The new year is only a day away, and I am sure that a multitude of resolutions are already in the works for many people. And there are a few things I already have on my list of resolutions.
I choose to reflect on the appreciation and love I have renewed for my home. And when I use the term home, I mean my husband, our three children and our two pets.
We lost our first family house on Jan. 17, 2025 entirely to a fire. That wooden house with its old paint and nails provided my family with shelter. That country home was a sanctuary for us. It gave us a backyard of adventures and water games during the summer. It gave us a porch of pumpkins and a baking kitchen during the fall. It gave us light, warmth and gratitude during the winter. It gave us playrooms with games and imagination. It gave us hot meals with recipes from family cookbooks and new dishes on a whim. It gave us a living room of movie nights and snacks. And it gave us warm beds, complete with pet cats purring by our heads.
When a fire destroyed every possession that we ever owned or worked for as a family, it was a tough pill to swallow. But it did allow us to fall back upon our faith. It allowed us to put all our trust in God. It reminded us that we had each other, and even our two cats, and that was the most prized possession in our lives. It showed us a tremendous love and support system from our community who helped us rebuild our lives from the ground up.
We were blessed to move into our new home last spring. And that is what I intend to resolve in the new year. I resolve to appreciate and love the bond we have created as a family during this past year, which was filled with rebirth and love. Every memory I reflected on in our old home involved people and the memories we made. It wasn’t just the materials. It was people’s laughter from the games in the backyard. It was the people on that front porch carving pumpkins. It was the camaraderie between us as we sheltered in the warm rooms during winter. It was the people gathered around the table and around those hot meals, sharing their opinions and laughter. And it was the thought that every night, we went to sleep under one roof together, safe and happy.
I resolve to appreciate those moments in our new house during this new year and to appreciate the people who continue to make those memories within those new walls.
God is good all the time, and I know He will continue to bless us in the new year.
I welcome 2026. I welcome the love of my family, the adventures we are already planning, the wonders of nature we are excited to see, the sanctuary of our new home and the life we will live. My only regret is it took me this long to slow down.
