Anika's Story

When I first saw the foreclosure house we were going to help rehab I could tell it hadn’t been loved. Could it really be saved? It needed new drywall, new windows, new plumbing, new roof, new everything. I thought it was never going to be the home we had dreamed about..

My husband Marcus and I had committed to 300 hours of work on the place. You see, with Habitat we get mortgage payments we can actually afford, but you’ve got to work for it. I wanted to do the right thing, but I knew nothing about construction.

Bill, a Habitat volunteer from a local church, worked by my side onsite most days—teaching me how to use a power drill, how to install insulation. And he’d tell me about the struggles of other Habitat families he had worked with. “Dan Wilson and his family lived in a mobile home. A moldy one, that even caught fire. Dan was a ‘I-can-do-it-myself’ guy. But when he opened his heart and let others give, his world opened up and he believed again—in people, in his faith, in the future.”

But my future still wasn’t clear. We had to save money for our down payment and closing costs. Would there be enough left over to buy our kids Christmas presents? My muscles hurt and my hands were raw. Where was the joy?

Then, one day in the middle of November, when it seemed like winter had already gone on forever, we brought our kids Jesse and Rose to see the house for the first time. And there, standing in what would someday be our living room, was Bill, holding a funny little Christmas tree.

“I thought we might celebrate a little early this year,” he said, and led us into the kitchen area where other volunteers from his church had gathered with a lunch set up on a makeshift sawhorse table: hamburger casserole simmering in a crock pot, homemade rolls, hot cider and chocolate Santas for Jess and Rose.

Surrounded by ladders and paint cans and all these new friends, who were once strangers, I suddenly felt a renewed sense of hope. This was really going to be a kitchen. This was really going to be a home. It was a sacred place. I could finally see that.

Next year, we’ll hang a wreath from our front door and watch snow fall on our own front yard. It’ll be wonderful. But I’ll bet there’ll never be a better Christmas than this one—the one that came early.

Sincerely,

Anika B.
New Habitat Home Owner