The New Nest

(the new nest)

Hi, friends! Today I am linking up with Welcome Home Wednesdays on Raising Arrows.

Our family is somewhat nomadic. At least that is what people keep telling us, as they struggle to understand our decision to move once more. But I prefer the term adventurous. Or striving to get things in this earthly life right. It has always been our number one priority to have me stay at home while Boss provides for our family. It has always been our priority to have my number one roles be wife, mama, homemaker, and now home educator. And we will always do our best to make that priority a reality. Even if we have to move every single year until our last little birdie leaves the nest. It's that important to us.

We are set to move again before the end of this month, right before baby number four arrives. It will be home number ten in ten years of marriage. We have lived in two apartments, a season with my parents, a brand new cookie cutter starter home, three different homes on children's home campuses, one older farm house, and most recently our cottage on Fieldcrest Lane. Our new nest will be a duplex that is part of staff housing where Boss works.

As I was uploading the picture I took of our new nest, Boss told me there was not an editing preset in existence that could make our new nest look beautiful. But I told him that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and to me, the duplex will always be beautiful. The duplex is offering me the chance to do what I have longed to do for an entire decade. It is offering me the opportunity to be the wife, mama, homemaker, and home educator that I have always dreamed of being. And for that reason, the duplex is the most beautiful gift I have ever received. And while it may not look like much on the outside, we will appreciate the gifts that it does offer (like an awesome master bath with a whirlpool tub and original hardwood stairs) and we will work to bring beauty to the rest.

I believe that a godly home is a foretaste of heaven. Our homes, imperfect as they are, must be a haven from the chaos outside. They should be a reflection of our eternal home, where troubled souls find peace, weary hearts find rest, hungry bodies find refreshment, lonely pilgrims find communion, and wounded spirits find compassion. - Jani Ortlund