Little acts of kindness, little words of love, make our earthly home like heaven above

We had no budget to speak of really - either of us, so in the summer of 2001 we threw caution to the wind and combined our meager resources to purchase a nondescript two-flat on the wrong side of Chicago. Beth, whom I knew from college, and her husband, Jared, were tired of renting. Troy and I had a two-year-old son and a baby due that August; we longed to own a place without landlords or street only parking. We made a three to five year commitment, had a lawyer draw up the paperwork and spent whatever spare change we had left on paint and wallpaper remover. They took the upstairs unit; we carved out our own space on the bottom floor. And for the next 58 months, we lived, laughed, mourned, celebrated, reproduced, and matured. By the time we said our teary goodbyes in the spring of 2006, I had four children, a soul full of beautiful memories, and a new revelation concerning God's grace: that He reveals His love for us through the selflessness of friends and neighbors.

It was so great spending time with you this weekend!