A Single Mom, a Dumpy House, and Making Beauty From Broken Pieces

Five years ago, my divorce was being finalized after a two-year separation.

The first house we had bought, back in 2007, was going to be put on the market AS IS. It was a dumpy old place. It was in the worst part of town, the foundation was sinking, and it really had nothing going for it. It had been a foreclosure when we bought it and the renters had absolutely destroyed it between 2009–2015.

When I walked up to that house for the first time in 7 years, I was flooded with emotions. You see, it wasn’t just a dumpy old place to me. That house represented dreams that never came true, including the twins I conceived there and then lost.

Since my ex and I were going through a remote divorce process, it was going to be up to me to get this house on the market and sell it. This project was not too hard for this ex-Amish girl. I’ve never been afraid of hard work. I used to go along to the job site with my dad and brothers. My dad taught me how to lay tile, figure out the pitch of a roof, frame a house, and pour concrete.

I couldn’t accept that this place was a dump. I could still see the beauty in her. So I had to improve her as much as I could before she went on the market. I spent my weekends painting the cabinets and cleaning up the yard and throwing away trash.

I had basically no money, but I spent the little bit that I had to buy the supplies to cover a hole above the kitchen sink with a beautiful…