Our Home

Fourteen years ago today, a young, naïve, and eager couple moved to a tiny little hamlet of a long ago town.

After two years of searching for the perfect home, they settled into a home that is now 83 years young. It came complete with a 45 years old pole barn. The house and barn were set upon five acres of land. It was here that the young couple decided to raise their future family.

Both had been raised out in the country. The man raised in Tennessee; the woman in northwest Indiana. Both knew of the charm of country living. The work. The responsibilities. The joy. Both also knew that this is where they were choosing to live.

While in the decision-making process of buying a home, The young man was concerned about the one hour and fifteen minute one-way commute to work for himself, and the one hour commute for his wife. He wondered allowed to his mother-in-law if this was a good choice. The wise words of her answer still ring in his ears today, “Where you work is just that, work. Where you live is where you make your life.”

The young couple, just starting out in life was JP and me. I was working on my second degree, and he was entering his third year as an engineer. We knew what we wanted from life and set out to achieve it.

While we still live on our five acres, the looks of it have changed a bit. We now have a garden, an orchard, a chicken coop, a rabbit pen, a fenced-in pasture, a fenced-in yard, a trail system, and multiple trees, bushes, and flowers.

We have truly turned our little piece of the world into a home. While we work hard to keep it this way and make the ever-needed improvements, we love our little homestead.

While keeping with our belief to stay away from debt as much as possible, we paid off our fifteen-year mortgage in eleven years. We were able to do so by not buying into the debt trap as readily as I once had. For the beginning on that story, click here.

Our home is 800 square feet of living space. While small by today’s standards, we find it is the perfect size for JP, Little Bug, and myself. Whenever I feel a little claustrophobic, I remind myself that we have less to clean, less to heat, and less to light. I also remind myself that there are only three of us living here, and that we have plenty of room, especially by international standards.

Our biological family has just three members, however, our extended and eclectic families are much, much larger. With 40 mentor children over the years, plus all of our friends that have become our eclectic family, our little home has been stuffed to twice-capacity more than once. For several years when our mentor children were in their teen years, it was nothing to walk out of our bedroom and have to step over people that were sacked out all over our floors. Our home has always been filled with love and welcome to all that have needed a refuge from life’s struggles.

JP eventually changed jobs. I eventually became a stay-at-home mom to Little Bug. Our work and school lives changed dramatically, but our little homestead remained the same.  My sweet mama was right when she gave her sage advice, “Where you work is just that, work. Where you live is where you make your life.”

Live your day to the fullest, my friends. Never let fear control you. Conquer that fear with the courage to go after what you are called to do in life, and everyday, choose joy.

~Annie