"I can’t think of a more suitable home for my children to grow up in than one that was built through Christ with loving hearts and helping hands," Julie Jarrell says. "We feel so blessed that we had been chosen by Habitat to receive the home." 

"I can’t think of a more suitable home for my children to grow up in."

A life-changing decision

Julie Jarrell has a heavy load to carry.  But it is one she carries willingly.  As a young, single mother, Julie has adopted five children from foster care, all of whom have special needs.

The three-bedroom home they had been renting for almost 10 years was overflowing.  But that wasn’t the worst of their problems.

“The upkeep on the home had not really taken place how it should,” Julie remembers.  “There was black mold on the ceilings.  The roof was just replaced, but there was nothing done with the ceilings, and there was a lot of water damage inside where the lights didn’t work in several of the rooms.”

By chance, Julie had read an article in the newspaper about a home going up in her county through an alliance between Habitat for Humanity and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.  She felt compelled to attend the upcoming meeting for prospective home buyers.  “I really feel that God led me to go to the initial meeting and then we went to another meeting where we filled out an application.  From there, it was just God,” she says.

Julie recalls the reaction from her children upon hearing the news in April of 2005 that they had been selected to receive the home.  “I remember them asking me, ‘We’re going to get a brand new home?  Are you sure?’  They kept asking me over and over.  I think they were just so amazed, they couldn’t believe it.”

The Jarrells moved into their new home shortly before Christmas that same year.  She sums up the impact that the home will have on her family.  “Our life is going to change dramatically.  From where we’re coming from to where we’re going is not even comparable.

“We’re so thankful just looking at everything in this house,” Julie says.  “Every day when I look at the walls in this house and every piece of it, I won’t just see the walls.  I won’t just see the doors.  I’ll see people putting those walls and doors there, and loving people that were never told to come here, were never paid to come here—they just did it.  They were led by God.

 “I can’t think of a more suitable home for my children to grow up in than one that was built through Christ with loving hearts and helping hands,” Julie says.

“We feel so blessed that we had been chosen by Habitat to receive the home.”