This is the Ferrences Home… This home was built by Heather’s Grandfather in the early 1900’s. It’s almost 100 years old. They have a lot of land to go along with the land. (the whole photo session took place in their home and on their property.) So you can see via the photos the gorgeous landscape they have around them. They inherited the house from Heather’s father a few years ago while her dad was still living. They decided that they could help him out with the maintenance and upkeep of the house while fixing it up to be their own. This enabled Heather’s dad to live with them as well, as he had a harder time keeping up and getting around on his own.
Heather and Mark see their life mission to be hospitable to others using their home. It’s a place where out of state friends and family can stay and visit with comfort. Heather loves to cook and entertain, and the home is the perfect haven to host dinner and get togethers with friends and family. This is a way they both can show love to others in need. Even if it’s just a good home cooked meal, it’s what they both see as important.
This home is a blessing for them. And from anyone looking in, it is a blessing, a dream home. One especially made for having lots of kids running around. For the Ferrences’ though, they find that it blocks them in areas of moving forward with career dreams, and dreams of a family of their own. It’s like a double edged sword right now to them. A blessing on one hand because they get to live out what they see as their mission in hospitality and a Road Block on the other. The finances on keeping the home keeps them both busy in their career’s enough so that time and money don’t make sense when thinking of starting a family.
Mark told me that he feels that he was given a multiple choice question in life and the answer was chosen for him. He knows the other choices and yearns for them, but the answer was chosen for him and he could only have one. Not that the choice is not a blessing, it’s just all he can have. They have lots of questions about how family, house, career all fit into their lives. They are still trying to figure it all out, and make sure it all fits. They have their priorities though and they are being met. 1) God 2) Marriage 3) House 4) Jobs 5) Living near Family.
Part 2 of the Ferrences Life Tomorrow…
