what built me...

our new couch....

this girl.  always reading!  i love that about her...

our first table here.  we needed somewhere designated to sit, otherwise meals were CRAZY!  

trying to read with sissy!

airplanes!!!  what else do you do with no toys in the house when you are bored???

snuggly baby nugget!  

new doormats.  both combined less than $15!  

winning...

auntie rene and uncle andrew took the big kids.  so we had breakfast with the littles!

he loved the attention!!!

then, we hit up the park...

i heard this song on the radio this morning.  "the house that built me".  it's about this girl going back to the house where she grew up and reliving her memories.  it always gets me nostalgic for the house that built me.  

having just been there, i think about the little engraving in the concrete my dad did when they built the house.  it says "for kris".  and that says so much about my dad.  he is such a servant.  and amazing.  he just guest lectured at rutgers.  he started his own company the week i graduated high school.  hard to believe that was 15 years ago.  and it's thriving!  i am so proud of him.  and his business ethics.  i love hearing the stories he tells.  and how he treats people.  i have learned so much from him about how to be a better person.  (and, how to travel!!!)

my mom.  she was my home.  my best friend while i was growing up (and still is), amidst all the other friends that have come and gone.  i love hanging out with her.  i am so thankful i didn't have an "i hate my mom and don't want to be seen with her" stage.  we had a lot of fun in high school...  and she always made it a party at our house.  she taught me, just by living, how to be a mother.  i am so thankful for her example.  the best compliment someone gives me is that i am just like her.  

she was the pta president.  she ran the meals ministry at church.  and prayer groups.  she is the consummate hostess.  she always has something on hand to serve when someone shows up.  she thinks ahead when we come home to have what david or the kids (or i) really love.  it's such an act of service!

i am who i am because of my parents.  and the way they raised me and ran their home.  i am so blessed and thankful for that.  my parents just celebrated their anniversary.  it's so fun to watch them as a couple, still as happy (if not more so) as my earliest memory of them.  to be together as a family and just enjoy it.  

as i move, it's always a time to reset.  to reset up our house.  to reevaluate goals.  and plans.  and make sure we are where we want to be.  and i wouldn't trade a thing about how i grew up.  i hope and pray that my kids say the same thing about the home that builds them.