Home

My dad was in the Navy and I married an Army man, so I have been moving around for 42 years. Sometimes it's hard to pinpoint where "home" is, but I claim Woodbridge, Virginia. We moved there the summer before I entered eighth grade. I spent all of my high school years there and still tend to think of it as "the place I grew up." Some of my dearest friends and fondest memories are from that place.

When I was in high school, my parents and I attended the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. It became a kind of tradition to go every year when the blossoms were at their peak. Now, when I see cherry blossoms, I think about the Potomac River, the monuments, spending time with my parents. It's a good thing. It makes me think of "home."

My mom was a military wife and she always said, "Home is where your stuff is." She meant that any house can become a home when you move your familiar things in and start to make it yours. As a military wife myself, it has been a piece of advice I have held to as I have spent the past 20 years turning houses into homes, even if only for a year or two.

As we are settling in to the house on the hilltop, it feels a bit strange to think we may not move for a very long time. I thought we would find a house built in the 1890s, but instead we bought one built in 1974. It has been a fun challenge bringing it into this decade, but it certainly wasn't what I envisioned my "forever home" would be. I didn't expect a Brady Bunch house, but I am learning to love it.

One sweet surprise I discovered recently was that we have a cherry tree at the end of our driveway. This one is a bit past its peak, but it is beautiful nonetheless. It's a sweet reminder of the place I grew up calling "home," and also a sweet reminder that the house on the hilltop is now my home. This place is where my stuff and my people are, and I am to make it home until God tells us to move or until Jesus comes to take us to our eternal home.


The tree in the foreground is ours. The ones in the background belong to the neighbor. They are all so lovely!

 My Brady Bunch house is feeling a bit more like home every day. The cherry blossoms and the daffodils sure do help! :)

 

Hello, Sunshine!

Our ducks and chickens went outside today for the very first time.

They have never seen sunlight. They have been living in Rubbermaid bins, under heat lamps, in our garage.

This morning I found all five of the yellow chicks (our youngest nuggets) all perched around the rim of their bin. It was time.

We took their temporary play yard (I don't know what else to call it) outside onto some nice, green grass. We placed the nuggets in it and...

...they just stood here.

So we sprinkled some feed around...

...more standing.

They didn't know what to do.

Now, they have been housed in three different bins. The red and black nuggets were in one bin, the yellow nuggets in another, and the ducks in the third.

...and so they stood, each according to their own kind. Huddled with their familiars.

Finally, someone started checking the place out. Finally, they found the feed. Some even flew a bit to test the height boundaries of this new container. It's taller than they can fly. They are still contained, but there is much more room to run and to flap their wings and to grow.

Aren't the nuggets a little like us when we begin to discover freedom in Christ? We are content in the darkness. We don't know what to do with the light and the freedom we have been given. We stick to our familiar, comfortable surroundings. We stand around, not knowing quite what to do.

And then...

...we begin to check things out. We find nourishment in the Scriptures. We discover that God is so much bigger than us. We still have boundaries, but there is freedom to run and to flap our wings and to grow within those boundaries.

Maybe this post is kind of silly, but I think God is going to teach me a lot through those little chicken nuggets. Maybe it's not silly, after all.

Fantastic

My Nate joined our family three years ago, when he was four years old. He and his sister are pretty amazing and have taught us much in the past three years.

Tonight is Nate's first-grade singing program at school. He told me that today at practice, he was thinking to himself, "Tonight, my mom is going to think I'm fantastic."

Well, Mr. Fantastic, it's true. I WILL think you're fantastic because you are.

This kid, who three years ago didn't know what a mom was, is anticipating looking out into the audience, knowing that his mom thinks he's fantastic.

I'll be there...thinking he is. :)

 

 

P.S. When it was all over, he said, "Did you think I was fantastic?"

My answer? "Yes, Nate. You were pretty fantastic."

 

And he really was.



 

 



Surprises

When you purchase a house on a hill top in the middle of winter, you have no idea what surprises await when spring arrives. I know there are fruit and nut trees on the property somewhere, but their location is a mystery to me.

Also a mystery is what pretty things might pop up when the weather starts turning warmer. There are lots of bulb plants all over. Some, I can identify, some will be a surprise for a later date. Good thing I love bulbs, because they are literally EVERYWHERE!

These beauties greeted me this morning.

I. LOVE. Daffodils.

 

I knew there were martin houses on the property. My grandparents always had martin houses. These make me happy.

One not-so-happy surprise tonight was that one of our baby chicks died. Of course, my husband is out of town, so I had to take care of it. I should be used to that now after 20 years being a military wife! :) I guess death is a part of country life. We will learn...

There are new, fun surprises every day. I can't wait to share them with you!