Home is where you...spend all of your money

i'm not sure if i've ever mentioned it before but we live in a 110 year old victorian house. it has beautiful original woodwork, two gorgeous fireplaces, a wrap-around porch... and it's a total money pit. if it can fall apart, it has. in our ten years here we have replaced the kitchen and bathroom plumbing, put in a new furnace and hot water heater, torn up most of the carpet and refinished the floors, converted the formal dining room into a master bedroom, put up a privacy fence around the huge yard, and remodeled the kitchen and bathroom. in between having five kids. this house is a continuous project that is never done. people tend to have the (incorrect) assumption that since theMr is in general contracting, it's easy for us to do all of these things. however, he never has time to do the work around here because he's always working! some days i think it would be easier to just hire someone else and have it done! for example, last week the pipes under the sink busted and all the water was pouring into the cabinet, flooring and into the basement. so he pulled it all out and replaced it (for the third time). he finished just in time to shower for work. then he remembered that he'd forgotten to put the screen door on the back door back on after moving in the new refrigerator. so he quickly did that. he rushed upstairs to take a quick shower, only to realize the hot water handle in the shower had broken off. so he had to go back down two flights of stairs, get all of his tools, fix it and then take a shower. making him almost late for work. this is typical in this house! a tiny nail hole in plaster is soon a baseball size hole. one leaky pipe becomes all new plumbing in the bathroom. it's the nature of owning a really old house.

i have a hard time looking around and only seeing what still needs done, instead of the big picture. what's the big picture?

a home is where your family is, in whatever condition that may be.

when i see this fireplace, i see it as the one that can't be used until the gas line is repaired. but my kids see it as the one where i take their picture every christmas!

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.
~Mother Theresa

this sidewalk is cracking and old and in need of repair. but to Aliyah, it's where she plays hopscotch :)

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

the yard. with a big hill to mow, neverending weeds to treat and too much shade for decent flowers... or where we practice our modeling poses!

Basically, I believe the world is a jungle, and if it's not a bit of a jungle in the home, a child cannot possibly be fit to enter the outside world.
Bette Davis

the glass in this window has been broken and replaced twice. but to Esme, it's where she watches the neighbor's big "dog dog"!

Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
Martin Luther

the tile on this fireplace is coming loose and keep having to be glued on. but sits right next to a chair where many stories have been read :)

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

and this chair just happens to be under the ceiling that fell down a few weeks ago and must be completely replaced. but it's still the place to cuddle with dad before he goes to work :)

Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.
Christian Morganstern

this porch is officially sinking and also needs completely torn down and rebuilt. but it will always be the place where four children have had their "first day of kindergarten" picture taken.


with all of it's faults and headaches, my home is perfect because it's where my family is.

A house is built of walls and beams, a Home is built with love and dreams.