WANTED: A Two Bedroom House???

For years we lived in a very "home-y" home. It was a little yellow 2 bedroom 800 sq foot house. We moved in back in 1999. We had just two little baby girls and began our journey in NY. As the years passed we celebrated holidays, birthdays and had more babies. With each new child welcomed into our home our house was cleared out and room was made for the new addition. Emma and Hannahs room soon became a room for 3!...Then 4. The room never seemed crowded even though our home was bursting at the seams. I was called the woman who lived in a shoe... But people kept coming back. They knew a good meal and lots of love was always found in my home. The door was always open and another seat for our crammed table always found. Soon we realized yet another addition would be coming. What to do? We felt so bad that 4 kids were already in one small room. They didn't seem to mind so much. They played with each other before bed. Nobody had bad dreams because they were always comforted by each others presence. The mornings would come and babies would be pulled out of their cribs and brought into big kids beds. Even though love was abound Jason and I carried daily parental guilt. "They need their own space..." "If only we had just one more bedroom for them to spread out..." We knew that possibility in NY was out of our reach, So we packed up our little yellow house, said goodbye to everyone near and dear and drove 900 miles to make our dreams for our family come true. INDEED WE DID. Much to our surprise and many thanks to God, within 6 weeks of arriving on southern soil we signed our contract and hammers were a-poundin! "Can you believe it?? A 4 bedroom house!!! Who would have ever thought WE would own a brand new 4 bedroom home for our FIVE kids?" That was often the conversation late at night. We were in amazement. We were so happy to give our children the home we thought they needed... And us too!! Well a year has passed since the first traces of ink were put on the contract paper. We have been moved in for months and are all nestled and settled. Noah has his big boy room. The two smaller girls have their "Nursery" and the older girls have the biggest room in the house... the bonus room all to themselves. What an awesome blessing. Why am I writing this you are asking??? Its quite simple. The migration patterns of my children have taken an interesting turn lately. Like I just wrote. Everyone has their picture perfect room. Jason and I envisioned kids in every room snoring peacefully and soaking in the square footage... Again... what I ENVISIONED. This, my friends, is what we saw....

Noah's empty room. Bed ruffled and unmade but no little boy. Hmm?? Down the hall I go into the baby girls room. Their is a cute white crib also empty... No baby Abigail. I also see Molly's name on the wall and her toys around but not one trace of her sleeping quarters...hmm I continue on to the next room and this is what I find... The far left corner... one twin bed with one 11 year old girl. The far right corner, one twin bed with one 9 year old girl AND a Papa (Noah), Lower right hand corner is a toddler bed with one 4 year old little girl happily and peacefully asleep. I know what your thinking... where's the baby? In my room of coarse. Did you even think for a second she would sleep in her bed? What to do? Just sit back and smile. The joys of a large family display themselves again. Siblings that are so close they can't even be parted to sleep.

 Society tells us we need a certain amount of square footage and space. Its what we are surrounded by. The big house, a bedroom for every body. But our hearts tell us something different. We were made for companionship. Its what our souls crave and what our hearts yearn for. It really is amazing. The true meaning of life can be found at 5:45 in the morning in a red 4 bedroom home that really has a heart of 2.