My Realization Today...

So, the girls and I were at a friend's house today. This friend is a great gal, mom to five kiddos ranging in age from 16 to 3. I was standing around her kitchen, visiting with her as she prepared our lunch, and I just realized that her house is a HOME. She had Valentine's decorations hanging up in the front windows and over the dining room table. She made us some delicious pasta carbonara, salad, and french bread for lunch; it smelled wonderful! She had made up some cookie dough so our four litle girlies could frost and decorate heart-shaped cookies together. And even though her kitchen wasn't spotless and she kept mentioning the laundry that was constantly piling up, it just felt "right" to be there - happy and comfortable - a place where anyone and everyone would want to be.

And I realized that our house is like that too! I make yummy meals, and do gluing and glittering projects with Evie and Sylvie, and randomly serve hot chocolate in colorful tea cups, and put on our "dancing music," and light candles, and snuggle up on the couch with my two best girls and a pile of books...and for some reason, it took me witnessing all of the same things taking place at my friend's house to realize JUST HOW INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT AND LIFE-CHANGING AND ETERNAL what I do at home is. I am (hopefully and prayerfully) making our home a safe haven, a place where my husband and children want to be, where they know they will be loved unconditionally, where they can just be themselves and enjoy themselves and share themselves freely with others. I felt all of those things about my parents' home when I was growing up too, and some of my fondest memories of my childhood are just being at home, not doing anything "special" exactly - just playing board games and sitting by the fireplace and reading on the couch and eating my dad's homemade ice cream and playing baseball in our backyard...And on these "grown-up days" where I feel completely overwhelmed, I look back on those childhood memories and SMILE and feel a sense of relief wash over me - remembering helps me let go of all of the responsibilities and burdens that come with being an adult, even for a moment. And then I can go on. I can enter back into the "adult world" and cope better. Is that silly?

There you have it - my realization today!!!