Home Again

This is the farm house as it looks now after the remodeling job that was finished in 2008. I moved back to this house when the remodeling was completed in 2008.


Bill and I got married in 1959. Had he still been living in November we would have celebrated 50 years of marriage. We lived in Jeffersonville Indiana for the first 11 years we were married and all of our children were born there. We lived in the same little house on Victory Court for those years.

In 1971, we bought the farm that my grandfather had bought in 1902. My father was born here as was his little brother that died. My Uncle and Father bought it from their parents and owned the farm I was born on and this farm. They farmed together until my Uncle died in 1969. A little over a year later, Bill and I bought this farm from the heirs to my Uncles estate.

We lived here and raised our children here. Our children were all grown and married and living on their own when Bill decided that we should move to a house we owned in Taylorsville. We moved there in 1997. He was starting to feel his age and felt we should live closer to town. Another factor was that I was going to and coming from the post office at some odd hours. Often leaving before daylight and getting home after dark in the winter. One winter I had to park my car a mile from the house and walk to and from the house in the dark. I did that for almost a week before our road was clear enough to drive all the way home. He didn't like that I had to do that.

Bill died in 2007 after a battle with Pulmonary Fibrosis for over 5 years. When he died, I knew I would be coming back here to live. I know God put it into my heart to want to live here so badly. I acquired my first Rocky Mountain horse in that year. I know God put that desire in my heart as well.

Upon returning to the house and letting my tenants know they would need to move, I found the house in pretty bad disrepair. The man had attempted to do remodeling projects (without asking or telling us he was doing it.) Trash was thrown all over the farm and the yard was overgrown. In short it was a mess. When we first came into the house after they had moved, I could not eat lunch here. I couldn't even go outside and get a sandwich down from the filth and the stench. No one would even use the bathroom inside.

My family started pitching in and cleaning the trash out of the house. My grandsons had so much fun tearing down a closet he had decided to put into one of the rooms. It was only partially and poorly done. They tore out the old deck. We burned and tore stuff out and my family worked so hard to get things done here. Especially Mary Beth. I was still working at the post office so I was gone most of the time. So I felt I contributed little but Mary Beth worked really hard with Chrissy's help and she and Natalie put in several days. Also Debbie and her boys came and worked.

I hired a contractor, Jim Maumaw. A man who is a real workman. He is an old time contractor that knows the value of doing the right job the first time and standing behind his work. He had a good house to work with. My father and a local carpenter, a Mr Brookshire, had built this house. It has stood through a lot of storms. Jim told me that he didn't know why this house had not burned down because of the terrible wiring it it. It was old and outdated and the circuits were overloaded.

My house was built in the 1940s when I was just a very young girl. It was built out of real 2 x 4s and 2x 6s. Good solid oak wood. The floors we had covered with carpet in the 70s are real oak floors. Every part of the house was the work of men who honored God with their work. Jim was amazed that every closet upstairs was within 1/4 inch of being the same size.

The only part of the house that was not well built was the sun room we had added onto the house in 1988. The roof was leaking and the ceiling were about to fall in. Some of the floor was rotted out and a big section had to be replaced. Jim took a well built house that was run down and made it a place that is comfortable and I could be proud to have guests to come in for a visit.

My parents were good Christian people that honored God with the lives they lived. Daddy made a good living for his family and Mother made a comfortable home. We were warm and well fed from the fruits of their labors. We also learned the value of contributing to the work by helping Mom in the house and working in the fields.

It was my desire to honor God with the house that my Dad labored to build with his strong work worn hands and the sweat of his brow. He had honored God all his life and now I felt a strong desire to honor God and at the same time honor my father for his faithfulness to God.

There was a lot of tearing out. Old carpet, rotten places in the floors, old cabinet and bathroom fixtures. I won't go into all the details of what we did but it does have a country home look with many modern updates. A larger bathroom with a Jacuzzi and a beautiful kitchen with modern appliances and beautiful oak cabinets are two of the biggest improvements. I also have a modern laundry room on the first floor.

As the work progressed, I started to think about something I had read about the church I attend. Southeast Christian Church in Louisville Ky. They say of the church that it was built on the word of God, under grace and under the cross of Jesus. All over the church on floors now covered by carpet are scripture verses that members wrote there. In the Church building, in the entry halls and in rooms where we study the Bible in our Bible Study Classes. There is scripture on the floors that is hidden by the carpet but we know it is there and we walk, study, worship and pray on the word of God.

So to honor God in my home, I borrowed that idea and I invited friends and family to write their verses of scripture. On the bedroom floor upstairs where all the rooms are carpeted including the huge walk in closets, is written John 3: 16. "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life."

We honored God with scriptures from all through the Bible. Each putting a favorite verse or many favorite verses. In the new addition in the bathroom there is scripture. In the sun room where the walls were torn out to insulate and redo the walls there is scripture. In the laundry room there is scripture. We put scripture in the closets and on the floors of every upstairs room.

God is here in my house and I often feel his presence because we are living on and covered by the word of God. Because we honor him here in my house and on my farm by asking him for wisdom in the decisions I make and give him thanks for all things.

As we pray together at night my brother, Bob and I pray for family and friends. We thank God for his many blessings and for working in our lives. We pray for the protection of our families and friends and ask God to bless them. We pray for those who are sick by name. We pray for our country. And yes we pray for our leaders. God has honored our prayers and we see prayers being answered.

May God bless and keep you in this coming year. The New Year that we have welcomed in today. May you know the joy and peace that comes from knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And may you learn to honor him in everything you say and do.

Regards

Mary

Call unto me and I sill answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Jeremiah 33: 3

God is a gentleman and He always knocks at the door; He has never pushed it open and He never barges in. He waits to be wanted He waits to invited and He waits to be loved."

Peter Marshall