How did we get here anyway? Where did we begin? I'm not talking about all the way back, that would be pretty boring. I mean, how did we get here, on this plot of land in Maine. Not to mention raising 5 kids!
The Lord. He did it all. He orchestrated my family moving from Vermont to Maine. He directed Matt's family moving to the same area so we attended the same school. That's where we met. And we did everything together. We were best friends before we ever dated. Then we dated for 6 years before we married in 2001!
Even in high school, we both shared the dream of living off the land, working from home, and having a family.
My parents had just purchased land, and for our wedding, gifted us 2 acres of it. The second year of our marriage, we began building our home. We were foolish and naive back then! Just starting out, two incomes, no kids, we built a single bedroom home. We did have the foresight to plan our septic large enough to add on. We just figured when we started a family, we'd build an addition and have plenty of room. Of course, it didn't occur to us at that point that if we were starting a family, likely one of those incomes would stop. I don't know what we were thinking!
The time came when we had our first child, a daughter. She slept in our bedroom...until our second daughter was born. She also slept in our room. Things were getting tight. And I was no longer working, so how on earth were we to add on any more bedrooms? We prayed, but also wondered if we had been mistaken in our plans for this house? We had prayed when we'd been designing and building it, too. Had we not listened? We knew God hadn't made a mistake, so if there was something wrong, it would have been us. We are just bent arrows, after all.
After another year, we thought we were pregnant again. How in the world are we going to fit another child in this house? We considered swapping our living room for the bedroom. That would be awkward. Finally we decided to ask our local Credit Union if there was any chance we could refinance and get a loan. The timing was right, and the Lord blessed again. We were able to take out the amount we would need to build an addition, at a rate which wouldn't even raise our payment or extend our mortgage in years! If you really think about it, it was like we didn't even pay for it. I'm not sure that's quite accurate, but it must be close, right? Oh, and it was a false alert. No baby!
Move ahead a couple more years, here comes that third babe! You may think we were all prepared and ready for more children, but nothing could be farther from the truth! The Lord had led me back to school, and I was two weeks in when I found out I was pregnant. "God!! What are You doing?" I continued in school, studying nutrition, psychology, English and sociology, until our first son was born. Another amazing story for another time, perhaps.
More stories in there, but ultimately, I didn't finish my own schooling, as the Lord again led me down another path. This time my jobs were wife and mother first. Those have stuck. I have since realized that all He had brought me through was preparing my heart for these tasks. Only barely. I have only been growing in Him ever since. Two more blessings from the Lord have graced our home. Another son, and another daughter. Over time, I'll introduce them and all their charms.
It just amazes me, as I look back over our marriage, how much the Lord has worked in us each. Too many stories to tell, yet they are all fascinating, and if asked, I'd share!!
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