Jackel Slaughter was visiting her son in Pennsylvania last winter when she got the call she had been waiting on for years.

“I had been looking for a house since about 2006,” Slaughter said. “I was visiting him when I got a call about this house.”

Less than a year later, the five-bedroom, 1 ½ bath home at 1313 Jefferson St. renovated by Warren County Habitat for Humanity has Slaughter’s family as grateful residents.

Extended family, friends and Habitat volunteers dedicated the home Saturday with a brief ceremony.

Slaughter, a Rosa Temple High School graduate who worked years cleaning homes and businesses, has moved into the 1,400-square-foot home with her daughter, Carla Jackson, and grandchildren Jeremiah Lewis and Deshanti Jackson.

A chance to provide a home of her own for the holidays made the wait all the sweeter for Slaughter.

“There’s family photos and things I couldn’t really put on the wall when I was renting,” she said. “Now, I can put them wherever I want — all by the grace of God.”

Habitat sells homes at cost to homeowners through 20-year mortgage loans. Most are donated to the charity, which then inspects the structure for proper wiring and insulation before a cost survey is done.

“We had built the home in the mid-‘90s or so,” said Mincer Minor, president of WCHFH. “The owner had moved and had given it back to Habitat. Jackel and her family were perfect to take this house.”

“We just try to do this one house at a time,” Minor said, who counted the Jefferson Street house as the 26th renovation for the local chapter since 1990. “It’s inexcusable to have substandard housing.”

Another four houses in Vicksburg are in line for prospective owners, said volunteer Judy Williams.

Volunteers from Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and St. Alban’s Episcopal Church assisted in renovating the home. The Rev. Walter Ebley, pastor of Gospel Temple M.B. Church, where Slaughter attends, formally dedicated the home.