roots before you can have fruit!" Of course he's talking about rooting yourself in faith in God but I feel like it applies to this right now. We keep getting "transplanted" from one tiny pot to another and I'm ready for a big roomy orchard, with other nice fruit trees to make friends with.

UPDATE! - We just bought our first house, and we got almost everything on the list. The only things it lacks are the basement, big porch (but the ideal place for a big deck!) and a ready space for my office - we'll have to add that on when we have enough kids to fill up both spare bedrooms, but we'll probably have moved up by then!