Emily

I have someone I want you to meet.

Although if you know me personally, chances are you at least know of Emily.

She has been my friend since the first grade, when I showed up to the school she went to in the middle of our first grade year. {Side note: I was there halfway through first grade because I was struggling academically at the public school I was in, and instead of holding the already 'older' me back into a pre-first class, my parents found a school that had a program that greatly helped those with a 'learning disability'-that was me (my brain did not process following directions very well. Still doesn't!)}.

During the first recess of the first scary day at a new school, a spunky little blond left me a spot in front of her in the recess line. She didn't know it but we shared the same last name. I didn't know it, but she would be come one of my dearest, lifelong friends. I should have had an inkling though, because she had my back all the way back then when she barely knew me...and still does in spite of knowing me as well as any of my sisters!


She and her husband are truly a 'light on the hill'. They live smack dab in the center of the city and have built relationships with their neighbors, when it was easy to and when it was not. There are people who are hospitable when you are invited by them, and then there are those who will open the doors of their home at all hours to provide shelter or a listening ear or a warm meal for their little neighbor girl who's mama is too busy with her boyfriend to make one for her. This is Emily and Eli. She will be embarrassed that i wrote this, but it is true.

They have lived, loved and rendered their current brick home into a historic beauty, bursting with her artistic flair in every nook and cranny. Recently, they sold their home sweet home that their 5 children were bursting out of (did i mention she homeschools 4 of them? More well-adjusted, polite, fun-loving, cool children I've never met. I hope mine turn out half as well!). They did not know where they would be moving to, as the house they had their eye on was in the beginning stages of foreclosure and nothing was 'happening'. Yet, she realized an opportunity to 'wait on God' and did so, knowing-even though not always feeling-that they would find the right place at the right time at the right price (which could not be a high one).

And what do you know?

God came through once again....

and look what a gem He came up with!!

This historic city treasure was on the OTHER end of the forclosure process, came on the market at an unbelievably low price (but where God guides, He always provides...I know this to be 100% true). They put in their offer, it was accepted and God-willing, the closing date is at the end of May. Structurally it is sound, cosmetically it needs a lot of TLC, but it can be quite thankful that it's new owners are some of THE most resourceful do-it-themselvers on this side of the Mississippi.





I am so supremely happy for Emily, who feels unworthy of such a place--but aren't we all kinda unworthy of every good thing?? Of the back of the house she said "Can't you just see Thomas Jefferson surveying the view from up on the porch?". It really does have such a historic aura about it. Still, there is alot of history to be made...


Ok...so maybe I got a little carried away, yet the detail of the home simply begged to be photographed. This post is a "Before-Emily" post. In a few months, I am going to do a "AE" post and you will see the magic she works on any place she resides. The amazing thing? She does it all with jaw-droppingly low cost. She sews and paints, he is the ultimate 'handy man' Like most couples--except us, of course {ahem}, their personalities go about 'getting things done' differently, but in the end they get it done and are still married to tell about it!

My dear friend, there is no doubt that this new neighborhood is where God wants to plant you, and help you 'bloom' so that the fragrance of His love is spread around to those whose hearts are heavy. God has seen the willingness of your hearts and the practical ways in which your hands provide food for the hungary and a safe place to retreat for the lonely. While you could have easily, happily continued where you were, He had something else in mind.
This is more than the front door of a 'new' house...it is a gateway to countless opportunities to grow a strong family that will extend His love to the people He knows about that live behind the doors all around you.