home to me — Everyday Abundant

What is home? It's four walls and a ceiling. It's the address your mail gets delivered to. It's a place to hang your hat and lay your head at night.

But it's more than that.

It's the personal touches, the iconography, that make it not only a house, but a home. The paint colors, the wall art, the books in your book cases. These things don't happen overnight; it takes time to make a house a home.

When my husband I bought our house 6 years ago (10 days before our wedding!) we had a $20 couch from Craigslist, a coffee table from Ikea, and a mattress from Sam's Club. The walls were bare, the floors were cold, and the cupboards were empty.

Now our couches are better (though some are still Craigslist finds), our walls have color, there are rugs and lamps and bookcases, every room tells you who we are. When you enter our home you see a picture of the Virgin Mary, a Sacred Heart holy water font, and our family collage wall with wedding photos of our grandparents, parents, and us. And then pictures of our own little family. The minute you walk in our door you get a pretty good idea of what's important to us. Home is a reflection of who we are.

But it's more than that.

Home is all the memories of things that happened here. This is the place we came home to after our honeymoon. It's where we brought our children home from the hospital. We've seen positive (and negative) pregnancy tests here, we've gotten grad school acceptance letters here, we've had string quartets rehearsals, baby showers, and New Year's Eve parties here. This is where we plant our garden every spring and shovel mountains of snow every winter. Home is where life happens.

But it's more than that.

More than all the things hanging on our walls, or the events that have taken place within them.

Home, to me, is the people who fill my house, and my life.

Home is being with my parents and having them make me a latte in my favorite mug, or taking an after dinner walk.

Home is listening to my grandparents tell stories from "the old days."

Home is swapping clothes with my sister, and making jokes with my brothers.

Home is my friends who I don't have to put make-up on for, I don't care if my house is a mess for them, and I don't mind serving them my left overs. Home is sharing in each other's joys and sorrows, and watching our children play and grow up together.

More than anyone else, home is being with my husband. A relaxing morning drinking coffee together, or staying up way too late watching Netflix would be some of my favorite scenes of home. But even cleaning up the kitchen, or bouncing a fussy baby are more enjoyable when he's around. Where ever I am, and whatever I'm doing, if I'm with him and our two babies, then I am home.

But even more than that.

Home is the little space allotted to me by God to, for a short time, bring heaven to earth. This is where we live our vocations, sowing peace, ministering love, cultivating life. Home is where we do that, until we are called to our eternal home.

This post is part of the “Home to Me” blog hop, hosted by Julie Walsh of These Walls. During the two weeks from Friday, November 13 through Thanksgiving Day, more than a dozen bloggers will share about what the concept of “home” means to them. “Home” can been elusive or steady. It can be found in unexpected places. It is sought and cherished and mourned. It is wrapped up in the people we love. As we turn our minds and hearts toward home at the beginning of this holiday season, please visit the following blogs to explore where/what/who is “Home to Me.”

November 13 – Julie @ These Walls

November 14 – Leslie @ Life in Every Limb

November 15 – Ashley @ Narrative Heiress

November 16 – Rita @ Open Window

November 17 – Svenja, guest posting @ These Walls

November 18 – Anna @ The Heart’s Overflow

November 19 – Debbie @ Saints 365

November 20 – Melissa @ Stories My Children Are Tired of Hearing

November 21 – Amanda @ In Earthen Vessels

November 22 – Daja and Kristina @ The Provision Room

November 23 – Emily @ Raising Barnes

November 24 – Annie @ Catholic Wife, Catholic Life