Home.

Home

(From Google) Noun. The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.

The other night I was fixing a decoration called “Stairway to Heaven.” It has been passed down to me from my sister at my wedding. She got it from my mother and mom got it from my grandmother. As I was finishing putting the final piece back on it I was thinking about the spot on the wall that it would stick to. Once I decided on the right spot I sat at my dining room table and look around my apartment at our furniture and decorations (its open concept from the kitchen, dining, and living room) and felt like I was at home. It has been just over a year and a half since I have felt like I had a home. Home for me was at my parent's place until I got married and moved out. After getting married my hubby and I lived with his grandparents for the summer and then we moved into our own place that September. We lived in that apartment for a year before moving to Cambridge to where we are now. Living with his grandparents was not home, don't get me wrong. I love them dearly and I am so grateful for them opening up their home to us that summer but it was not home. Our next apartment was not home either. We knew from the moment we signed the lease that it was going to be a temporary home until we could save up and move to Cambridge so I could return to school. God also had other plans for us while we were in our first apartment, but that will be for a different day. Never once did I call that place “home” I always referred to it as “our place.” We only put one decoration on the wall that whole year and simply arranged our furniture to work for us. Finally, after a year we were blessed to move to Cambridge and God gave us the apartment that we have now. Our very first day in our apartment we were unloading the Uhaul and unpacking boxes and I was excited to start decorating and I called it “home.” I started decorating right away and starting making it into our first home. Our apartment has its downsides, but what apartment doesn't? Yes, we do plan on moving at the end of our lease, but for now, it is home.

I never asked people what the atmosphere of our last place felt like but I have asked what our new place feels like and their response was “home”. I hope that this apartment continues to feel like home and that every other place we live in will also feel like home.

They say home is where the heart is. I believe that a) home is where the heart is and b) home is where my hubby is. As a couple we believe that God called us to move to Cambridge for my educational purposes and to start our family (in a few years). So my heart has been in Cambridge for quite some time now and now I am here with my hubby. So in every respect of the word “home”, I am now “home.” What a beautiful thing to be able to say “I'm home.”

I hope that all you who are reading this are either in your home or are working towards it. It doesn't have to be big or fancy. We live a simple life. It's all about where your heart is and who is in it.

Here is a picture of the wall decoration all finished and on display for all to see.

God Bless

~Ruth

I'm not a robot.

Strange title for a post I know. The truth of the matter is that I am not a robot. Now I know what you are thinking. “Of course your not a robot. You are a human being” and of course, I know that full well. I know that I am a human being created in the image of God.

Recently I have been treating myself like a robot. I look at the amount of time that I have and think that I can get everything done in that time, which I might be able to do depending on the day. The problem is that I forget to take my energy level into consideration. Hence the robot mindset. I will make a list like this, get all your homework done, get all the housework and laundry done and make a meal that Betty Crocker would be impressed with. These are all good things of course, but what the problem with them is that I am human and even I cannot get everything done in one day despite how hard I try, and believe me I have which only leads to exhaustion, feelings of a failure, and stress which leads to its own problems altogether. I've also learned to stop comparing myself to other. I have finally come to accept that we are all on our own paths in life and none of us are in the same chapter as each other therefore there is no point in comparing myself to others. I tend to forget that God made me unique with my own talents and abilities and that I need to rely on Him for strength and guidance rather than myself.

My problem is that I do not learn very fast, so I kept repeating the same pattern over and over again which lead to feeling sicker and sicker. Thankfully I have a wonderful hubby who has walked with me through all this and never tells me “I told you so” after the fact. He knows my limitations and encourages me to stay within them, my problem is that I do not listen very well.

Finally, after months of repeating the same process over and over, I have finally learned to balance it all, which is very happy about. I now put aside the homework on the weekends so that he and I can enjoy time together. I also try to get my homework done while I am at school or while he is at work. That way I can also separate my home life from my school life.

I have learned that it is okay to take a break, in fact, it is a good thing. If God wanted me to be able to operate like a robot then He would have made me that way, but he did not.

Growing up I was and am still blessed with two parents who worked very hard for all that we had. They instilled in me a good work ethic which I am very grateful for. My problem is that I have recently taken that to the extreme and think that if I am not busy doing something then I am not being productive and thus being lazy. Yes, work is important but so is rest.

All in all God, Chase and I make a great team and with help from both of them, I am able to enjoy life to the fullest with them both.

So to those of you who are in the same boat as me, remember, it is all about balance, priorities, and respecting your own abilities and working within them. What is the point of getting everything done and then being too tired to enjoy all your hard work? There is no point in making a cake if you cannot sit down with your loved one and enjoy eating it together.

God is good.

God is good. There are no words to describe how good God is. Since my husband Chase and I moved to Cambridge it has been a long uphill battle. From health problems, financial problems and the stress of a lifestyle change of going back to school, it has been a crazy 5 months.

This last month was the worst, though. My sweet hubby made a simple but dangerous mistake at work at the beginning of January which caused him to lose his job. Like many people, we live pay cheque to pay cheque. He had a handful of interviews over the course of the month but nothing was panning out. As you can imagine we were stressed out which was only making matters worse. Through it all though we knew God was taking care of us and would provide for us. It was through this trial that our devotional life started to grow and we grew together which we knew was from God. God also blessed us with our church family, immediate family and close friends through prayer and finances. I am so grateful for the body of Christ. This past Friday, February 3rd Chase received a phone call telling him that he got the job that he had recently applied to. What relief and joy we felt. Today (Saturday) we were our running errands while driving I was thinking about how good God is and of all the people he has brought into our lives since moving here. We have made some wonderful connections since moving to Cambridge and we are so grateful for all the Lord has done for us.

So, for those of you who are going through a rough time, I'm terribly sorry. I'm also grateful though because it is through the hard times that we learn to trust in the Lord even more.

The whole time we were going through this last trial the Lord kept reminding me of these two truths.
1. He will never change. (Hebrews 13:8)
2. He will always provide for you. (Matthew 6:26)
From these two truths I was comforted in knowing that God has provided for me in the past and because He is unchanging why would He stop providing for us now?

Over the years my mom has reminded me that when you honor God with your life, He honors you as well.

I hope this encourages you and blesses you. I know that reflecting on this past month and thinking of all that God has done has been and will continue to be a huge blessing to me.

God Bless
~Ruth