Longing for Home

Do you ever find yourself longing for home?  Your Heavenly Home?  Sometimes I do....I hope that is okay.

Sometimes life is so trying and taxing, full of discouragements.  Things do not turn out the way we had hoped for or imagined.

But what keeps me going is knowing I have work to do.  I have children to take care of, and a home to make for them--as beautiful and Heaven-like as possible, by God's grace.

I don't always have money in the budget to get things for our home, and I cannot drive right now to go to the shops.  It has been a long time since we have been to thrift stores or car boot sales--I have found a couple of lovely paintings at car boot sales.  But this week I have managed to have just enough money to order a picture frame to frame a couple of our wedding photos.  I also finally found a natural candle company here that does not charge an extravagant amount of money for scented soy candles.  So I have ordered a couple of fall-themed candles to lift our spirits just a little bit.

I have been so busy with other things lately, that the home has just been on maintenance-mode, with the children doing most of the housework.  There is more I would like to get done around the house, so my family has a beautiful and clutter-free home to live in and enjoy. 

A trip to a reservoir.  Imagine how lovely Heaven will be, where the light comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tiny Voice of Reason

At lunchtime today, somehow we came upon the topic of how someone melted part of the power cord to one of our slow cookers.  I had noticed it in the morning, however, I needed to cook our meal for dinner in the slow cooker and just put everything in and turned it on as usual, trying to get started on the rest of my day.

One of my girls, upon hearing about the cord, was concerned and reminded me there was danger since the wires were exposed.  She also reminded me of how I could cook our meal in the soup pot instead...(smiles).  I was a bit frustrated, as the person who accidentally melted the cord never told me about it so we could fix it.

But I went to put the evening's dinner, already steaming, into our large soup pot.  Soon, my littlest girl was standing right between me and the counter, squished in the little concave between my legs and the cabinets...

"It's alright, Mommy.  We can just pray," she reminded me, as she hugged my legs.

It was such a simple thing, but it made me stop and think about my feelings of frustration.

"Of course we can always pray, can't we?"  I smiled at my dear little girl who spoke wisdom to me in that moment.

I'm sorry I haven't replied to all of your recent comments.  Things here have been more busy than usual, but I will try to reply soon.

A Birthday in Bed

I recently had a birthday but didn't get to spend it as I'd have liked.  I woke up with an awful headache that worsened whenever I got up or walked around.  So, in bed I stayed, all day.  I tried to sleep off the headache, but it just wouldn't leave.  My dear husband even got off early to spend time with me, but in bed I had to stay.  I spent much of the day praying and acknowledging to the Lord what a blessing it is to be around my family when I can, and reflecting on His goodness to us.

Since I was not feeling well, my husband ordered pizza for us (something I was craving anyways).  The family ate down in the kitchen while I was brought dinner in bed on a pretty tray.  In a little while, Husband came in to ask me if it would be all right for the children to bring up their gifts for me, as they really wanted me to open them.  "If they are not too noisy", I said.

In a few minutes, the door opened, and in came a line of my husband and children, quietly singing happy birthday to me.  My husband was carrying a beautiful chocolate cake that my eldest had made, complete with candles!  I received some very special homemade gifts and cards from my children, and my husband gave me some drawing supplies.  I hope I can use them soon.

Though I had wanted to spend my birthday with my family, the Lord had other plans, and His plans are always good.

The doily one of my daughters made for me

Some of my precious gifts and cards.  Another daughter made the earrings.

It is still green here in winter.  The only difference is that the trees are bare of leaves, but many of them have green vines growing up the trunks.

Top painting by Teresa Jenellen

Mother's Apron

Mother needs another apron.  I had a few at our old house, but I got rid of some when we moved because they were getting ragged and old.  I had even won of those aprons in a giveaway several years ago.  That apron was very long, with a lovely cream ruffle at the bottom.  The children called it my "pregnancy apron" because it is the only apron that was big enough to accommodate my growing belly when I was with child.  However, it had gotten a bit of an odor that wouldn't come out in the washing, so I got rid of that one.  I packed another apron in our crate.  It is somewhat pretty with floral and pink, but it's just a bit silly as it says, "Queen of the Kitchen".

My great aunt had sewn me a lovely apron that had a bit of ruffles.  It had a pocket on the front where I would stick little things like notes from the children that they would give me when I was going about housework.  It was golden yellow with a tiny floral print, and accents of red.  When we moved, I accidentally left it behind hanging up on our kitchen, as if waiting for me to put it on in preparation for the next meal.  My great aunt had also sewn aprons for each of the girls.  Thankfully most of those were brought over, but we may have left one or two behind.

An apron is like a housewife's uniform.  I automatically put it on whenever I cook, as it keeps the splatters and stains off of my clothes.  The little children would love to snuggle up and hide under Mother's Apron. Especially when they were shy, it provided a little place for them to peek out from.  I like to have at least two aprons so that when one gets dirty, I can have it in the wash and wear my other apron.

So hopefully sometime soon I will be able to get another apron or two.  I have seen one or two in the superstores here, but they are not very pretty.  If I had a sewing machine, fabric, time, and know-how, I would make one myself (smiles).