Things I Love About My Home

It is great to have a home.  Yes we finally did get into our house after waiting a long time.

I never had a house of my own.  I grew up all over the U.S and never had a home.  My husband and I have always rented.  I feel so amazingly blessed to finally have a home and I know there are many people all over the world who don't have this luxury.  While getting to this point seemed to take us forever, now I see the perfect timing of our LORD. Each day I thank God multiple times a day for this place and all the amenities in it!  Here's a little snippet of the things I love about my home, the things I thank God for.

1. Another Toilet!! I went from a two bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment to a three bedroom home, with TWO bathrooms!  Now when 2 kids have to go at the exact same time, as happened often, no one has to pee in the tub! We don't need our "Wash the Potty Down the Drain" song anymore.  It's wonderful having two bathrooms.  Plus now my kids don't fight as much over who gets to clean the bathroom!  Silly I know, but that's the favorite chore in my home.  The bathroom cleaner gets to use really neat shine rags to make the sink and mirrors "pretty", and everyone wants that job.  Now we have two bathrooms, so two of the three kids can clean a bathroom at the same time.  Isn't that amazing!
   
2. A washer and dryer!  We had to pay to do laundry at our apartment or go to a laundry mat.  I hate laundry mats and I hate sharing my washer and dryer with an entire apartment of people.  I know people are still washing clothes by hand in some parts of the world, so at least I had the use of this technology.  Having my own is so wonderful!!! When I'm ready to do laundry I don't have to worry that it's already in use.  I don't have to spend $30 a week to have clean clothes!  I don't have to check it for what someone might have left behind.  (Once at our apartment a person left behind a pair of jeans with human feces in them. YUCK!) Thank you LORD for a nice washer and dryer of my own!
   
3. A basement!  Now we have a place to do our homeschooling and a place for the kids to play!  When we lived in a two bedroom apartment with 5 people it felt a little cramped.  There was no room for my kids to really play.  Now they have room!
   
4. A backyard!  How I've yearned a back yard.  I have longed for a place for my kids to play and be safe.  I've always had to bundle everyone up, including myself to go outside in winter, to play at a park.  I always had to be right there watching their every little move anytime we wanted to go outside.  Now we have a yard! My kitchen window faces it, the dinning room sliding glass door faces it!  I can stand at my sink doing dishes, or cook in the kitchen or sit at my dinning table and watch them playing.  It's fenced and they can play.  We added recess to our school schedule.  They go outside and play in our very own yard.  We played kick ball one day and had so much fun.  It was a great work out running "bases" and trying to get each other out.  We also have  blue jays and cardinals in our yard and lots of squirrels.  It's so fun to watch them.  The kids made bird houses years ago, and this month we got to go outside and hang them up in our very own trees.  That felt pretty great!  Thank you God for a yard and the ability to enjoy your creation!
   
5. A big sink and quiet dishwasher!  I love my kitchen sink. I know that seems a little odd.  It's big.  I've always had tiny apartment sinks.  This sink is enormous by comparison.  I love it.  It's nice and deep and holds my pots and pans to fill with water and holds my dirty dishes waiting to be put in my nice dishwasher.  Water doesn't get all over the counter and the floor when I'm trying to boil noodles or drain them.  There was room for my thanksgiving turkey! I feel blessed when I look at my sink and when I hear my lovely quiet dishwasher!  No more loud banging and having to yell over the kitchen appliances.  Thank you Lord for these great amenities!

There are so many things I'm thankful for about this house.  I know we often take what we have for granted and I don't want to do that.  I want to be mindful and thank the Lord daily for these wonderful gifts.  The gift of a place to call home and raise my children.  Thank you Lord.  I thought about Psalm 113:9, that says "He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!"
That's exactly what he did for this once barren woman. Thank you God!