About a boy (and a house).

Shortly after we'd settled into our home this summer my father-in-law joked with me that, "When you're a homeowner you don't need a hobby!" There's a lot of truth to that statement! Owning a home is a huge responsibility. And combining a newlywed life with home renovation projects has been quite the adventure. :)

Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for our home. It is a gift to have our own place...to be able to paint and decorate it as we please. I am unspeakably thankful for it! But all the home ownership responsibilities can a bit, well, daunting some days. It's easy for me to feel overwhelmed by all the projects we want to finish.

I think that feeling might just be a case of my priorities getting a little out of whack. Does that ever happen to you?

Because when I stop and reflect on the many things I have to be thankful for, the greatest gift is not this house. It's not the finished painting projects. Or the empty boxes making their way to the door.

It's the man I get to do life with in this house! He is what I'm most thankful for in this season.

It's easy to fixate on what needs to be done. Especially in a living space (be it apartment, home, penthouse...whatever!). Sometimes I find that in fixating on what I need to do, I miss out on what's most important...like people! Like my husband.

In the spirit of thanksgiving, I've been asking Andrew the last few days what he's most thankful for. Do you know what his answer is every single time? "You, Emily." I keep telling him he can't give me that answer every day...but that's just his honest heart. 

I learn so much from that man. His forgiveness and grace and tenderness have simply filled my heart to overflowing in these last five months of marriage. I think he is remarkable. 

The paint projects will be finished one day. The unpacking will finally be done. And days and months will have gone by. I don't want to miss these present newlywed days because I'm so eager to have a home that's pulled together in the future.

I want to cultivate thankfulness now. And express it! Especially for that husband of mine. (I know I have a tendency to go on and on about him. I really think he is the creme de la creme.)

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“And how could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back--if we did not know that every day in a life fills the whole life with expectation and memory and that these are that day?”

-C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet