Then vs. Now

I was inspired to write this post when I was reading a comment written by Myra from this blog. I can't remember whose blog she was commenting on!! Maybe Joyce's blog at From This Side of the Pond?

or maybe it was on Terri's blog?

Anyway - I started thinking about the house where we grew up and found it on Zillow. My parents kept it clean and neat and we had a big tree in the front yard and a swing. In the back, my daddy made an amazing sandbox with a roof for me. I have good memories from that neighborhood and house. Now, it is a little shocking. There were five of us (3 girls, 2 parents) and we lived in a house that was just over 1,000 square feet and we shared one bathroom that didn't have a shower - only a tub. My daddy added a bedroom onto the back of the house - before that, there were just two bedrooms.

At one time, this was our bedroom (the girls).
When it was just Beck and me, we had the
coolest furniture and I have searched the
internet and asked Chat GPT to help me, but
I cannot find any pictures of the furniture.
It was in the late 60's/early 70's and it was red with an antiqued finish.
The headboard was a curved piece on top with
spindles. The mirror over the dresser had that same
curve on top. It was so cool.

This is the room that daddy built onto
the back of the house as the primary
bedroom. I wonder why he didn't add
another bathroom?? I'm assuming
it was because they didn't have enough
money.

This was the front bedroom. When I was a baby
until I was almost 3 years old, I slept in
a crib in this room and my parents
slept in the room, too. The hardwoods
were pretty. I think the floors are
the original ones.

This was the tiny bathroom! The story is told
that when my daddy was building the house (he
was a carpenter at one time), there was no door on the bathroom
for a while and my mom was in there and someone
like the preacher had dropped by. I'm pretty sure
he added a door quickly after that day!

This was the living room. The original front
door is still on the house. We had a TV and stereo
in that corner. I actually remember standing in the
window on the right watching my older
sisters play in the neighborhood and leave
for school. There were teethmarks on the window
sill where I chewed on it while I waited!!!
We hung our Christmas stockings on the coat
closet door to the right of the front door (or maybe
we hung them on the molding??).

This is where I grew up. Wow! There used to be
a garage in the backyard and I learned to back up
by driving forward and backward over and over
in that driveway!
The house looks very sad now and I wonder
if anyone lives there and calls it home??

I posted this photo fairly recently. There
were so many of us in the neighborhood who
played together!

Fast forward to the spring of 2024. Our home burned in July of 2022. We lived in an apartment while

our home was rebuilt. We moved back in after a year and ten days and started working on replacing and recovering furniture and rugs. In the spring of 2024, our builder ELM Construction, won an award for their work and we were featured in the Hoover magazine.

This is our bedroom.

We actually moved from a Queen sized bed
to a King.

Here is our funky powder room which
is almost as big as the one bathroom in the
house where I grew up.

Here is our living room.

Here is our kitchen.

Many years ago, I went with my best friend (growing up) to visit some relatives and they lived in a much nicer house. While we were visiting, they hosted a Sunday School party at their house and I remember thinking that was so cool. I remember telling God (when I was praying) that if I ever had a wonderful home, I would try my best to use it for his glory. Fast forward to now . . .

This was part of our Tuesday night group
this week -- we have a teak table
and chairs on the front porch and the
weather was perfect.

This was a week ago - at one point,
there were 16 crammed around
that dining room table plus . . .

people standing at the island and
sitting at the island eating . . .

and then they were spending time reading
scripture and discussing how it applies
to life today.

Wow - Then vs. Now . . .We feel very thankful and very blessed.