A Big, Red Farmhouse Dream Come True

A Sentimentalist at Heart

This type of scenery brings my heart much joy!

I am a sentimentalist at heart and one of my biggest sentimentalities is for all things pastoral, countryside, farmhouse living.  Granted, I did not even grow up in the countryside but on the shores of Lake Michigan, but every year at Christmas, we’d return to my native roots of upstate New York to visit family where I was indulged with a love for this lifestyle. 

Oh, how I loved going back to the warmth and “back home” comfort of the farmhouses my parents grew up in.  I loved the natural beauty and quietness of the countryside and the peace it evoked.  I loved the old barns dotting the landscape. I loved the sights and sounds of the animals, primarily dairy cows.  I loved the wide, open spaces of the fields. I loved the sense and nostalgia of a simpler, less hurried life on a farm although I know in reality it was a lifestyle requiring lots of hard work.  

All of that to say, that love has brought to me where I am today with a deep desire to live in a farmhouse out in the countryside.  Since I got married nine years ago last month and we moved into a small city house in Niles, I have longed to live in the country!  Micah and I specifically wanted a home with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open dining and living room area, big windows with a lot of natural light, hardwood floors, a big kitchen, a beautiful old staircase, a fireplace, a back porch, and at least an acre of land. 

To add to that, I really wanted large, open fields in front of or in back of our house and cows grazing nearby.  🙂  And to top that off, we did not want a “fixer upper” seeing how neither of us are very skilled in that area.  A TALL order I know, but hey, God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). 

Dream Hunters

Well, for the last two years Micah and I have steadfastly looked for such a perfect farmhouse but to no avail.  Everything we found was either 1.) we loved the land but hated the house or 2.) we loved the house but hated the land.  And pretty much everything that was not a “fixer upper” and all that we wanted was way out of our price range.  So needless to say, after two years of discouragement, I gave up looking.  

I think God often wants to use those desert times–or giving up on our strength and effort to make our dreams come true–so He can take over and make them come true for us in His wise, sovereign, and usually unexpected timing.  Not only does He get all the glory and praise then, but we also get the confidence, joy, and peace knowing it’s all from Him! 

Our Secret Valentine

So in regards to our much-longed-for, put-off dream, that is exactly what happened!  Our whirlwind dream house/secret Valentine blew in the Monday before Valentine’s Day in February when I got an e-mail from the realtor we have been in contact with over the last two years. 

It was a house listing for a big, red, old farmhouse, and the beauty and unique look of the house’s exterior caught my eye immediately.  But when I saw that it was in Niles, I was not so interested as moving out of Niles, Michigan, to Indiana was another thing I really wanted seeing how Micah works in Elkhart, and Evan has been going to a Christian school in Granger. 

In spite of my drawback, however, I thought it best to go ahead and at least click through the photos of the house’s interior, and as I did, I was amazed that this house was SO much of what we had dreamed about and more seeing how it also had a big, beautiful, built-in bookcase; thick, gorgeous, white window trim, door trim, and baseboards; and 1.5 acres of land including a wooded area!  Yes, it definitely needed some updating but nothing major from what I could see.  I went ahead and sent the link to Micah saying, “Wow if this wasn’t in Niles, I’d be all over it!” Awhile later he responded, “I like it!” and so our whirlwind only picked up speed. 

We finally got to tour the house Wednesday night and before doing so, I asked the Lord to take away any desire for it or give me that “I could take it or leave it” sense if it was NOT what HE wanted for us.  That is what God always did before with other houses that I thought I’d love, having seen them online, but that love would often diminish after seeing them in person. 

Well, after touring the house, Micah and I actually felt excited about the possibilities

My favorite room of the house . . . The dining room! This was the former owner’s furniture by the way.

it held, especially in regards to a greater means of ministry and hospitality.  When we got home that evening, the realtor called to tell us that if we were really serious about the house though we needed to give our best offer by the next morning because there were two other offers up for bid. 

A Dream Come True!

Believe me, Micah and I are NOT quick decision makers or big money spenders so this was a BIG stretch for us, but sensing God’s provision in it, we stepped forward in faith the next day and actually offered $7,000 more than the asking price because we felt that it was such a good or right thing.  I felt so strongly about it that I even wrote a letter to the seller telling them how much we liked it and about my love for farmhouses.

Now I have to say that one thing that amazed me from the beginning was the relatively “low” price for the house.  We had seen so many other houses in worse condition for more money that it seemed almost too good to be true.  Micah figured two big things going against it though were that it had no garage and that it was next to a major road in our area.  I really did not like the idea of being by the major road, but the saving factor was that it was shielded by woods and was a good distance from the road.  

Well, that night after 9:00 our realtor finally called to let us know that our offer was accepted!!  It really felt like a very loving gift from my very sweet husband who would often talk about potentially living in a tiny house to save money or buying our next house debt free.  He knew my heart though for more space and was willing to sacrifice for it on my behalf even though he really liked the farmhouse as well. 

And of course, ultimately, I felt this dream house/secret Valentine was a great love gift from the Lord on this very special Valentine’s Day because everything ultimately comes from Him, our Sovereign King and Dream Fulfiller.  And truly, this house was like a hidden, secret treasure as we had never noticed the house before and here it was by a major road!

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight & in Fear

Now while all of this was exciting, it was surreal and a bit scary basically agreeing to buy a house after seeing it only once at night when it was dark out and all the blemishes are hidden.  But God often does not call us to walk in comfort and trust in our own senses (otherwise we’d probably run away scared) but in conviction to His Word and Spirit’s leading . . . “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). 

So with our new purchase, our whirlwind once again picked up in speed with

While our house was rather small, it was very cute and cozy, and people told me they knew it would sell quickly based on those factors.

all that ensues buying a house—from signing many papers to a house inspection to preparing our house to sell.  And literally, a week later on Wednesday, February 20, our house went on the market with seven showings the first day and three the next.  By the end of Thursday, we had three offers! 

God obviously was greatly blessing and providing for us because we received $5,000 above our asking price of $100,000.  It is crazy to think that just two years before our realtor valued our home at $75,000, and now we were getting $30,000 more.  God does have GOOD and WISE purposes in our waiting upon Him!  “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:25).

I must say though that I was becoming full of fear.  The same day our house went on the market, we received the results of our farmhouse home inspection, and let’s just say the list of home concerns was NOT short but the house is very old as it’s dated to 1905.  One of the biggest things that freaked me out from the inspection was the fact that the water in the house was all discolored being that it’s well water and the house simply has old, rusty pipes.

This, among other fears I’m sure, kept me awake in the middle of the night the following Thursday night.  Instead of just lying in bed and going nowhere healthy mentally and emotionally though, I got up and read my devotionals for the new day of Friday, February 22.  Amazingly, both of my devotional readings were on none other than “Do not fear!”  I love it when the Lord does that! 

The first devotional reading was on “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.“ (Genesis 15:1).  Not only is Jesus all of my needed protection from all of the fears and troubles that would assail me over the next few months, but He is also all of my needed blessing!  Even when a house or people would fail me in so many ways as they did, Jesus is still my exceeding great reward or the real prize of my life.  Because even if I lost everything, I would still have Jesus and eternal life with Him someday. That’s the best thing that nobody or nothing can take from me!

The second devotional was on “I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.  So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. . . . For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you“ (Isaiah 43:9-10, 13). 

I must say the realtor’s photos made our house look really good and definitely much bigger.

Once again, God was telling me He had me and my life circumstances in His almighty hand and He’d strengthen, help, and hold me.  What a sweet and wonderful God we serve to give both of these verses on a night I greatly needed them.  And they really did calm and comfort my anxious heart that night sensing that the Lord was going before me, and believe me, there is no greater comfort to the soul than that!

A Very Bumpy, Emotional Road

The road before us continued to have many ups and downs or joys and frustrations.  The farmhouse closing went well on March 15 at least, and praise the Lord, the buyer of our house let us stay in our home for another month even though initially she wanted us out by March 21.  There was NO way I was going to be ready because not only did I have two little children to compete with, but I also had to deal with a very ill-kept farmhouse that needed lots of cleaning, painting, and desperate remodeling in the main floor bathroom and kitchen.

The former owner of our farmhouse was a 32-year-old single guy who lived there with his girlfriend and two dogs, and needless to say, they did not take very good care of their home.  Dog hair was all over the house, and literally nothing was cleaned including the refrigerator which had food all over it and even blood left in the freezer; the toilet which unbelievably had stains left on the seat; and the kitchen walls which had food encrusted to them.

I could not believe someone would leave a “new” home for the new homeowners in such a disgusting manner.  It was extremely frustrating, and I felt quite overwhelmed as I had to do most of the work to make it “home.”  I do praise the Lord though for those willing to come out when they could to help me paint as that was an overwhelming task in and of itself!!

It was so nice to get our bathroom sink at last after living at the house for a month! Our shiplap bathroom turned out very nice by the way!

As for the remodeling, thankfully, our good friend Adam who has done a lot of work for us over the last nine years happened to be available to begin remodeling the kitchen and bathroom almost as soon as we took ownership on March 14 so that was a BIG praise!

As you may know, however, remodeling includes a lot of unforeseen, ugly dilemmas and delays plus a lot of work on the owner’s end for we had to order everything from cabinets to sinks to flooring to new light fixtures to appliances. It was quite time consuming to say the least!

To make matters worse, we had a lot of issues with our kitchen cabinets.  They all arrived March 18, but one of the main end corner cabinets  was ordered incorrectly (way too small), the second one came in damaged, and the third one finally arrived safe and sound on May 22 . . .  Yes, TWO months after our initial ones all arrived!!

And what was even more frustrating than that was the company we ordered our cabinets from was NOT communicative, customer-service oriented, or sympathetic.  I was extremely disappointed to say the least!!  😦  Unfortunately, we ordered our bathroom vanity from the same company and that was backordered til April 26.  But then it supposedly was stuck in Canadian Customs for two weeks so did not ship until May 12?!  We did not receive that then until the end of May as well!  Home ownership is definitely full of challenges!

Farewell to Our Sweet Abode

In the meantime, we did get our house all packed up, moved, and cleaned out by

Our home of 9 years! It was in a neighborhood within walking distance of both the local middle school and high school so it got lots of foot traffic. I amazingly don’t miss it.

Saturday, April 13.  Praise the Lord for Micah’s dad helping us move out the majority of our house!!  He was such a BIG blessing as there were so few able to help us out overall.

And praise the Lord for sending a dear friend from a city 30 minutes away to help me clean out my house that Saturday!  She and her two girls were literally a God-send and such an encouragement as I was overwhelmed and weary by this point!

Our house closing was on Monday, April 15, and it went well.  I was amazed to learn that a 21-year-old, single young lady was the one buying our house though.  To be so young and be an oncology nurse and already buying a house, she must be very ambitious!

Now in leaving our home, I was not very emotional until the Sunday before our closing, the day we closed the front door for the last time.  Micah, who’s not very emotional, and I just sat in the car and bawled our eyes out.  After all, we spent nine years there–moved in as newlyweds and had our first child born there and so lots of sweet memories.

We did put A LOT of time, work, and money into that house over the years as well but it needed it.  It was actually Micah’s great-grandparents’ home way back in the day, but then it had been used as a rental for years.  Micah bought the house for $50,000 from his grandpa in December 2008 when we were dating.  I wondered what on earth he was thinking in buying it, but it turned out to be a very cute, sweet home in the end.  I really am so thankful for the time God gave us in living there, but I am thankful now that He has brought us to this new time and place of expanding our borders.  We really did expand them too by going from around 1,000 square feet living to 2,300 square feet!

Continuing Trials to My Faith

So while we had moved everything to our farmhouse now, it was an absolute mess with everything on the main floor because the upstairs carpets needed to be cleaned still, and there still was quite a bit of painting to be done.  Thankfully, Micah’s parents were gracious enough to let us stay at their home for two weeks so that we would have more time to put our home in order.  This was a HUGE blessing as it was so nice to work on the house in the daytime and then be able to just walk away from it at night and not worry about cleaning up all the messes.

By Saturday, April 27, though we f-i-n-a-l-l-y felt we were ready to move into our

The kids seem to be adjusting well to their new house and are enjoying their new, big, light-filled bedrooms.

new home sweet home!  It has been interesting living here for the last two months because we have lived most of that time until Thursday, June 20, without a kitchen sink.  Due to the cabinet mishaps and then a kitchen countertop mishap as well (the sink hole was cut too big), we had limited cooking and ate out a lot more than usual but took advantage of using a lot of paper plates and plastic eating utensils at home however.

To add to that challenge, I’ve had to deal with a lot of stress with the kids’ behavior and basically over a month of poison ivy on my right hand and arm.  In mid-May I developed tiny, itchy blisters on one finger that grew into an ugly mass that developed into a burning infection.  It was thought to be either poison ivy or impetigo, and as soon as it healed, I seriously developed another rash–different but similar to the first one–all up my right forearm.  Much to my dismay, it also turned into an infection almost three weeks ago.  This time it was definitely poison ivy, and boy, it has been an ugly, awful, stressful experience!  Sadly, I really do not do well with physical suffering.  😦

This is bad but not even the worst of the poison ivy.

This was only my second encounter in life with poison ivy, and it caused breakouts throughout my body including other rashes, hives, and even eczema.  My mom is very allergic to poison ivy so I guess I am too unfortunately!  Praise the Lord, after getting on steroids and antibiotics, it dried up after a week and then the following week the scabs all started coming off but left several red spots and the biggest spot was red, puffy, and a bit sore, so I’d really appreciate your prayers for complete healing.

Something I have learned from this experience is a whole new appreciation for my skin!  It protects us from so much we don’t even know about, so praise the Lord for this marvelous gift!  And praise the Lord too for medicine and for His amazing handiwork in healing our bodies.  It has been cool to see the transformation of my arm from awful to almost back to normal.  Believe me, miracles still happen each and every day in our bodies’ makeup and function “‘for in him [God] we live and move and have our being'” (Acts 17:28).  God is awesome!

Now sadly to say, Evan also developed a contact dermatitis rash (most likely from poison ivy in our woods) on his fifth birthday on June 2.  A few days later after the rash got worse and worse, I took him to the doctor who gave him a steroid, and while he started recovering from that rash, he broke out with another worse rash all over his body.

It was crazy and stressful, and after a week of not getting better, back to the doctor he went.  The doctor was quite baffled and said he had never seen anything like it as it was not bacterial or viral.  It was not really bothering Evan so the doctor sent me home just telling me to put Calamine lotion on him to dry it up and he has greatly improved since then.  Praise the Lord!

Needless to say, all of these challenges or trials have made me really question our leap of faith into this whole mess which it has often felt like due to meeting challenge after challenge.  It has been so discouraging but I know the Lord is trying to teach me patience and that HE is my “exceeding great reward” or that Jesus is enough.  This has been a difficult lesson as it is so easy for me to find my comfort and joy in my circumstances and health and not in Him alone.

Anyways, in the end, I really do believe we are where God has us, but Satan has just been trying to defeat and destroy my faith in the Lord’s goodness.  I know from my life experiences though that so many times the places of God’s greatest blessings are preceded by Satan’s greatest discouragements so I am excited to see what God has in store for us here!  🙂  He really is good, faithful, and wise even when it does not feel like it or we can’t see it right now.

The Beauties of Farmhouse Living

On a positive note and in spite of the many trials or challenges to my faith, some things I am loving about our new home include:

• Wildlife in our backyard!  We are having more and more visits by deer lately,
  

  A deer in our backyard on a beautiful morning

  and we have seen wild turkeys around as well which has been very fun.

• More neighborly neighbors.  The two older couples directly behind us at least have shown themselves to be quite friendly.  We visited and took cookies to the elderly neighbors closest to us for the first time recently, and they were so friendly and welcomed us over any time.  We probably spent 1.5 to 2 hours with them which was such a blessing as our former neighbors never would do that.
• The greater distance between us and our neighbors’ homes.  In the city the houses were right next to each other, and we could not have a conversation on our back deck without the neighbors hearing us most likely.  Here there is a good distance between us and them but not enough to make us feel isolated either.
• A much more peaceful, natural, beautiful setting!  Even though the traffic from the major road can be loud and noisy at times, it is so much better than where we lived before as there is woods basically surrounding us other than in our backyard.  I’d take looking at trees any day over looking at houses.  🙂
• A more rural area.  I love the fact that there are woods, fields, horse farms, and spread-out homes down our road and in our general area.  I love riding my bike but never enjoyed it in the city but love it out here.  It is a very nice ride, and the kids really enjoy it too.
• More space!  Micah and I, and I’m sure the kids, are just enjoying much more           s-p-a-c-e within and without our house!  It feels like we just have more room to breathe and move around and explore and store stuff and host people!  It is truly refreshing and exciting!  At our former house, if we had a family of just 4 to 5 people over, it truly felt like we were on top of each other, so this home is such a blessing! And we look forward to potentially using the land in different ways as well when and if we can ever afford it.
• All of the natural light!  From the beginning, my favorite feature of this farmhouse has been the many, big, long windows throughout the house, and Micah even commented that this feature, outside of the space, was his favorite.  Coming from a small house with much smaller and fewer windows, this has been a breath of fresh air!
• A dishwasher.  Seeing how in the last nine years we have never had a dishwasher at our home and thereby we spent much time washing and drying by hand all of our dirty dishes, a brand new dishwasher has been a wonderful blessing and time saver so far!  Thank You, Lord!

Much Thanks & Honor!

My sweet Grandma lived in her farmhouse til the day she died.

Now I have to mention this but folks, we would NOT have been able to make this move without the rich blessing and rare privilege of receiving inheritance money from my Grandpa and Grandma Shelford.  My grandpa died almost 16 years ago and with my grandma dying almost two years ago at the age of 96, her three children and six grandchildren were all given a very sweet inheritance monetary gift with the sale of her farm property in upstate New York.

What a surprise and honor!  And I just want to honor her and my grandpa for their faithful stewardship and service to the Lord Jesus Christ because it was HIS blessing that enabled them to bless their offspring and others with money we by no means earned or deserved.  Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!!

I do think it is very cool too that it was because of my grandparents, the dairy farmers whose farmhouse I really loved and inspired me, that we are now living in a farmhouse . . . a living heritage!  It’s so cool how God really works all things together for good!  “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psalm 34:8).