Coming Home

Jeff, the kids and I just got home from a whirlwind vacation to PEI.  The kids and I went up with his parents (who take the older kids on vacation every summer) bright and early Thursday morning, and Jeff met us on Friday after work.  It was one of those trips that was so jam-packed with surprises and unplanned adventures that although we had planned on staying until Monday or Tuesday, by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around we both felt like we just needed to get home.  It was a really great vacation, but we were all tired and some of the littler ones don't handle that with as much grace as the rest of us.  So we left our friends' home around supper time, spent a few final hours doing touristy things, and hit the road very late Sunday night, homeward bound.

Ten years ago (plus a couple weeks) we were doing the very same thing.  On our honeymoon, spent and eager to get home to the new life that awaited us (and maybe even terrified us just a bit) we cut our vacation short and headed home.  I thought of that trip a lot on the late evening drive from PEI Sunday night, of how we felt on our honeymoon.  Neither of us had ever lived away from home, and we were swirling in all of the emotions of getting married, the culmination of all of our life's events to date was somehow over and we were left with just the two of us, ready to start this life we had longed for so very long.  And it was really scary.  I cried a lot and Jeff cried a little bit, and while the vacation was lovely and exciting, we knew it wasn't where we were meant to be.  Life, real life, was waiting back home.

Sunday evening I had a different feeling of coming home.  Ten years of marriage and family life make you a little less scared (or maybe just better able to handle your fear?)  Jeff is on vacation this week, and at one time that meant touristy things, going away (if we could afford to) spending lots of money and doing lots of things.  But this week, it just means being home.  Doing some things around the yard, getting the house in order, getting ready for school to start next week.  And there is so much comfort in that.  

I love what we have built up in the first ten years of our marriage.  I love these children that keep us running non-stop.  I love this little house and this little property, that is just enough to hold us, that is not in complete disrepair but needs enough work to keep us on our toes.  What I love mostly is the comfort of our routine, for the busyness that is life with six small (and not-so-small) children, that constantly draws us out of ourselves and closer to the Lord. For a home and a life that is worth cutting vacation short for, we are truly thankful.

May the Lord continue to bless this little life and draw us ever closer to Himself.