Home is where your heart is

We've been in New Zealand exactly seven years now- and I absolutely love it here. But there's always that yearning for home. The States isn't really my home anymore- all my friends are here, my entire high school life has been here, and I love the beauty of New Zealand. It's not that I would want to move back to the States- for all I love it, it's a very materialistic, consumer-oriented place a lot of the time. It's just that the first home you have in your life feels right to your heart. Maybe I'm just the sentimental type, but our Seattle house feels like the most perfect and homey place in the world to me. No matter how many house plans I look at that are perfectly beautiful, our Seattle house just cannot be bettered.

 

I know it's not everyone's idea of perfection, but for me it's lovely. When I grow up I don't want to live in a huge house. On the inside, our Seattle house was actually pretty small. You don't need huge rooms, or even very many of them.  A house becomes a home when you love it, when it loves you, and when it is filled with people you love. Too often we acquire things (objects, houses, distractions) that are impersonal and not beautiful. I firmly believe in filling your life with beautiful things. Not necessarily many, and not necessarily big, but a few things that are beautiful and precious in your eyes. Some scorn sentimentality, but I believe there's a great beauty in it. 

While it's imperative to live in the present and to be present, there's no reason not to cherish the past and anticipate the future. For me memories and plans are part of the beauty of the present. 

I love the life I have lived. I love the life I am living. I love the life I will live.

Hopes and dreams for the future, at least for me, are filled with sentimentality of the past. That's why I love the Seattle house so much. It's a reminder to me of the life I have lived, and the life I want to live.

I want a life filled with God

I want to be kind and good

I want at least a half dozen kind and good children

I want to raise them in a lifestyle filled with simplicity and beauty

I want to have enough money to support my family

but not a cent more

I want to raise children who will value God in their lives

and seek first and foremost to do His will.

I want a house with wood floors, a cherry-red front door, a porch, beautiful rooflines and not a square-foot too much or too little space (had to throw a selfish one in).

I want a home. A small, beautiful home.

Just as a footnote on exams- 2 down, 2 to go!