I talked with a dear friend Friday evening about the situation with my parent's house being put up for sale soon and how I have been thinking and praying about the home being ours.  (You can read my last post if you need the full update)  She suggested that if it was hard for Matthew to talk about it, that I write him a letter.  She told me don't make it fancy and sugar coat things, but make sure he knows I understand how he is still grieving and emotional when we mention my parents (he really was so close to them) and that I would not be mentioning this at this time if we were not in a time crunch with the house being put on the market soon.

In the letter I included a list of 15 reasons why we should by the house which I will include for you here:

1.  The house is newer and therefore does not have the older plumbing and electrical problems ours has.  (Mom and dad were the first and only owner of the house and bought it brand new about 22 years ago.

2.  No bad neighbors (Our neighbors right now are unbearable!!!  Teenagers with lots of kids that are all over our property, dogs that chase us and bark at us, and they own several four wheelers which they ride and pop wheelies and make lots of noise.  Since mom and dad lived in that house for years while I was still home, I know all the neighbors!  They are wonderful!)

3.  It has a 2 car garage, so no more parking on the street.

4.  It has a large side and back yard that Noah can play in.  (it is off the street enough we can send him outside to play when he is older and not worry about him getting into the street.)

5.  Garden possibilities (It has a large area that mom and dad used to use for a garden, and Matthew loves to garden!)

6.  New appliances in the kitchen including a dishwasher. (Matthew has been wanting to buy one, for they are so expensive for the portable ones and I just can't see spending that money on one right now)

7.  Laundry room  (Ok so we have a laundry room now as well, but this ome is brand new!!)

8.  It has more room to stretch out in (It has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and 2-3 living rooms if you count basement,....which is finished by the way)

9.  It has 2 large decks for outdoor BBQing

10.  The house is great for entertaining our friends and family (Possibly even have our own Bible Study group......Matthew has always wanted to do this and the house would be perfect for this)

11.  Mom and dad would love the thought of us living in that house, and Noah growing up there.

12.  It is located on a nice quiet street (in which Noah can ride bikes on later)

13. This is a once in a lifetime chance

14. We could not afford this house without David's help in purchasing it (my brother)

AND LASTLY

15.  It has a beautiful country setting but is in town.  (We have been talking about moving to the country, but this house is as close as you can get to the country while still living in town.  It is set back off the road, you drive down a short gravel driveway with trees around you, over a small creek and to the house.  When you look out the front door, you see trees adn then through the trees and on the other side of the city street are the other houses.  Across the creek on one part of the property is a wooden bridge that crosses to the street. 

Of course this home has alot of sentiment for me.  I remember learning to parallel park in between two trees in the yard before going to get my lisence.  I remember sitting on the bridge with friends eating snacks, dangling our feet and chatting about boys.  Our wedding took place on the front deck of this house and we had a big BBQ with mom's ribs and all the fixings afterwards.  My mom and I had many haert to hearts sitting on the stairs inside on late nights after coming home from a date.  Our Noah crawled in that house and took some of his first steps in that house.  The house is filled with so much love and memories and I want to add more to it!

So...................I gave the letter to Matthew earlier today while Noah was napping after church and lunch.  He read it and said he had a headache and asked if we could talk about it later.  He said we should talk to David about it, but that's all he has said so far.  So I will talk to him tonight, see if I can get ahold of my brother and sister in law to go out and eat (or have them to our house) soon to talk about this and tell them we are interested in the house and ask them what can we work out with them.

Please pray about this if you see fit and I will keep you posted as soon as I know anything else.

Also, thank you for everyone who read the orginal post and left me a comment and told me you would pray.  We don't want this house because we want it though.  Does that make sense?? LOL  We want it only if it is God's will and sees fit to give it to us.  I understand if this doesn't work out, it will be because God has something different in store for us.