The House That Built Me

If you are a country music fan, I’m sure you have heard Miranda Lambert’s hit The House That Built Me.  In fact, the song won three CMA’s on Sunday night’s award show for single record of the year, song of the year, and video of the year.  The very first time I heard that song, I thought of the houses that “built me.”  I lived in only two houses from the time I was born until I was 20.  We moved to the second house when I was 11.  Both great houses with so many memories. 

The Park Drive house.  It’s the playhouse in the backyard that my dad built for me.  It’s my first slumber party.  It’s where I learned to ride a bike and swim.  It’s where I lost my first tooth.  Got my first puppy.  It’s crawling in bed with momma and daddy because I had a bad dream.   It’s my first best friend, Tara,  living a few doors down.  It’s the scar on my left arm after putting it through a window.  It’s cinnamon toast and cartoons on Saturday mornings.  It’s playing outside til dark.  It’s so many things!

My playhouse on Park Drive

The West Tampa house (Sorry, my pictures of this one are in storage)  It’s my own bathroom.  It’s the game room with the ping pong table.  It’s hangouts with my friends.  It’s talking on the phone for hours and hours.  It’s where I got my first car.  My first boyfriend.  It’s getting ready for prom.  It’s losing my first dog.  It’s my first heartbreak.  It’s being home by curfew.  It’s graduating from high school and starting college.  It’s Nick asking me if I ever thought we could date one another (a whole other story – for another time!) 

Houses are special!  That song really got me thinking and I am so excited to know that our kids will only TRULY know one house.  The house we are building now will be the house that “builds” them.  But I know it’s not just the walls and rooms in the houses that make them special…it’s the love that fills those rooms.  And my parents did an awesome job of making our house a home filled with love, respect, and most importantly, Christ.  It is my prayer that we will/do also create such a loving, Christ-centered home  for our kids to grow up in.  Really…we feel so overwhelmingly blessed to be able to build this home!

Here are some pics we took this weekend of the kids in front of each of their rooms, looking out the front door and their tiny handprints that will always be impressed in our garage. 

Love,
Kami