Unbelievable

When the wife and I bought our home a few years ago, we were looking for a house that we could entertain in. We have always admired how our friends (Team Kess) have used their home as a ministry and we wanted to do the same. We were willing to settle for a diamond in the rough if the spaces were right.

We found a house that was built in 1947. It's not big - 1275 sq. ft - but it has 3 bedrooms, one bath, living room, dining room and a walk-thru kitchen. The clincher was the 1 1/2 car garage that had been converted into a family room. But it was most certainly a diamond in the rough (emphasis on ROUGH).

We figured we would fix up the house over a period of a couple of years and then have children.

Well, the best laid plans . . .

After we purchased the house, the wife and I both had a measure of employment turmoil. I ended up working 60 and 70-hour weeks and the wife changed jobs. I eventually changed jobs as well but the 60-70 hour weeks continued. There was simply no time to work on the house.

Add to that the fact that I work in the real estate industry and my income has dropped 50% and now we are out of both time and money to work on the house. Naturally, that's when we got pregnant.

Looking around our house, this is most definitely NOT a place you would want your child to grow up in. And I don't mean "I wish the kitchen counters weren't that color" (although that is true as well). I mean the house is actually a physically dangerous place to raise a child.

The family room has been gutted to the studs with exposed wiring, structural portions of the house have been eaten away by termites, sections of the wood floor were damaged beyond repair and replaced with pieces of regular old lumber screwed into place by the former owners. The front yard is nothing but dirt.

Of course, none of this deterred us when bought the house and were working normal hours and making decent money. But now . . . with Annabelle on the way and things being what they are, we look around the house and despair for answers.

Well leave it to our friends to volunteer a solution.

We are struck dumb by such an outpouring of generosity.

Normally we would probably beg off such a generous offer but the truth is, Holly and I are at a point where . . . . I don't know how to say it . . . . let's just say, we are accepting all offers. We don't have the strength to do otherwise right now.

If you would like to get involved, click on over to Annabelle's Circle. Even if you aren't prompted to get involved but would like to see what true love and friendship looks like - spend some time there.

It's amazing. Its a miracle. Its unbelievable.

Thank you, my friends.

Keep praying.