My Symphony

30 Days. Our house has been on the market for 30 days. I must admit to being more than a little depressed by this. After all, our last house sold in only 12 days! I know...it was a completely different market 4 long years ago, but it doesn't make me feel a lot better. I remind myself that this isn't a buyers market or a sellers market...it's God's market. No matter how much I beg and plead He has a plan that will be shown to me in due time. I know, I know....patience.

During my time of waiting, I've wondered where we will end up. A house is such a personal matter. My taste has changed as I've grown older....God bless my husband for not putting up a fuss about the early years of pink and frilly :) While I desire to live in the country with a few acres of solitude, I wonder if that is the best thing for my children. They've always lived in neighborhoods with several friends waiting just outside the door. There is an up and down side to both of these...

What about the physical house itself? I believe we've been programmed to believe that bigger is better, but in my experience it is not true. To this day our family misses our 1,800 square foot Cape Cod "starter" home. We now live in a house that is over 3,000 square feet, but have never loved it like the smaller one. That is exactly what I believe you need to do....truly love your home. Does it need to be perfect? Of course not. Does it need to be professionally decorated? That would be NO. What it does need is to reflect you. What do you love? What do you hold sacred? What matters most?

It is so easy to feel intimidated when reading some of the incredible decorating blogs and don't even get me started on the decorating magazines! They make it look effortless and I often just don't have the extra time or energy to try even half of what they do, but God bless them for doing it. Hopefully someday I will be able to put some of their good ideas to use, but for now I will just enjoy reading about their efforts.

So, while I don't usually have a "picture perfect" home, it does always reflect where my heart is.....


"To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy , not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;
To study hard, think quietly,
Talk gently,
Act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully,
Do all bravely,
Await occasions,
Hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony."

By William Henry Channing

(above photo is of the Webster Cottage...the orginal next-to-nothing house)