Home Sweet Home



"We all live somewhere....some kind of a spot in the world is the place we each call 'home', no matter how temporary that place might be. This place should be expressing something of yourself. It should be communicating something of you to your visitors, but it should also satisfy something within you. You should feel 'at home' here, because you have mead it home with something of yourself. 
~Edith Schaeffer~
The Hidden Art of Homemaking


Don't you just love that? Does that speak something to your very being?

I remember taking a particular class in Bible College and while I can't remember what it was called, I think it had to do with being a "godly woman" or something like that. This book was on the reading list. As a young 18/19 year old college student I remember reading it and really embracing the concept of making my dorm room a "home". I was raised in a home where my mom loved to cook, decorate and garden and make her house a home, so while I was exposed to Homemaking, I honestly didn't think a whole lot about it at the time. By my moms example, however, when I went to college and lived in a dorm room for 2 years, then had a place of my own for a short time after graduating college (above the garage of a friends home) then my own bedroom when I moved back to my parents house to plan and save for a wedding and eventually a home after I got married (actually 2 apartments, a single wide trailer, and two other houses including the one we live in now, and living in someone elses home for 2 1/2 years while we built our current home), I learned to create my own space, to make each one a home even if I knew I/we wouldn't be there forever. 

There wasn't technology, Pinterest, or FB around in the early years to influence me, inspire me or intimidate me. Now, there is. Not to mention pressure we might feel when we visit other people's homes. Sometimes I'm inspired, sometimes I'm influenced, and sometimes I'm downright intimidated. We have been in our current home for 7 years and I was recently reflecting on the simple fact that I have allowed myself to become lost in knowing and creating a home that reflects me and my family. It doesn't help that I have a husband who actually has an opinion and a taste (that isn't always the same as mine) when it comes to home decor...say WHAT! I remember telling him when we first got married, "um...you aren't supposed to care, are you an alien or something"?  Because my dad never cared. My mom could do whatever she wanted. Hmmmm....how was that going to work out. This isn't a bad thing, but it definitely makes it a bit trickier and my passive personality usually just doesn't bother, thus not really expressing myself or my personal taste throughout the home or finding the happy medium. Which is a bad thing. Lol. I am getting better though. Then there are the finances...do I really want to spend money to buy new or used things...not always. I always get overwhelmed not knowing where to put things, or buying a piece here and there to put together later. I would love to give someone money and say here, come with me and help me out. 

A week ago I was commenting on a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Reluctant Entertainer, and I remembered some thoughts from the above mentioned book. I immediately went to Amazon and purchased a used copy. I cannot wait to re-visit it and gain some new inspiration. The other book I can't wait to get in to reading is Love the Home you Have by Melissa Michaels. 

It is easy with today's technology to lose sight of our own personal expression. I encourage you to look deeper and discover your own style, passion, joy when it comes to your home. Maybe you really don't care about decorating with a particular style or decorating at all. That's fine. Maybe you like having as little as possible so you don't have to clean as many trinkets. Awesome! What brings you joy? When you walk in a room, do you walk in and think "I love this place, I feel peace in this place, I feel joy in this place". Do you know that those feelings have more to do with what is coming from inside you, than what is decorating the room?  Express yourself in your home, but let what's in you be what causes you and others to love being in your home.

I've shared a few pictures here that I could find quickly of other places we've lived. I can honestly say I loved something about every home, even the apartment that had weird worm like bugs that came up from somewhere...eeww..we didn't stay there long. But it was our first home. I wish I could find more pictures of our homes..maybe at some point I'll look harder. You can check out these posts on our home building project
 Our second apartment. We lived here for 2 years. The curtains were there already but something whimsical about them.
After the first apartment we lived in a single wide trailer on our church property (I can't find pics of it right now). This was the first "stick built" home we bought. Our oldest was 1 when we bought it. 

After that home, we purchased property for a great deal and began building. It took us 2 1/2 years and in that time we lived with an older gal from our church. We had two bedrooms we lived in. Crazy. I was happy to have my own home again. 

No matter where you find yourself living, make it your home! 



With Joy UNquenchable,

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