June 14, 2009
To the Wimberley Valley Habitat for Humanity
by Judy Roberts
Greetings,
Today marks three weeks since our family moved into this absolutely beautiful new home. I’ve been trying to write this letter in my head every day since. However, I can never get through the first sentence. How does one adequately express what is beyond the scope of mere words? I haven’t figured it out yet, but silence says less, so I’ll try.
A dozen or more times every day I breathe a sigh of pleasure as I experience the great and small pleasures that a home has to offer. Cool air, a garage, porch time, the laughter of my kids and their friends in the living room. I walk outside and smile as the green blush of sprouting grass spreads across what will soon be a lawn. I do a little dry-stack rock addition to my flowerbed, get a backache, clean dirt out from under my nails…and smile again. I daydream about decorating and gardening plans. I talk to my new neighbors in the evening or wave at them as they drive by. We’ve met new friends at the pool down the road. I’ve watched a thunderstorm from the back porch and the sun set behind the hill that rises west of the house. I’ve cooked meals for friends in my new kitchen; laughing and chopping vegetables in the way people do in good company. I’ve tasted the unique essence of belonging, permanence, and security that had so long eluded me.
My children’s faces have changed. They feel it. They know we’re home now. I can see it in the way they carry themselves. In the ease with which they invite friends over…friends who come often now that we don’t live ten miles from town. They are proud of their home. The whole rhythm of life has changed. We have a center now. A place from which to plan and dream and live. A place in which to rest and play and grow. We have a place from which to plan the future as well as make the memories we will cherish once we arrive there. There is something akin to a fragrance that floats in the air here. I savor it all day every day.
So how can we fully convey the depth of gratitude that comes with all these treasures? I doubt that will ever really be possible. But from the very deepest places in our hearts, we offer to you our humble thanks. Every day that rolls around will bring with it new blessings and joys, and as each of them unfolds we will be reminded of your gifts of time, resources, sweat and talent. You’ve greatly changed our lives. God bless you richly for this beautiful manifestation of His love.
Warmly,
The Roberts Family