Before I post this message I have to let everyone know how incredibly blessed I feel right now. The Southern Belle ran in the Boston Marathon today and had only finished the race shortly before the explosions. I am one lucky mom to have two great kids. Now, enjoy my weekend.
My friends, this is how a lake house should look:
I woke up early Sunday morning, just me, the birds, and the squirrels were up. As I walked around the house I realized that this is exactly how I always dreamed that our house would look. I quickly went back inside and grabbed my camera so that I could share with you what I saw.
Forgive me, but I did not want to edit or stage these shots. What you see is what you get. You will see that my dream of how our little Star Hill should look is probably different from other people’s idea of dream home get away. For me, it is about the evidence of use, more than the decor.
There were clean dishes on the drain board. Lots of dishes. (Thanks Tanis for doing dishes and helping to get the meal ready.)
I love the fact that we fed 14 people Saturday night out on our little deck, in the house and on the porch. (Baby Boy was the grill master for the fajitas!) It wasn’t about the food; it was about the laughter, the sharing, and being with my children and their friends.
There were chairs around the campfire. Chairs around the campfire meant that even when they could have gone home, they stayed. They ate smores, the stoked the fire, put on jackets and hung out- they even met our sneaky raccoon who keeps breaking into the trash can.
To quote C. S. Lewis ( yes, Baby Boy I read C. S. Lewis too!) “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”
The Garagemahal was messy. We even went to bed with the garage door up. This is something we do not often do, because there is deer corn in there and the critters will come in. If I had walked into a spotless workshop it would have meant that either nothing took place there or I spent the time that the kids were here cleaning it up instead of enjoying them.
There were towels to wash, paint to put away, fabric to fold, trash to collect, and I knew that we had a couple of hours’ worth of cleaning to do Sunday.
When Baby Boy and Sweet Amanda got up to join us there were more dishes, the smell of bacon and eggs cooking and more time together. They were a big help cleaning up!
It is my prayer that this is how my children and their friends think of Star Hill. I want it to be a haven for both us and them as the world becomes busier. A place to gather, laugh, make a mess, and enjoy nature.
As I left for work this morning I felt blessed. We do not have days like this often enough.
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