less house, more home

1. Christopher and Elleanora watching people do impersonations of different celebrities

2. Chicken salad (with lots of carrots, onion and spices) over spinach: main pregnancy craving aka Jameson's main choice of food

3. The window sill in our bedroom // Also, that quote from St. Augustine just gets me.

4. A Spurgeon quote written with my dip pen

5. Another brushlettering doodle :) 

6. A watercolor piece that I picked up at an estate sale a while back; it's my favorite. 

7. Miss E being daddy's girl

8. Miss E giving me some type of instruction 

I don't think I've ever been more content in my life than I am these days. No, I don't have my dream house or my educational goals finished. I haven't gone to South America, Asia or Africa yet, and I most certainly have not mastered any certain skill. I could go on and on about what I don't have yet, and the things I will never have in this lifetime. 

"Less house, more home." It's a saying that has been ringing in my ear for a few months now. 

Less house.... or caring too much about the things in your house.

Things always get it the way, right? No matter how hard we try to place them in the back of our minds, we'll be fighting the battle against greed and comparison the rest of our lives. It's such an exhausting thought, but it's the reality we face. 

We have a small space that we live in. It's lovely and small, and I'm learning to be truly OK with that (especially when I know we have another life joining us soon). A smaller space means less things... it's kind of freeing, really. Less to clean! I do, however, have a tendency to keep wanting to change the things I have. I get tired of pillows, the setup of a room etc... That's when "house" gets in the way of "home" for me. Being too concerned about messes plays into that as well. I'm learning to be ok with messes (even encouraging it sometimes) because I want to remember my children and me enjoying each other. I never want to view my children as hindrances. 

So many times in my life, I have looked forward to the next, big thing. The next adventure, the next move, the next new thing. Looking back, I wasn't truly experiencing the adventure at hand, and I missed out. Motherhood is teaching me that all these little moments I am experiencing with my family are really the biggest things. Living with this perspective is changing everything for me.