My first thought was "Seriously? What if I don't have a favorite memory? What if my favorite memory changes hourly? What if I haven't had my favorite memory yet? Or if I don't happen to have a pictures of it? Like hunting for the spot on the farm where the cat had her kittens....or listening to my Dad read Mrs. PiggleWiggle out loud to us when we were kids...or filling a friend's dorm room with inflatable turtles...or sitting in a boat on a tributary in Venezuela as far from civilization as is possible...or shaking hands with men who are faithful to preaching the Word of God...or holding my daughter for the very first time...or...wait...it says "one of". Never mind.
Here is my "one of":
When the first floor deck was completed, but no walls were framed, I came over to the site and laid on the floor in front of our future fireplace, and watched the sunset.
We cleaned, painted, hauled, and cleaned some more. And on January 27th, 2004, we moved in. And we're still not done. Probably never will be.
But from this house, many of our other favorite memories have been launched.
- Heavy lifting on move-in day sparked some physical difficulties that Chad has been dealing with ever since. This, in turn, has brought about some fun, and some not-so-fun trips to Minnesota. And lots of Grace.
- Family get togethers, holidays, field trips, and vacations all begin and end here.
- This is school, work, and play for us.
- The farm is here.
- This is where the housework gets ignored in favor of the fun stuff.
- The petting zoo is here.
- This is where The Shema of Deuteronomy 6 and Mark 12 take place (hopefully).
- Family is here (and next door...and just down the street...).
- This is our sanctuary, our life, our home away from Home.
Welcome to Leaning Tree Acres!
