The house soon became redeemed with a redeeming love only God can bring when Eric who was left with the house after a break in the foundation of the heart, then met me and welcomed me to make this once cold structure a warm loving home- with him!
That was in 2013. And even though Eric and I created love and a home and made a life in this house- we have always dreamed since meeting in 2013 of building our own dream from the ground up...something that he and I both saw our life in together- He and I- We-Us. We had no idea when that dream would become a reality. We just kept praying. We sometimes talked about doing that immediately and other times it took the furthest back burner possible. But as we discovered I was pregnant with Ellie we both really got this very serious and deep desire to put our dreams into motion. Not because I was pregnant- just the time God happened to tell us to get serious. In fact, we were out looking and walking at properties one day before Ellie was due. And by the time she was a week old, Eric was back on the phone calling about different plots of land we saw as possibilities. It was just really time. It was God's time. Which does not always feel practical, or sane, or easy. Sure! Let's have Eric work full time, go to engineering school, have a baby, sell our house, move to a rental, and build all at one time. Why not? God has plans to make Himself glorified in this adventure that is the Gladden Family and we welcome Him even when it seems crazy. We have prayed about this for the past four years in no rush. We love our home and the blessing God has turned it into. We are thankful to be so immensely blessed with this structure, our woods, our community, and our area. However, we have always known, especially Eric in 2012, that this is not where we want to be forever. We call this house our "apartment phase." Meaning, most married couples start out in apartments before building their homes, but Eric and I didn't have that adventure together. This house, though an immense blessing we are humbly grateful to possess, has always in our hearts been our temporary place to live before we build OUR home. Our starting place. Our "Apartment phase." I remember telling my best friend to be thankful for the apartment her and her husband shared shortly after they were married. I wanted to have had that adventure with Eric. While a house is a blessing- there is something so special about a married couple starting out with their apartment and making it a home before, one day, should they desire, building their forever home together. You literally get to build a life together. So, that is why this house has been "our apartment phase."
I have enjoyed putting my domestic and decorative touch on these walls. Filling the rooms with scripture, art, memories, and a purpose for more than just a roof over our heads. I got to bring it to life with love and adventure! I am thankful Eric has let me paint and decorate however I have wanted allowing me to discover my taste in decor and design. It changed drastically over 4 years in that house . We have had fun over the years as we put in a new master shower, painted almost every wall, put down new flooring, put in new light fixtures, added a patio and firepit, stained our bathroom cabinets, and built more shelving in our spacious garage. It does not even look like the same house Eric brought me to on our first date. Yet, still- we desire our own creation from the ground up, together. Something that we plan, pick out, imagine, and dream up together.
A funny fact- Eric built and moved into this home while I was still in high school. (For those who do not know, he is 8 years older than me.) I often tease him of the fact that I was literally across the street, in braces, with far too thin eyebrows and short hair, dancing to music, getting ice cream off the ice cream truck, working on science and English projects with friends, just trying to survive high school while he was here living a married grown up adult life with a dog (Cajun) and a fence! How insanely weird that life brought us to this point.
We have this dream and we have given it to God. God has made us be very patient and we will have to continue to be patient as we build our home which should (hopefully) get started in the next month or two. We are so excited! We are currently renting a home while we build. We are not very emotional leaving this house at 135 Armistead because we have known since meeting we were not going to stay here (God willing, of course). Actually, Eric was planning to put it on the market just months into our dating but it just kept being put on a back burner with all the fun of dating and creating a life together. That is because God knew the right time was not then, but now!
I can, on the contrary to my last point, however, state that when I closed and locked the door to the empty house for the last time, alone, after cleaning one last time, that I cried. I did not cry a single tear of sadness. This is a purely happy time. I cried tears of thankfulness, graciousness, and feelings of overwhelming blessings from God. This house He provided us and protected us in. This home where Eric brought me after our first date at dinner to watch a movie. This home that we completely redid together. This home where we were intimate and abundant in love, and silliness. This home where we brought our daughter home and survived one very long yet insanely precious first month together as new parents and a family of 3. This home where we cared for each other in sicknesses and made each other breakfasts and special treats. They were tears of humility, joy, and overwhelming grace from God on our life together here and how God is allowing us this desire we have had. God has given us so much more than tons and I can't even begin to find any way that we deserve it. He is precious!
Eric and I do have these sweet memories of 4+ years together at 135 Armistead Lane, however; we have a dream for something totally different when we picture our true home on earth (as we know our treasures are not on earth, but in Heaven). Something that we dreamed up and talked over together for several years now. A place that reflects both of our desires and dreams and visions of life with our Ellie. A place we can truly grow old together forever. We want a craftsman home. And practically, we want to downsize and eliminate stairs (sans an upstairs bonus for Ellie and friends) as we know we don't want to climb a bunch of stairs when we get old!(We don't like climbing them now and I am a fitness guru!) Haha!! We do not need a huge house nor do we want one. We want porches to sit and rock on together and watch sunsets and talk about our days as we sip a good red. We want space to watch Ellie run and play and grow. We want warmth and trees and a more quiet environment. We have a house plan ready we have dreamed up together and we cannot wait with God's provision and blessing to watch that dream be built to fruition in the very near future. It is super cool---I searched and searched for countless house plans on all the sites. You name it, I searched it. Found many pretty ones, but every one I found needed so many drastic changes to meet both of our desires....to make it "us". So, when I was early on in pregnancy with Ellie, I sat down one afternoon and just drew out what would be the perfect plan. It included everything Eric and I had dreamed up together. Showed it to Eric, then I put it away and kept praying. In October, Eric found me that house plan already professionally drawn up--almost exactly the same. The only differences were actually improvements to the plan we had drawn up and there were hardly any changes whatsoever. Even the details were spot on! Crazy! We put our house on the market with Leonardi Bracken Real Estate and it sold in a week and a half. (Praise God!) Contacted the builder, got a little piece of land we loved and had prayed over, and God has pulled it all together for us!! We will start the building process quite soon! (Will reveal more details later, so be patient with me, haha!) In this home we are creating, we desire to serve, share, and show Jesus! We are literally going to build our home on the word. We will put scripture all over the frame and foundation and hold hands and pray in every room of that house and we will praise God for what He has allowed the little undeserving, humbled, and grateful Gladden family!
When I say we have been praying for the past 4+ years, I mean it! I have prayed over every tiny little detail and bathed it in scripture. Here are the scriptures I prayed specifically and kept on our kitchen wall:
This is our current adventure and we are so excited and happy for the future with our little family!
Now some photos of 135 Armistead for times when we want to reminisce. I am including photos of the building process even though I was not part of it- Eric and Cajun were, and it is neat to see how it all got started because again- we are thankful for God's insanely generous blessing of 135 Armistead and the joy we have had here and the home we were able to make together out of love-because ultimately it is not the house that makes a family happy or full of love! The family makes the house a home. And, we love our home, but are thankful now, for the opportunity to create OUR forever dream home. Praises be to God! It is also fun to see the changes I made to the decor from how it was first decorated! The pictures help us to watch this structure go from a house to a home. 2008-2017. 135 Armistead lane....here's to you!
CONSTRUCTION PROCESS IN 2008: ERIC 26 YEARS OLD; CAJUN 1 YEAR OLD
WHEN ERIC MOVED IN AND PAINTED IN 2008
*Note--Just because it is called a "Sun-room", does not mean it needs to be painted golden yellow!! The sun shines in enough all on it's own! Ha! Eric and I have laughed at this so many times. Friends called it the "Old lady room" Bless. I don't think anybody ever actually like the color of this room. Glad we took care of that eventually! lol!
Soooo much yellow. No good! Eric said it was supposed to be a green...hmm...either way...soooo much yellow!! (I am not a pastel color lover in a house- my mom and sister love yellow)
WHAT WE CREATED
On to the creation of our new forever home!
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