Peaceful. My favorite thing about the new house is how peaceful it is.
It wasn't as if the old apartment was necessarily noisy, but the quality of peace in the air here is so divine.
I love a home where all the lights can be off during the day because the windows bring in enough light.
I love a home where the bathroom has a window, come to find out. I love feeling the morning light as I am getting ready for the day. So much more refreshing than getting ready in a sunless bathroom.
Natural light is such a beautiful, energizing gift from God.
I love a home with lace curtains in my bedroom. I love a not precious/girly, but elegant/homey/feminine mixed with masculine bedroom. Lace curtains, my beautiful antique wardrobe, and a promised vanity table make up my feminine loveliness. A big, hardy, dark wooden bed, BJ's guitar and a gentleman's valet provide the traditional/easy going masculine. I love a bedroom that is a sanctuary, and mine is turning back into one.
*****
For the last few days we have been busy bees trying to get everything over to the new place. Although there are still a few things to take care of over at the old apartment, BJ is back to work and I am back to getting into a family routine.(Won't be TOO effective though since it is FRIDAY;).
Back to laundry. Back to tidying the kitchen. What is it about natural light, a place for everything, and clean, cool air coming in the window that makes me want to live in my kitchen?
I AM SO GRATEFUL. I am SO GRATEFUL for this new home in our lives. I am so excited. I AM SO EXCITED to be able to have a house that can be our home for the next while. This move has been the biggest blessing to our family. I can't even put it into words.
To anyone who visits us, HOUSE BEAUTIFUL my home may not be at the moment with boxes and unhung pictures and day dreams lying around, but it is to me. Tonight we will find a place to hang our picture of the Savior and then dedicate our home with a blessing. We will read bedtime stories, or at least promise bedtime stories if the kids get ready for bed fast enough:). The kids will fight over who gets to sleep in the top bunk. Alice will drive us all crazy because she will keep going up on the top and then we will have to tell her for the thousandth time that she can't go up onto the top bunk until she learns how to get down by herself. Jane will want MORE Mommy Time, and after Denny and Alice fall asleep and Mum and Dad go into the other room for Mommy/Daddy Time she will tell us to go to bed, in a very angry and perturbed voice, so we won't be sleepy in the morning. After Jane is FINALLY asleep we will turn off all the lights, but the bathroom one, and lock all the doors. I'll climb into our yummy bed with CLEAN sheets(thanks to our new maid in the basement who loves to wash and dry clothes:), and get about as comfortable as a pregnant whale can at 27-ish weeks. Then BJ will rub my feet with lavender and read a book to me until I am basically asleep, and then he will climb into bed beside me and hold my hand. We'll squish each other's hands with our family's secret "I love you message" until we are both well into the land of dreams. And tomorrow. TOMORROW will bring a whole new set of tasks and adventures.....
TODAY'S CHALLENGE: What makes a home a home for you? What are your FAVORITE rooms in your home?
Oh, Clair. You hit on exactly the biggest source of my frustration right now. My home is less homey than I want it. I used to have a favorite room. It was the study. There was room for everything, it was comfortable, it was peaceful . . . it had all of my books on lovely bookcases easily accessible. It had an art print on the wall. That room has been partially converted to a bedroom since we decided that our two oldest were getting too old to share a bedroom any more. One more baby and we outgrew this house that originally fit us PERFECTLY. Our first living space that comfortably accommodated us and all of our stuff. It no longer does, and that's a big part of why I need more positive thoughts in my life. I don't hate my house, but I really can't stand not having a place for everything. *sigh* But since I know on a very deep level how frustrating it is to not have a wonderful space to live in, I am SO super happy for you to now have a comfortable place to live in. That is bliss. :)
ReplyDeleteThe bedroom sharing thing is a tough one and so different for every family. Our kids all sleep in the same room. They don't have toys in there. Just their beds and clothes and Jane changes in another room. Denny might get his own room this Fall, but my kids really enjoy being together...so I don't know if that is going to work out or if Denny is going to end up in there or our room every night cause he is lonely.
DeleteThe older I am getting and the more people in our home, I am REALLY finding that I am NOT happy when things are not in order....and we haven't been able to achieve that ideal YET, but we are getting closer!!:) It helps that BJ is willing to build me as many shelves, desks, etc that I need to make a room work. AND we have found a free wood source(not perfect wood, but organization over beauty for me at the moment!):)
Heavenly Father wants you to be happy and your home to be the next thing to the temple. He wants you to have a place of order, and I bet if you keep praying about it and working on it the solutions will come.:) It took until we moved for me to figure out the mess of a living room we had in Vegas. It can be SO FRUSTRATING. But you will figure it out! And seriously that EMOTIONAL HOUSE book. Try and find it, it has some good ideas in it.:)xo!