Welborn Wilderness Compound

Blending – Part 2

July 23, 2021 – Moving Day

I like to think of this day as the great migration West. We closed on our new house earlier in the week and went to work. My husband led the effort and I found a new appreciation for his skills, work ethic, and drive. With the help from our family and some dear friends (and a few local businesses) we painted nine rooms, replaced carpet and tile, painted garage doors, and upgraded all bathroom fixtures, light fixtures, and door fixtures. And we moved! We gave the house a complete makeover and would have given any HGTV crew a run for their money.

I have never worked so hard in my life, but it was so worth it. I am pretty sure our kids have never worked so hard. We poured our blood, sweat, and tears into this house to make it our own. There is something incredibly rewarding about doing the work yourself. Absolutely painful, but incredibly rewarding. I can look around this house and I have memories of our oldest daughter learning how to use a cordless drill and replacing the door fixtures with her dad. I can look at the walls in our bedroom and remember the family and friends that helped us paint our room. When I come up our driveway I remember my husband and my father-in-law out there in the blazing sun giving them a fresh coat of paint with new fixtures. When I look at our ceiling fans I remember the husbands in our small group installing them with laughter and love. Our home was already filled with special memories the very first week we owned it. A home we bought together and made our own.

It’s crazy to me how life unfolds. What you plan and what really happens can be entirely different. At 23, I hit a bottom. I remember my dad telling me God had other plans for me. It really ticked me off and I couldn’t see a path forward. If you would have told me then that I would be a sober, Christian wife and mother in a blended family, living in the country by a pond (wearing a Bass Pro hoodie) I would have laughed. There has been a lot of life between 23 and 41, but I believe I have a purpose today. This home with my five favorite humans is where I belong. It’s where I’m meant to be.

What I love most about our home is this…it’s a place you can come to when you don’t have somewhere to go for the holidays. It’s a place you can visit and get a cup of hot tea when you’re hurting. It’s a place where our kids’ friends are always welcome. Where they can play, be out in nature, and just be kids. It’s a place where we host small groups and where family shows up and helps with the latest yard project we have in motion (stay tuned for the waterfall feature we just built). It’s a place where we learn how to do new things and work together as a team.

The day we got married I made the following promise to our kids: “I promise to build a home where you grow up feeling unconditional love. A home that you’ll eventually leave to go make a life of your own, but always a special place to come back to.” I believe this is what we are building here.

“The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home.”

– quote author unknown