On the Home Front

Oh, I do apologize for the extreme lacking of posts lately! What a few weeks it has been...there has been much post-worthy news pertaining to rockstar little brothers and lessons from brave clients and nearly full-term baby girls and learning more about cloth diapers than any person should know, but alas there has been no time to write. We've been busy on the house front...and today we officially accepted an offer on our condo (yes, the very one that has been on the market since August). Glory, glory hallelujah! I was starting to think this day might never come!

And I have to laugh at the timing...now, after months of waiting and showings and wondering, at 34 1/2 weeks pregnant, our condo has sold (oh, and how delighted and grateful we are!). Before last weekend, we hadn't looked a lick at houses because we weren't sure when and if this place ever would sell. So now we're weeks from having a babe, and homeless shortly thereafter to boot. When God wants to teach you a lesson about surrendering your incessant need for control, God doesn't mess around. Message received.

So we're looking for a home! We're also very open to the fact that at this point that home might be an interim apartment for a few months, and we'll hope that our baby is flexible as long as all of the gear apparently required for her can go where we go. The home searching process has been overwhelming this week, bringing up so many other issues around pride and desire and values and how somehow all of those things play a part in where one decides to purchase a home. Do we surrender our desires for a two car garage and more space to live in the middle of the city, and in the older neighborhoods that we love? Or do we abandon the desires for an older home with "great charm" for a less expensive or larger home in Madison's "suburbs?" What's the "right" place to raise children? What kind of people (parents, family...) are we really and how does our home of choice reflect those ideals? And for the love of all things, how does having a child make all of these already crippling thoughts about house hunting that much more complicated? This house is out because the school in the area has a terrible reputation, all busy streets are crossed off of the list as I imagine a two year old just wanting to run around in a yard, yes I love that beautiful old Victorian home but the fact that it's next to a dodgy bar just isn't going to cut it at the moment...the list goes on and on and on.

All that aside, we are incredibly relieved to have the blessing and privilege to be looking for a place to call home, and above all things we won't take that for granted. Please remind me of this all important fact as you witness me losing my mind over the next few weeks...

To houses, and moreover, to homes.