My Palace

When you live in an area like I do, the far west end, where the "haves" seem to far out number the "have nots," its hard to keep a good perspective on life and wealth. At about 1300 square feet, my house not only boasts bold painted colors through out, but three bedrooms and 1 and half baths. Yep, my house and yard is the smallest of all I know here where I live. In some cases, my house can fit on the first floors of some of my friends' homes.

Sometimes it doesn't bother me at all because I have less to clean and pick-up, but what irritates me is when someone makes a comment about me having three kids here and someday having a possible fourth. Now I assure you that Scot and I do aspire to one day move and we do not plan to make our starter home the 'IT' home, but now is not the time for us to buy a new house. And as God closed the door on a house we were looking at recently, God showed us that we are to stay where we are at for now. God wants us to better our future and the future of our children by staying here for now and so that is what we plan to do. So if we have three kids here and may be one more child for a bit, that is simply between us and God; and you can keep your opinions to yourself thank you.

I don't even know why a bigger house is such a big deal to others anyways? I came from simple beginnings. There was a time in my growing-up that there were 6 of us living in a two bedroom, one bath cap cod and we survived with no harm done. In fact, I think I have a better perspective on life because of that brief time period.

Now I know I am not completely innocent in my feelings about large family and small house. Sometimes, I think to myself that we should definitely buy a new house before possibly thinking about having our next baby. However, if we feel that God is opening doors and we are to start trying for our next child, I am not going to sit there and place boundaries and expectations on God's plans for us. And besides part of walking in faith is jumping into the great unknowns of life and that would very much be one of them as trying to figure out room arrangements and such could be trying. But part of the leaping is trusting that God would reveal the way and for us to give-up the control. Let God take the wheel so to speak.

It's also so hard not to compare yourself with others and other things when the world is so full of comparable things. I do have problems sometimes appreciating things such as this home when I am surrounded by bigger and better things in some regards. BUT I am quickly reminded of the blessings I do have in this house. For instance, I should be thankful that we are even homeowners at all, especially in this day and age with the economy. Secondly, we are now at a point in our lives where we are living comfortably in regards to our income. Soon after Skye was born, Scot and I were living from pay check to pay check. After the bills were paid we barely had a dime to our name. Scot even took a second job for a time in the evenings to help get us through. Due to a smaller mortgage, we have been able to pay down debt (including recently paying off the minivan! whoot! whoot!) and we have been able to put money in our savings. And what excites me too, is that we have been able to help others financially where and when God leads us. This is exciting to me; because just a few short years ago, I would not have believed that would be a possibility for us. I like helping others and donating to organizations. I feel blessed to bless others. We have been practicing the ideas and principles laid out by Dave Ramsey; and they work! Plus living here in this house, our heating and cooling bills are small. It helps when two of your outer walls are insulated by other town homes!

And as small as our little backyard is, I have been amazed by those who have much larger yards, commenting on how they like my yard. They talk about how nice it is and how it must be nice to send the kids outside and be able to stay in with Ian or cook or whatever while being able to see exactly where the kids are and what they are doing. The kids can play while being locked in by a privacy fence. Also, the little up keep for our little yard frees up more time to do other things.

And when I start being envious of others I remember the following verse:

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure. ~Psalm 16:5

My house may be small; but it is what God has provided us for now and so my house is my palace and I am going to be thankful for it.