Today’s guest post if from my mom.  So many of my savorings of home are things that my mom taught me how to do or how to enjoy. You will see home for her has been far from what many of us are accustomed to but somehow she made the place special and a place she could welcome others. Here are her reflections on home…

The painting “The Magpie” by Monet is one of my favorites:  A farmhouse is nestled in snow-covered hills while a bird sings on a fence with sunlight streaming over the scene letting you know that though the trees are bare spring is coming. This represents an ideal of home that lures me yet one that I have never known…permanence, surrounded by the comfort of the familiar!

In my real life I have lived more places than most people on the planet!  My parents were missionaries and being on the move was very much part of the lifestyle: a house on stilts in a dusty town off the railway line,  a home at a Bible school/leprosarium, two different houses in a provincial capital, and that was all before I started attending boarding school in three different countries! My best count is that I have lived in thirty homes so far.

These days, I call Ft. Worth, Texas my home. We are living in a charming 1930’s bungalow complete with a front porch swing and  pecan trees whose branches sweep down across the front of the house loaded with a harvest of nuts.  This is not our home really; the owner needed someone to commit to 27 months of caretaking for his two dogs Jake and Elwood while he went into the Peace Corps!  We not only inherited the dogs but all the friends that one would make in the course of living in one place for 25 years!  (Doesn’t God have His ways?)  

We have owned our own home during one season of our life when my husband pastored a church in Houston, Texas.  It was a wonderful, new home that provided space for our high school and college kids to come and go and a place where we welcomed our first three grandchildren.  Because of this house my mother, a retired missionary was able to live with us for eight years. It was a sad day when I packed up that house to move thinking of all the family dinners around that big table and the friends who had come and gone. God actually sent a hurricane barreling right towards our neighborhood the day I finished packing the last box!  It was a reminder of His great power and the impermanence of all we put our earthly security in.  (Believe me there have been days when I have moved forward dragging my feet every step wanting to have that back.)

One of my favorite places in my home is this corner where I drink my coffee each morning and ground my life in the truth of who God is.  My father used to love Psalm 90:1 which says, “Lord, You have been our home (dwelling place) throughout all generations.”  From this place of deep and enduring relationship I have known “home” and have been able to open my life and space to new friends in every new place.  One evening this week a dozen new friends will gather and we will study the book of Luke which tells about the incarnation of Christ, One who came and made His home among us so that we could know who God is.

The other reasons I love my corner is that behind me are the faces of the people I love most- my children and grandchildren and on my lap is always my little friend, Bogie.  Memories of holidays together and the growing up years, the visits and hope of more visits to come make this house a home.

Thanks for sharing mom!  Can’t wait to have you and dad here for Christmas!

Hope you all have a great day as this week winds down. It’s Kindergarten field trip day for us today! I am going with Jackson on the big yellow bus!! Wish me luck.

As much as we enjoy (“enjoy” is a bit of an overstatement, this line of projects has been a stretch for our skills or lack there of) doing these DIY projects and pushing through on our own there are many times, in home renovation and life in general that we just can’t do it on our own. We have to rely on friends and family.

I look back on seasons in motherhood in particular and the times I was on my own and setting up life for us, I was most drained and isolated. Not because of the exhaustion of moving but from not being recharged by friendships and the encouragement that comes from relying on others. Wouldn’t it be nice to think that I could be supermom or super DIYer and  not need anyone to pull me through? For a split second while the self-sufficiency was still patting me on the back maybe, but as soon as the pat let up I would be keenly aware of how lonely it was to do it on my own. I love the community of family and friends we have developed in each and every home and in our current new space.  It has been so hard at times to cultivate it and it takes many months, even years but the work is so worth it.

I never could have imagined how much our friends and family would have to jump in with this house gig. From looking at houses with our realtor, checking out the engineering of our deck (thank goodness my brother is an engineer!), watching our children while we worked, to helping me paint molding on each and every rung of the stairs. The list goes on. And goodness knows we never would have made it out of Switzerland without the endless hours of garage-saling, corralling kids and cleaning from our dear friends there. Many times we didn’t even ask for help people just jumped in or called to offer help. You may remember when some of our friends surprised us and came to the house before we arrived and cleaned up the yard.  At the time I was so resistant to feeling like we needed to be rescued. My friend reminded me that each one of them had moved and renovated homes in the past couple of years and not one of them had done it all on their own. There are days when the projects are flowing and our energies are high and there are days when you just need a friend to pop in with enthusiasm and encourage you on your way!

this picture frame came with us from Switzerland. This was not a necessary house fix up project but I had a crazy idea to hang it in our entry way. I love that it is ornate but simple and filled that random space. Our friends were here for dinner one night and the guys helped Seth hang it. True friendship huh?!   I did feed them well when they were done! And the ladies had great entertainment watching them get it done!  Each time I see it now I am reminded of the friends who helped hang it! Reminders that this place is not put together on our own!

What project are you currently postponing because you need some help? Call up a family member or friend. It’s likely your friend would love to be asked and would love to feel needed and it is likely that your time together working on it will be a boost for both of you!  Or if you know of a friend who is working on a project call and ask how you can help! You don’t always have to be an expert in something to offer moral support!