Today, I’m telling y’all about my anthropomorphic house and how it went through a bit of a transformation. But first, I need to give you a little bit of a back story.

So last month, my husband and I finished our 2nd renovation on our house in almost six years. It wasn’t exactly planned this way. We finished our first major renovation in 2014. I did not think we would ever take on anything to that grand a scale ever again! Then a major storm swept through our area last July which resulted in a tree falling onto our house. Through a straight up miracle from heaven, it ended up not being that bad. It could have been way worse. The tree missed my bedroom window by mere inches. As a result, the circumstances which followed that fateful storm lead us to make a decision. We took the dive into a second renovation. At first, the plan seemed so simple. Take in the back porch, doubling our classroom space. After that, add on a laundry room and convert the old laundry into a walk-in pantry.

Simple, right?! Walls down, walls up, install the washer and dryer and call it a day!

How could we be so naive???

Oh, and yes, you read that right. We have a classroom because we are those crazy, wackadoodle people who home school their children. HA!

So the first thing we had to do to get our renovation started was to unload my beautiful classroom and begin demolition.

My Anthropomorphic House

If you will allow me to flex my home school mama prowess for just a moment, I can give you a glimpse into the weird way my mind works.

One of the concepts we are learning about while reading some really great literature, is the idea of personification. It is also known as anthropomorphism, if you are feeling fancy.

Anthropomorphism is “the attribution of human traits, emotions and intentions to non-human entities.”

As we began the process of demolition–basically destroying a perfectly good room–I began to wonder what this house would be thinking if it were a person. What would a house with human attributes think about this destruction?

I began to imagine that if our house had thoughts, it would be wondering what it had done to deserve this abuse. It was a perfectly good house. Besides the fact that it needed some tree holes patched up and some new siding, there was nothing really wrong with it. Why are these people beating me up and tearing me apart?!?

What if this house had thoughts and feelings? How would it respond to the repeated blows of sledge hammers and crowbars? it would probably think of us as cruel indeed.

Jumping Hurdles in the Transformation of My Anthropomorphic House

Meanwhile, we had never attempted to alter anything structural in our house before. As a result, there were a lot of unknowns for us. Most importantly, there was a center support beam that we really wanted to remove. However, we were just not sure if we would be able to do so safely. This was kind of the point of no return for us and a huge source of anxiety. We could only move forward with the expansion if we could move that beam. If not, we would have to put it all back together as it was before. Thankfully, my husband’s dad is an engineer. He determined that adding joists spanning the width of the room would hold the weight of the roof with no difficulties.

There were many more hurdles to jump as we delved deeper into the project. First, we tried to preserve the flooring when we took it up. However, it just was not possible. The glue stuck fast and the wood shattered. Next, I really wanted to keep the windows intact. But that proved impossible as well. The only way we managed to get them out was with the help of the front-end loader on the tractor! The aftermath was complete and utter devastation. Shards of glass and debris were everywhere. The potential for lacerations and injuries was very real. I took in the shattered pieces of guillotined glass. Again, my mind went to what this house might be thinking in the midst of so much brokenness.

A Perfectly Good House?

So many times, I have sat among the shattered pieces of my life and wondered what on earth was going on as well. There have been circumstances in which I have been desperate to do all the right things. But it seemed that the results were nothing like my expectations. “I’m a good person” or “I have good intentions” or even “I’m a perfectly good house” collided with catastrophic blows. I was left wondering what on earth God was doing with my story. There are countless examples in which I tried to seek out and do His will. Yet I still ended up getting disappointed, mad as a hornet or heart broken. Can anyone relate??

The Blessing Disguised in My Anthropomorphic House

For the duration of our demo, I continued to feel sorry for my anthropomorphic house. But, as we peeled back the layers, we discovered that this renovation would allow us to address some issues with our house. These could have been serious problems down the road. The walls of the sun porch–which was our classroom–were made of chip board. They had sustained a good bit of water damage and had begun to rot and crumble in places. The water had just begun to creep into the walls of the main house. Praise God, we were able to stop any further damage.

We also made our house more efficient to heat and cool by adding some insulation in the crawl space between the ceiling of the down stairs and the floor of the upstairs. It had been left completely open to the attic letting in the hot humid Louisiana air! This renovation also gave us the opportunity to move the window in our son’s bedroom, which looked into the classroom. This meant that if I needed to pull a late night getting ready for school, I had the pleasure of a giggling little face peering at me through the curtains. Soon, his window will actually look out to the back yard and the sunshine dancing through the leaves of the woods.

Who knew that tree falling on our house could be a blessing in disguise? My house seemed perfectly acceptable the way it was. But deep within her, she needed help. She needed some broken places busted out, swept clean and neglected places to be made new again.

Though We May Suffer a Little While

Above all, not even my anthropomorphic house with all her imagined human attributes could see the Renovator’s vision for her transformation. It’s difficult to see clearly in the midst of pain. I am writing this blog in my finished classroom. In short, I am positively humbled by the outcome. This beautiful room is the result of a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Moreover, I am in awe of the clarity in the message that my Abba is unveiling to me through the whisperings of my anthropomorphic house.

Likewise, my Abba is doing the same work in me. He does not want me to waste my pain. His desire is to use it to grow and mature me in my walk with Him. God has a vision for me…for all of us. Though we may suffer for a little while, he is faithful to see us through. I praise you, Jesus, because you have shown me time and again, that the heart of the Renovator is GOOD and I CAN TRUST YOU!!!!

We are God’s Workmanship

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” Hebrews 3:1-6