Home is where...

...the heart is, or so the saying goes.  Like many young couples we rented for the first few years of our marriage.  We moved about every 6 months for the first two years for various reasons (rent went up, saving money, etc.)  It got old, but you do what you have to do.  Then we both finished college and moved to Utah.  We did a lot of apartment hunting before moving and chose an apartment that seemed nice, had decent rent, and enough space for all our stuff and people.  The other selling point on the apartment was Ethne's reaction to it.  She was so happy running around in the apartment as we walked through, she danced and yelled up and down the halls and the living room.  So we signed a lease.

The apartments were fine for a time, but we knew that we would eventually want a house of our own.  One where we couldn't hear neighbors cheering on their favorite football team or screaming at each other over a lost purse.  One where our kids could run around with noisy toys without disturbing our neighbors.  One with a yard that wouldn't be constantly wet and flooded.  So when our renewed lease was nearly up we started house hunting.  It was a little slow at first, and we learned what we really could afford and what we wanted.  Then we found a realtor who was wonderful and really sped up the process.  We were out looking at houses every weekend and started putting in offers on the ones we liked.  The problem was, the ones we liked were popular and kept getting snatched up before we could compete our offers.  This became a little discouraging, until Lawrence reminded me that when it was right the Lord would help us make it work.  And then it did.

I was scared to move, but also excited.  Scared because we would be in a new place where people didn't know Ethne or what happened.  Excited because it meant a clean slate for the same reason.  After our offer was accepted we decided to visit the ward to get a feel for the neighborhood.  We quickly learned that there was at least one family in the ward that would know our story, and that made me feel a little better; it happened to be the bishop's family.

This new ward and neighborhood has been so welcoming.  We have made friends, been given callings, and settled in nicely.  Our house has become a home.  It not only provides shelter from the elements, but also from the world.  We no longer share any walls with other people who don't share our values, we choose what and who to let in.  It is a place where we can be together as a family.  I am thankful that the Lord helped us to find this house and that we have been able to make it a home.