In the early years of my marriage, I longed to move out of my rented apartment and to buy a house. One day I saw an ad for a house for only $300 down. It wasn’t a dream house, but for just $300, I could dream some new dreams. We moved in that summer.
Because we owned that house, we no longer had to have beige or white walls.
Because we owned our house we could build a sandbox in the back yard and tie a swing onto that big overgrown apple tree, Because this was our home, we could build a patio to sit out on and fence in the yard for our preschoolers.
You can’t do that unless you own your home.
Later, that little first home allowed us to move to Vermont. It gave us what we needed for our next home, the place where our four children would grow and go to school. This was the house that saw graduations and weddings. It was also the place we went back to to heal heartbreak find strength for new beginnings.
This house give me a place to start up my business by putting my living-room furniture in storage and moving in desks and file cabinets.
You can’t do that unless you own your home.
That same house became the place where I could refinance to build an apartment downstairs and Debbie and my grandson DJ could move in while she went to medical school.
You can’t do that unless you own your home.
After Deb and DJ moved on nine years later, it took only a paint brush to remodel those extra bedrooms for two grandson who now visit regularly and are excited to have bedrooms of their own at grandma’s house.
It’s hard to imagine how much opportunity our family would have missed if I had not owned that house.
Two years ago, my house went through one more remodel. When I found myself in this wheelchair, I knew my living would be much easier with a few less walls and door jambs to crash into, so once again, I went to the bank and took out funds to create an open floor plan with lots of room to wheel around and room to gather all the wonderful people who have made all the years in my home so richly rewarding.
You can’t do that unless you own your home.
Because we were able to buy that first home more that 40 years ago, our family has been blessed in countless ways.. Today is my chance to give thanks for that and to encourage our church’s efforts to make home ownership possible for more families.