The Lantern House
We have big news! We bought a small farm in December! We got the last of our things moved at 11:00 pm on December 31st—just in time for the new year! Since that time, we’ve been getting settled one box at a time.
When Chris and I were engaged, we often talked about having a homestead or little farm someday. We even lived on a hobby farm in East Tennessee for a year after we were married.
Nearly a year ago, we began praying and searching earnestly for property to buy. We needed more space for our fledgling jigsaw puzzle business and other big ideas. Early on, we thought we’d found the perfect property and waited many months for it to be subdivided. In the end, it was sold to someone offering a higher sum. Looking back, it’s interesting how God kept us occupied until this home became available.
I love it when God makes it super clear that He is answering our prayers and things aren’t just working out coincidentally or happening on our own efforts. We’ve had many instances of this during the past two months. I’ll share just one. . .
I really like old houses with character. I prayed that God would give us an older home that had character and a happy history, but had been updated. Since we are currently investing all our extra time in our big ideas, we didn’t want to be overwhelmed with needed renovations.
When I first saw the real estate ad for our new home I was captivated. It had an old but renovated farm house, three acres, and several large outbuildings perfect for warehousing future puzzles.
At closing, we were privileged to meet the sellers of this property. They gifted us a beautiful picture book, The Lantern House by Erin Napier and illustrated by Adam Trest, saying our new home always reminded them of this book. The story is about an old home that falls into disrepair and then a family buys and restores it. They did not know I was an illustrator and how special this gift would be to me. I must admit there were several eyes that were not dry. :)
Last weekend this family came to our house and shared many details about the home’s history, about the renovations they did, and about what plants and flowers we can expect to emerge in Spring. We are so thankful for this unexpected friendship!
It’s wonderful to know that though this home is new to us, it has a long history (108 years!) of care and good memories. We are thrilled to be here and love the peaceful setting. Our “livestock” (cats, rabbits, and chickens) are happy and we look forward to adding other animals in time. I’m surrounded by inspiration and anticipate sharing lots of new illustrations in the future!