Memories of Home

What is it about home that makes us feel so warm and gooey inside? 

Here are a few memories and thoughts that come to mind when I think of my home..

• Sunday naps on the family room couch
• Curling up in a blanket with Ma for long talks on the parents bed
• Cup of coffee and the twinkling stars on the back deck
• The sound of Satan's crow in the morning that is so piercing I could hear it in my bomb shelter of a room.
• Dad walking back from church whistling and doing his snap clap hand gesture
• The smell of baking bread when I came home from school
• Grandma writing letters at the kitchen table
• Hearing Grandpa's walker race down the hallway
• Laying on the short couch chatting with Isaac and Katrina, who were curled up on the big one
• Coming up the stairs to see Isaac doing homework in the family room, Seth on the computer and Ma and Dad playing cards with Jed curled up on the kitchen floor
• Dad stroking his beard at the computer while typing a sermon 
• Finally giving in to the begging for cookie dough after school or late at night
• Quoting movies or tv shows at dinner
• Listen to Dad whistle the theme song from "Scrubs" when Ma has forbidden we us not to watch that show
• Seeing Ma sit at her coffee table doing her devotions

Here are a few older ones from the Concordia house

• Racing to meet Dad at lunchtime as he walked home from school
• Playing basketball in the basement using a ice cream bucket as the hoop
• Singing the Pink Panther theme song every time we saw the Pink Panther Insulation logo from the basement
• Thinking that under the basement stairs was the best hiding place for Hide n Seek even if it was the 200th game. 
• Lady giving birth to puppies in the kitchen by the garage door
• Going mud sliding in the back lot while Ma stood on the porch yelling at us to come in every time she saw lightening and then fighting for showers afterwards
• Foreign students staying with us for Christmas..there were so many
• Getting a new Disney movie every Christmas
• Building gingerbread houses and having Grandpa come and smash them
• Walking in puddles every time it rained
• Playing wiffle ball and football in the back lot
• "The Fort"-enough said

I could go on and on.. 

It is nice to be able to really stop and think about so many great memories. So much has changed since the house in Concordia, yet so has it in Ernestville as well. The greatest thought is knowing Ma and Dad have remained constant through it all. I thank God every day for my parents. 

"The greatest journey always brings you home."