How to make a house a home

My best friend's parents sold their house this summer and I was really sad. Not because of the physical structure but because I had lived so much life there. Outside of my own homes, it was just as much HOME to me.

I went there almost every day of grade school to pick up or drop off for carpool

celebrated multiple birthday parties in their garage or porch

broke up with 2 different boyfriend's while sitting in their hallway and crying

 ate hundreds of hotdogs and slept over on many Friday nights after football games

 had my first kiss on New Year's Eve in the bushes behind their house :)

  had my first baby shower for my girls in their living room

 

 learned how to properly use my rear view mirrors so I wouldn't back into their rock wall

crawled in her parent's bed in elementary school in the middle of the night because I was home sick even though I was less than a mile away from my mom 

( Sorry about that Rhonda and Tim)

 had my bridal luncheon there

 attended my first group Bible study in their bonus room in 6th grade

 

 took my first picture with my future husband in their kitchen

 sun bathed on their roof too many times in middle and high school

 learned how to put my contacts in the right way in 7th grade in their bathroom

 Simply.. lived a lot of life in those 4 walls and was LOVED SO WELL 

and still am by this family

I don't write all of those things so you hear more about me. I say these things because The Friars made their four walls a HOME, not only to their own daughters but to hundreds of other kids. It was a safe place for us.

I am forever grateful to this family for celebrating me and being a witness to my life. Their example of how they used their home as more than a pretty house and as a tool to love me well makes me want to love other children in the same way. You never know what people will remember about how you used your earthly possessions and blessings well to bless others.

Thank you FRIARS! I MISS FRIAR'S WAY but know that physical house is not what makes your HOME.