If two Cookies Buy an Old House...

...Chances are a mouse will come with the house...

and of course it (singular?), er, THEY... (way too many of them)... did!

Oh yes, mice and bats and all sorts of nice things have been part of our home-owning days.

posing at the front door the day we purchased our home

After four other attempts at purchasing a home, five years ago today, Amy and I signed mortgage papers for the Cookie House. A couple weeks ago I sent my final mortgage payment! HUZZAH! (Amy finished her mortgage around the time I returned from Zambia). My heart is full of thankfulness and celebration for the gift God has given us in providing the Cookie House.

Our house is nothing fancy or structurally remarkable [in fact, it's rather quirky and creaky]-- it's just a century-old Michigan farmhouse five minutes from Dad and Mom's, surrounded by an acre of lovely gardens and trees (and my garage!), filled with antique treasures and more than a few houseplants, complemented by unique bits of old architectural charm, and finished with Amy's creative touches.

The Cookie House is home for me, and I treasure the moments I spend there... even with the realities (mice, bats, the basement, broken things...) that are part of owning an old home.

In case you haven't yet signed our door, I snagged a few (okay, a lot) of photos off from Amy's blog to share some pieces of our Cookie House history the past half-a-decade.

Also, you're invited to come for cookies and tea some day, and to sign the guest door :).

Charlie at the back door

garden out the kitchen window

the kitchen in the raw

Christmas Eve

the sitting room

upstairs landing

cleaning the heat stove

our internationally themed office

Sunday dinner on the front lawn

kids night off dinner on the back patio

looking towards the kitchen

view from the office window

three varieties of lilacs!

spring is lovely in the gardens