NATCHEZ &045; Just a few days before Christmas, volunteers and supporters of Habitat for Humanity asked God to bless the newest house &uot;with happiness and peace&uot; for the family who will live there.

Charlene Carroll and her four children hope to have their furniture moved in in time for Christmas morning. On Sunday afternoon the Carrolls were joined by family and their new Habitat friends as they received the keys and a gift of a new Bible.

&uot;This is house No. 7,&uot; said Habitat President Andrew Calvit, who noted the number seven appears throughout the Bible.

&uot;The blessed part about the seventh house is we acquired seven lots in the same year. That tells us we’re doing something right and we’re doing something for the Lord.&uot;

Calvit offered a prayer that the family &uot;enjoy their house in

happiness and peace.&uot;

Habitat treasurer Buddy Rayne said Carroll was one of the hardest working Habitat homeowners he had seen.

&uot;She worked hard on every aspect of the house,&uot; Rayne said.

Carroll thanked the Habitat volunteers for giving her the opportunity to own a home.

&uot;Today is a wonderful day when this house becomes a home,&uot; she said. &uot;To own a house is a dream come true. Š Everyone should be able to feel this proud.&uot;

Carroll’s children also took part in the dedication ceremony, offering words of thanks in speeches, prayer and verse.

&uot;Through wisdom is a house built and through understanding is it established,&uot; Ashley Carroll said.

The seventh Habitat house ends a long dry spell for the local chapter. For three years the group looked for property on which to build &045; praying at every board meeting, Calvit said.

Those prayers were answered not only with the new house on Martin Luther King Jr. Street but with seven lots nearby.

After working nearly a year to build the Carroll house, volunteers will take a short break before starting on construction on the next house, probably in February, Calvit said.

And Carroll told her new Habitat friends she would be part of the team that builds that new house.