h.o.m.e.

**While the beginning of this post is a little more sentimental, there is news to be told. So scroll down a bit if you haven't the time to read much :)

Several friends have posted this week on the topic of home, thanks to this post by someone who asked her fellow bloggers to write on the concept. Turns out two of my friends, both from different places in my journey, were a part of that group, which got me thinking. What is my concept of home?

From birth to the end of high school, I lived in the same home - 2237 Pickens Road, Augusta. Two parents, 4 kids, and at one point an aunt, uncle, and 3 cousins. It was a full, chaotic, house and I loved it that way. It was a refuge, a place I felt safe and loved. I thought I had my idea of home figured out...until I stepped out into college (which was not so easy...pulling up deeply set roots can be tough).

That's when I experienced a teeny tiny dorm room and some super silly times with Micah, a college house full of good friends in very different stages of life, a grad-school apartment on my own, and a post-college house filled with girls trying to figure out the real world. During this time, my heart was stretched. A little piece was left in every place that I had called home. Each was special and sentimental and home in it's own way.

Then I met the husband. And God taught me about narrowing my focus. Letting go a little bit of each of the places I had left. Though they still hold sentimental value, I'm able to give more where I am. Which from April on has been the cramped condo.

Ironically enough...today, home means this -

1915 Claremont Street. Yep, it's official. We are HOMEOWNERS!! After a year-long process, we have finally found and CLOSED on our in-the-city home. If you know Atlanta, it's in Underwood Hills, just off Defoors Rd (which is just down from where I-75 hits Howell Mill).

I'm sure the house on Claremont Street has many lessons on home yet to teach. Let's face it, it's probably where we'll have our first kid. It's where we'll continue to learn what it's like being a husband and a wife. It's where we'll have our first pet. And our first mortgage. Heck - we start ripping up carpet next week!

I guess, to sum up, I'd have to same home is different for everyone. I get that homey feeling in many places I go. My in-laws. My Augusta home. The Goldsmith home on Summerville. Homes belonging to friends. Really anywhere there is love (cliche, but true). And I pray over our home and the purpose it will serve to us, and to others.

I'll keep you posted on the home. There are many before pics to show (and afters should be coming soon!).