Advent: Day 20

Today's advent card reads:

Be thankful for your home.

Which I thought was appropriate since we have been looking for another one for quite awhile now.  I have a few problems with the house we're renting; there's a leak in the kid's room, there are a few large holes in the kitchen ceiling, the windows are about 2 mm thick (brrr), the closets are freezing cold, there are a few rooms I have to wear a coat in because they aren't heated... and the cracks in the basement foundation actually allow for IVY to grow INTO our house. How ghetto is all that?  To top it off, the basement is a storage zone right now, and we can't even catch the STRAY CAT that got into our basement to keep warm this winter (we made it easy by accidentally leaving our basement door wide open for what we calculate to be a good month).  I can only imagine what other animals have inhabited our basement!  Like I need one more reason to not do laundry down there!
Anyway... hmmm. That sounded an awful lot like complaining, didn't it?  Oops.  The truth is, I LOVE our home. And anyone who knows me hears me rave about our wonderful neighbors and about how beautiful it is on our street.  I love that we signed a lease for it without ever having set foot in the house.  I love our yard. I love that we can walk to the restaurant behind our house.  I love that we pay less than some do for apartments around here.  I love the old homes in our neighborhood, I love the towering trees, I love that the architecture in our new city is drenched in rich culture, history and charm.  And the truth is, when we finally move, I'm going to miss this old girl.  Sure, she needs a little TLC~ (and sorry dear we weren't the ones to give it to you), but she has kept us fairly warm and safe and has been a stage for the LIFE that has happened here.  Haaa- and has it EVER! I was looking over some photos today of our boys with the picket fence in the background and peeling paint, and I thought to myself, Yesss. We are going to miss this place when we've gone.  We're going to have beautiful memories of when our boys were babies here, and when we were trying to figure out what the heck we were doing away from all things familiar, and we're going to forget all about the cracks and leaks and drafts, and we'll remember the LIFE that went on here.  And we're going to miss it.
A home is more than just a house, after all.


*****************************************************************
"And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel."
Matthew 2:21