Coming home for the holidays

In the closet in the back bedroom, 6-year-old Matthias sits on the floor, legs crossed. The little boy isn’t hiding, he says. He just loves this space because this is his closet, in his room. “I’m going to keep my toys in here,” he says, already looking ahead to Christmas Day.

Matthias soon surfaces, not wanting to miss the fun in the rest of the Habitat for Humanity house built by his mom, Yashica Tompkins. On this Sunday in Greenwood, South Carolina, a seemingly endless parade of cousins, grandparents, siblings, friends, church folk and volunteers are gathering to dedicate his tan home with burgundy shutters.

“My mom worked really hard to get this house,” Matthias says. His 17-year-old sister, Meajah, also is impressed with — and proud of — her mom.

In addition to caring for her two kids, Tompkins works as a trainer at a local center that teaches job skills to adults with disabilities. Somewhere in the midst of all that, she completed the hundreds of sweat-equity hours that Habitat requires by helping to build both her house and the homes of other Habitat families. “I want my children to understand that anything you want in this life, you have to work for,” says Tompkins, visibly moved.

There are plenty of emotional moments on this celebratory afternoon. The first piece of furniture in the house is a Christmas tree, a gift from Habitat volunteers who asked to remain anonymous. There’s a cake baked by a neighbor, decorated with a rendering of the new home. And a hug from Mike Ware, Greenwood Area Habitat’s construction supervisor, who hands Tompkins her house keys.

Tompkins knows that the hard work of being a homeowner and paying the mortgage every month will continue. But this house will give her children stability, she says. Meajah has plans to go to school to become a dental hygienist and come home on the weekends. Matthias will have a safe yard to play in.

A shy woman, Tompkins has a beautiful singing voice that she doesn’t often share. She decides to show her thanks to everyone this day by singing the gospel song, “See What the Lord Has Done.” It isn’t long before people join in and the house rocks in song. Figuratively.

“As you can tell, we put this house to the test today,” says Chad Charles, Greenwood Area Habitat’s executive director. “It is a well-built house.”

Come Christmas Day, the house will be filled again with family and friends. “We are all going to get together and have a big dinner,” Tompkins says. She already has given her kids their gift. “This house is the best present ever.”