Thankful

Today is a day for gratitude. To be honest, every day is a day for gratitude but today is when we as a culture slow down to actually dwell on all the things in and about our lives to be grateful for. I've been reflecting on this a lot in the last few days.

Less than a year ago, we moved into this house. It's an end unit town home provided for us by the US Army and compared to the home we had out in Hawaii, this place felt like a palace to me. I was grateful.

Less than 6 months later, I was feeling restless and discontented. It seemed everyone I knew was buying their first homes, making improvements, staking a claim and putting their mark on it. It seemed everyone was partaking in their piece of the American Dream...everyone but me. I read blog posts, listened to friends on the phone and got emails about the the trials and joys that come with home ownership and I was envious.

After weeks of discussion, Paul and I decided to start looking for our own home. We knew we wouldn't be able to afford our dream home, but we figured we'd be able to find a great starter home and investment opportunity. After viewing a few potentials, we found one we loved. It too was an end unit town home, only 3 years old and all the fancy upgrades. We put in an offer and prayed. A few days later, we found out we didn't get the house. I was disappointed.

We continued looking but the market was just so competitive at the time and every time we found something we liked, we'd also discover that there was already multiple offers on the table. We started to re-evaluate. I'm glad we did.

Call me naive but I always imagined that when I bought a home, it would be the one I would grown old in. I always thought it would be the house that my kids would bring their kids home to for holidays and birthdays. I would fill it with things I loved and be able to hand them down to my grandchildren when I passed. I never thought that I would ever consider a home as an "investment" but more as an heirloom.

So this morning, I sit in my Army owned town home and I'm grateful. I may not own a piece of the "pie" but this isn't necessarily the pie I want a piece of when it's all said and done. I'm storing up my treasures in Heaven. Not to say that home-owners cannot store up treasures in Heaven because I still hope to be a home-owner one day...I'm saying FOR ME, I have to be grateful right now with what I have.

For although this house will not be my heirloom, contained within it's walls are all the things that I hold eternally dear. My home. My husband, my children and the memories we've already created here and will continue to create until the military calls us to move again.

It's where we live. It's where we laugh and cry and play and sleep and feel safe. It may not always be clean or straight and it may look nothing like the pages of my Pottery Barn catalog but it's one of the houses that we will call home during the life of our little family.

So today, I am thankful for my home...even if the house it resides in is temporary.