Understanding of Home.

I shared last a few days ago on my instagram how there's something about the red dirt in central Africa. While you are there it's frustrating and you feel like its always on your shoes, feet and getting into everything. Kind of like the sand was when we lived in the Middle East. Now I find myself dreaming of that red dirt roads lined with precious children who want to just be with you, always ready to greet you with a smile. 


The concept of home is a strange one to both me and my hubby. Both having grown up away from our home countries and in other cultures it's always a weird thing to be asked where home is. It's such a loaded question that I'm never really sure how I'm supposed to answer.
It usually has many different answers depending on how I gauge the person asking it.
The simple answer would be wherever I currently reside, which is with my hubby in the Midwest in our home together. That is home.
Yet my family are scattered, my parents live in England on the coast. In a farm area where it takes 20 mins to drive to the nearest McDonalds and all the local stores start closing around 4pm and the average age is probably 60 something. That was home for a while too.
Then there's my university town, the dreaming spires, the history, the people who left prints on my heart during the 4 years I wrestled with life in my early 20s. I went to school there, wrestled out my faith and convictions there, started my career there and also ended it there (but that's a whole other story). That is home too.
The desert town which no longer exists in reality because everyone I knew back then now lives in another part of the world and is in a different stage of life. That's home too.


I think the complicated answer is that every place I called home, took a piece of my heart.
Every time we unpacked boxes and I had a room to call my own, it really became mine for a season. I did life in every single one of those empty shells known as houses, they became homes because of the people in them and the events that took place in them. Home is so many different places to me.


I have never known a building where you come home from the hospital and spend 18 years of life in the small four walls growing and maturing along the way. Redecorating your room every time you outgrew the colors or designs. (For the record a lot of my walls have been white, a luxury of  rental houses)
To me every place you go has the possibility of becoming a home.
Maybe that's why I feel like visiting Kenya took another piece of my heart in the same way. I got off the plane and felt a familiarity, a homecoming to a place where I had never been before. A comfort. I have really only visited central Africa twice. Twice. That's it.
Yet it seems to be permanently etched on my heart. On my mind.


Who knows what the Lord will do with that.

Instagram //August//

Sharing a few of my favorite moments from this month via Instagram. 

Follow along.

New Home.

I will try and get some time maybe this weekend to write some more. But for now Instagram and other little snapshots will have to do. 
We've been busy with many house projects & working on our cars, as well as both working. My family is also staying with us for the next few weeks so most of my time is going there.

But for now, here's some sneek peeks of our new home.....hope you like the progress. I think I love it more than our last home even though I didn't know it was possible :) 

I haven't finished the master bedroom or painted the guest room (shown above) yet...so more on those soon. 

Our Current Home: We move this weekend.

Bedroom: Reality of how it normally looks, but I love that gallery wall

I realized that just over a year ago when we moved into this home we had waited so long for, I mentioned that I would post pictures once it was painted. I think what I really meant was once it looked like a show home. So this week I devoured Myquillyn's book 'The Nesting Place: It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful' (full review coming soon: its awesome!) and found that I totally was hoping for this beautiful show home to show you guys through pictures.

But that isn't us, it just isn't who we are and how our home will probably ever look, and I'm slowly learning to be ok with that. 

So as I'm boxing it all up to move again to our new home, I figured now is as good a time as any to share how our home has looked this past year. 

Bathroom: That colored ceiling is incredible! My favorite room in the whole place!

Kitchen: Deep Wine red wall - I did hang pictures but apparently I don't have any pictures of the finished look.

Living Room: My African pictures with our warm colored throw pillows.

Reality: Christmas Morning in our Living Room 

My desk: Where many of the posts here have been created during the daily grind of life.

The pompoms were from tissue paper made for a party. 

Some Details I loved this past year:

A Winter DIY: I found these all on clearance at Michaels and made them for about $2 each! 

A Winter DIY: I made this wreath from things I had at home and bought the berries on clearance for $0.20 at Michaels.

Easter Wreath: I splurged and bought this from Target for just under $20

Numbered Portraits: Every year we've been married so far, we have taken a picture with the number. I can't wait to keep adding to this over time and see how our family changes. 

Artwork in the middle was done by the amazing Margaret Barley.

Don't you just love the two she sent me: (I can't wait to switch them out occasionally or start our second frame eventually)

Hope you enjoyed our REALLY late walk through of our home. Maybe it won't be a year before I show you the results of our move this weekend. 

Much Love! 

P.S. I can't wait to head over to The Nester and see all her projects for future ideas :) 

Packing Day 2 (of 4) in pictures.

We have been living in this beautiful home for the last 14 months.

But now with the exciting job changes.

We are moving.

So I thought I would do some before pictures and then some pictures of what our place looks like 2 days into packing.

I am hoping it will only take 4 days this week.

As then we are travelling to a wedding and need to shift everything once we return.

Current packing scenario:

So that's what I'm currently doing with my time friends.

Forgive me for not replying to all your sweet comments & emails.

Much Love,

L

{On My Heart} Mondays. [Keeping a beautiful home]

I felt it was time to write about why I feel home decor is so important.
Yes, it totally has to do with more than just loving beautiful homes and pottery barn catalogues.
God himself loves beautiful things....look at our world. He made things beautiful, like sunsets. Just because He could.
Not to say that for us humans, wanting things too beautiful and too perfect doesn't become a problem. Because it totally can. But that's slightly off topic for today, anyway....back to why I feel beauty in a home is important....

Your home has been given to you by our wonderful Father. For the enjoyment of your family & for you to share with others (hospitality). Just as we should take care of the bodies he has given us, the children he gives us and the money he gives us.
Why should we not also take good care of the homes he has given us.
A home which is not full of clutter can be a beautiful sanctuary cultivating intimacy. Intimacy with our prince, with our spouse, with our children and a beautiful place for those coming into our home to enjoy. It can be kind of awkward having someone come into our home and having to remove unmentionables off the floor so they can walk through to the couch.
Not exactly a relaxing atmosphere. That might be an extreme example but you get the point.

In our home, I try to keep our bedroom clutter free, to keep it orderly and inviting. This way when tired in the evening, I can head in there for some much needed rest. There is no mountain of papers, computers, books and other miscellaneous items needing to be put elsewhere before I can turn down the covers and climb in. It is ready should one of us need to lie down for a nap in the afternoon. It helps aid rest, not frustration because you first have to remove the clutter mountain.


While I fail to always keep our home in order, as you can tell from the pictures. I try to do so. Why?
Because having a clutter-free home creates a calmer atmosphere. If things are always in their place, I always know where they are. This way when I need to urgently find something, I know where it is. It helps keep me calm, it stops me feeling frustrated.

It also helps keep distractions to a minimum. When working on a pressing task, the last thing I want is to find that a pile of books or papers is sitting next to me. So when I glance at it, I see that letter from the bank I've been meaning to reply to and never got around to. So I take care of that and forget where I was in my task. Or sometimes, I forget about the task all-together as once again I saw something else I needed to see to.



Having a beautifully kept home can inspire you. It can help you when you are trying to creatively make something or even just spend some time with your heavenly prince. You can keep the distractions to a minimum and focus on Him.

A beautiful quote from the Set Apart Girl Magazine (Leslie Ludy) from Nov/Dec 2010 (p.83)
 says this:

'The purpose of your place puts prioruty on clearing out distractions, staving off frustration, and redeeming your time. It's not just so others can ooh and ahh over a snappy room and your divine organizational skills, but so they may see a life ordered, disciplined, and freed up to spend itself for what truly matters.'

Proverbs 31 mentions indirectly the home multiple times and we see the proverbs 31 woman keeping it orderly also.

'...She watches over the affairs of her household
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.'

(Proverbs 31:17)

 These are some of the reasons I try to keep an orderly beautiful home. Hopefully aiding with a relaxing atmosphere for both A & I as well as any guests we invite into our home. I see it as a beautiful gift from the Lord to take care of and continually be thankful for, even when washing dishes for the 5th time that day. 
Enjoy the blessing of your own home today. Whether that be a dorm room, apartment, bedroom at home or huge mansion. Be thankful for the blessing of the room the Lord has blessed you with for now. Take delight in caring for it =)

Much Love,

L

{On my Heart} Again. [Disciplining Children]

I work with a number of different families throughout the week and each family has its own schedule, rules & ways of disciplining children. 

It is awesome to see such a variety of families and the way they raise their children.

Watching these children, so many different techniques come up: time outs, supernanny tips, hand flicks, spanking.

One of my own observations is that each children responds in different ways to whatever form of discipline you are using. Just as each of them has different personalities, they each respond differently to the same form of punishment.

This can be a challenge when one form of punishment appears harsher than another, 

but it works for one child and not the other.

I try to always make the punishments fair if they are needed when watching the kids. 

But it is a challenge at times.

Consistency is such a huge factor when raising kids (or watching other people's). 

They are always trying to figure out how much control they have over the decisions in their lives. 

Usually not much. But they will test you to see how much control you will let them have. 

Their behaviour is more challenging when their boundaries move 

because they test their level of control.

The more tired I am when watching the kids, the more I struggle to be consistent with disciplining them. This of course means they might test me more. Not fun when tired =)

As I am not their parent, I may be more limited in the way I discipline them as I am only there to fill in while their parents are elsewhere. 

But as I have worked with these families over time, I have noticed these general observations about all nine of the kids.

It has been such a blessing to see these different families doing life in their own unique way.

I have learned so many things about how to raise children before even having my own. 

I am so thankful they trust me with their precious little ones. They truly are a blessing in my life.

The more time I spend with them, the more I see flaws in myself as well.

This past week little L tried to put on his favorite CD 

while I was fixing the baby lunch in the kitchen. 

He must have struggled to turn it on (although had done it before) 

because he turned the volume up way too high. 

When the music came on full blast...

he ran into another room at the back of the house sobbing. 

After running into the living room and turning off the CD player, 

I headed to the back of the house where he was shaking and sobbing really hard. 

Whilst discipline may have been appropriate in this situation,

I felt compassion for this scared child (much the way the Lord does for us). 

I scopped him up and held him, he then sobbed 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' 

It reminded me of myself before the Lord when I am disobedient or get something wrong.

I cry out to Him telling Him how sorry I am 

and how scared I am by the outcome of what I did.

So I continued to hold little L and console him much the way the Father would me.

'...Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.' 

{2 timothy 4:2}

We talked together about little L's behaviour (disobedience) but there was no punishment this time. 

There is a time for grace, 

even when the human side of me might want to punish because I am frustrated with him.

Most of the time their disobedience has nothing to do with what they are being asked to do (or what not to do). It is about them trying to figure out how much control they have in life. 

Just like we do before the Lord and discover, we don't have much.

The more of my time and energy I devote to these little ones, the more they teach me about the Father and my own disobedience.

They show me my weaknesses & flaws, where I am inconsistent in my life.

The more I pour into them the more I learn how to die to self and serve these families well.

Even if my week is crazy busy full of activities with these precious little ones,

I am content.

'I Would like to be able to say that I always do exactly what the Lord asks of me. 

I would like to say that I always seek Him first when a difficult situation presents itself. 

While I am getting better at it, sometimes I don't. 

Sometimes I still think what I do with my life should be my decision. 

 God asks, and reasons, and encourages. 

He gently explains that I do not know what is best for me and that I do not always get what I want. 

And I just look at Him, not understanding at all what He's trying to say. 

Sometimes I even whine and sob and shriek, just like a tired, angry three-year-old...

...As I kick and scream and struggle, I remember: I like being in the center of God's will for my life. 

God's plan is usually pretty great. 

It is a whole lot better than mine anyway. 

 I am so glad that He does not allow me to win.'

{Kisses From Katie, Katie Davis, p.227}

Much Love,

L