Paint swatches, roasted veggies, sweet friends;

a favourite game with a new twist;

last year’s cherries in anticipation of this year’s bounty.

The neighbourhood and its children enjoying spring with picnics and water balloons;

chats with family and stolen moments at the sewing machine;

the best cinnamon rooibos.

Kids with kind friends for sandboxes and sunshine,

we shop for hardwood and check Energy Star ratings;

secret pretzels and pastries;

thrifting denied.

A chicken dinner for twelve, not early enough for sandy, sun-kissed kids;

visiting with mama and papa until bedtime has long since come and gone;

a late night so worth it.

Chicken stock a simmering, bread rising, granola baking;

Kids out all day, baby giggles, the boy tells jokes;

perhaps now a nap.

Laughter, sunshine, dreaming – this is how we’ve spent our weekend. 

How about you?

::

joining Amanda for weekending

Some of you wandered for years looking for a good place to live.

God got to you in the nick of time…took you straight to a good place to live.

Ps 107:4-8  (paraphrased)

I have a story for you.

A couple of weeks ago Dan found on a house on the mls to show me. We have seen many houses this way. Many. I suggested we see it. Dan sent our realtor a message.

Then, after that spring cleaning day, Dan suggested we drive by it and a couple of others he’d found. We saw this particular house backed onto a bike path. We wondered where the path led. One cul de sac over we found the playground it emptied out at. Full of the euphoria of  tasks accomplished and good burgers we piled out of the car, I strapped Mira into the ergo, we played. And certainly we walked up that bike path, peeked through the broken fence slat into the backyard of that vacant home, and wondered.

Boy, did we wonder.

Two days later we visited again, this time with our realtor and a key, full of anticipation. The kids ran, laughed, chased. Hide and seek games took them all over. So much room to move in. Elizabeth walked around ear-to-ear grinning. Dan took measurements, examined details. I walked holding coats, now a hand, now a babe. Watching the sun pouring in. Laughing at the brown bathtub, the basement bar, the height of a showerhead. Feeling the ear-to-ear creeping up on my cautious face.

That grinning girl finds me, “We need to listen hard to God. I think this is our house.”

“Me, too, ” I say. Now I’m grinning, too.

We venture past green carpets, a sunshine ceiling, white tile. How many bathrooms does it have? I keep looking at that sunlight. Looking out those windows. I look out every one. Wondering if this is our new landscape.

We pull on shoes, I retrieve the coats which have been tossed with such familiarity, we visit the yard. Oh, the yard! The pie-lot goodness. Now everyone is saying they don’t want to leave.

I don’t want to leave either.

And so we offer. There is an offer in already. We go back and forth. Courage from loved ones, plenty of prayers, and a few tense hours later it’s ours. Ours. Ours?

Tension gives way to shock. Shock gives way to gratitude, relief, excitement.

It all happened so quickly – you know, one day after ten years quickly.

I think we knew before we stepped inside, before she opened the door, before we walked up the driveway. I think we knew after that night at the park when we were all hoping and smiling and laughing.

And finally after ten years of looking we’ve found our first home together.

Now I just have to steel myself for the task of saying goodbye to this current home of ours. This good, good home…but I’ll save those words for this story’s prequel.

::

Wishing you a beautiful weekend, rich with blessing and light.

xoR

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal

into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our

past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

~Melody Beattie

In the name of gratitude and truthfulness I’ve decided to post a little piece of reality here once a week. Likely just a single picture. See my original post here.

We cleaned for two days. Everything was spic and nearly span. The photographer came in to take new photos for our house listing. It took him five minutes and he was out the door again. Out the door without an introduction or a handshake; without any of the loving care I put into the first set of listing photos (the ones I took myself).

And I was annoyed that he couldn’t take 10 seconds to reach out and shake my hand or offer an introduction in reply to mine. Of course it’s more personal to me whether this ten-year home of mine sells, of course it’s only a job for him and the more jobs completed the better. But shouldn’t common curtesy be personal to us all?

And I was annoyed that we cleaned so late at night without the hope of an actual showing. Annoyed that within an hour you might not have guessed we’d cleaned at all.

And mostly annoyed that I got so annoyed.

But…

I’m thankful that this house is going to sell (and believing it will happen soon). Thankful for the reminder to smile, and shake hands, and care about relationship – even if it’s only for a passing encounter. And thankful for all the fun things happening here that make this place a mess.

::

If you’d like to join in with a reality check of your own, please add a link or note in the comments!

We had a full and wonderful weekend. It was great, I’m exhausted. I need a good night’s sleep…followed by a nap. But it would be a good nap, a wake-with-a-smile-on-your-face nap.

We’ve had farm fresh breakfast;

baby’s first food, sobbing that baby is growing up;

exciting news for us, exciting news for friends (more on that later);

plans, idea, questions, more plans, brain blanks;

late night (and slightly incoherent) girl-time;

popcorn and smoothies for dinner; no thoughts of cooking while our thoughts are busy elsewhere;

a girl’s first, and much anticipated, magic lesson;

a van full of organic goodness thanks to our newly discovered local food co-op (hooray!)

(yep, those are bags of oats and flour for a family of eight);

and my favourite pantry refill – 2.5kgs of organic, fair-trade cocoa…brownies to follow.

Welcome to a new week, friends! Hope yours is full of light and joy. 

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal

into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our

past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

~Melody Beattie

In the name of gratitude and truthfulness I’ve decided to post a little piece of reality here once a week. Likely just a single picture. See my original post here.

In a home this size with this many people, spring cleaning is a necessary (and not merely annual) event. But in a home this size with this many people, spring cleaning, despite our valiant efforts, does not uncover heaps of unrealized space. We did not, for example, discover an extra bedroom hidden behind the linens this weekend.

That being said I’m very thankful for the fresh feeling of some newly organized closets and bookshelves. The feeling of accomplishment that comes from dropping a load off at the charity shop. And my hubby who is (mostly) patient and understanding when it comes to my fabric and wool stash.

::

If you’d like to join in with a reality check of your own, please add a link or note in the comments!