My husband and I bought our first house one year shy of its 100th birthday. It was a stick-built home, a working man’s cottage, a doggedly functional 1.5 stories in an old urban neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. We moved in enamored with its still-unpainted woodwork and thrilled to have caught the last summer of low prices after the 2008 financial crisis.

Bonnie Kristian is deputy editor at Christianity Today and author of books including In Defense of Evangelicalism: A Response to Its Cultured Despisers (forthcoming September 2026).

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","freeContentEncoded","textContent","published","strategy","curl-ready","locked","deletedAt","isSyncedFromOwnBlog","original","duplicatesCount",0,"duplicateVersion","originalArticleId","errorsCount","appearance","color","backgroundColor","shortSummary","A personal account of buying an old house and reflections on building for the future.","summary","The author and her husband purchased an old house in St. Paul, Minnesota, just before its 100th anniversary. They were drawn to its original features and the opportune market following the 2008 financial crisis. The essay also includes a list of other articles.","bullets",[361,362,363,364],"persons",[360],"places",[359],"words",134,"sentiment",1.5,"subject","unknown","meta",{"_321":322,"_323":324,"_325":326},"eventId","daccc061a1cb11cfef4490bdb4fe6d0168c7871d892d44c004962130a0b7ce01","nostrRootEvent","event",{"_24":256,"_285":308,"_134":309,"_182":310,"_289":290,"_216":311,"_292":312},"authorNPub","markdown","My husband and I bought our first house one year shy of its 100th birthday. It was a stick-built home, a working man’s cottage, a doggedly functional 1.5 stories in an old urban neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. We moved in enamored with its still-unpainted woodwork and thrilled to have caught the last summer of low prices after the 2008 financial crisis.\n\nBonnie Kristian is deputy editor at Christianity Today and author of books including [In Defense of Evangelicalism: A Response to Its Cultured Despisers](https://sites.prh.com/indefenseofevangelicalism) (forthcoming September 2026).\n\nComments require JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript to read and post comments.\n\n### More Monday Essays\n\n[![](https://i0.wp.com/thedispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Holland-Musk.jpg?w=600&strip=all&ssl=1)](https://thedispatch.com/article/rest-is-history-musk-holland/)\n\n**The Two Types of History**\n\nMaggie Phillips / August 3, 2026\n\n[![](https://i0.wp.com/thedispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-1168818.jpg?w=600&strip=all&ssl=1)](https://thedispatch.com/article/american-muslims-moderate-radical-third-force/)\n\n**The Quiet Force of Moderate American Muslims**\n\nAyaan Karan / July 27, 2026\n\n[![](https://i0.wp.com/thedispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/4.png?w=600&strip=all&ssl=1)](https://thedispatch.com/article/warped-tour-millennials-music-summer/)\n\n**Warped Hot American Summer**\n\nJames Scimecca / July 20, 2026\n\n[![](https://i0.wp.com/thedispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/WaldenTME-2.jpg?w=600&strip=all&ssl=1)](https://thedispatch.com/article/utopia-handiwork-communities-life-balance/)\n\n**Utopias Don’t Work. Can You Still Live Deliberately?**\n\nThomas Dichter / July 13, 2026","freeMarkdown","kind1EventId","kind30023EventId","3da9b1e3ff7f76aca2b447b3ef276796b8bee56b04d295e33ba123e8f7703497","kind30023",{"_24":266,"_285":286,"_134":287,"_182":288,"_289":290,"_216":291,"_292":293},"publishedToNostr","htmlContentKind30023","

Bonnie Kristian is deputy editor at Christianity Today and author of books including In Defense of Evangelicalism: A Response to Its Cultured Despisers (forthcoming September 2026).

Comments require JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript to read and post comments.

More Monday Essays

$\"\"$

The Two Types of History

Maggie Phillips / August 3, 2026

$\"\"$

The Quiet Force of Moderate American Muslims

Ayaan Karan / July 27, 2026

$\"\"$

Warped Hot American Summer

James Scimecca / July 20, 2026

$\"\"$

Utopias Don’t Work. Can You Still Live Deliberately?

Thomas Dichter / July 13, 2026

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