the first rest.

we are lacking many doors, but we are home.

i am upstairs on the bed. to one side of me is a small window and the rain is pouring down. i like having an upstairs bedroom. when i roll over in the morning, there is no curtain, so i can see out to the neighbor's crooked brown barn. if i wake up looking straight ahead instead, there's a windowed door at the end of our bedroom where i can watch the sunrise almost every day. lately it has been so pink and orange and pretty.

downstairs, an Irish man is laughing. i am up here taking a rest that i've been wanting to take for awhile now. jeremy is in the living room below with his friend Miles McKee, a fellow Kingston Springer. they tried to go out for a beer but found the two local places closed (and also spotted Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban driving down our little Main Street) so they picked up some brew at the store and brought it here instead.

i cannot possibly explain how much i am enjoying this rest, listening to the muffled sounds of conversation in our house. it's a reminder that the hammers have stopped hammering for tonight. and instead of just working, working, working, we are living. we are being. we are without doors on our bedrooms, but what we do have are our own comfortable beds, a real kitchen, and a feeling that the end is in sight at long last. we feel richly blessed.

this house, i can honestly say, is a place i love to call home. i love that the windows open and fresh air drifts through. i love that trains rush by several times a day, whistles blowing as they chug through our sleepy town. i love that the trim is white and lots of light floods in onto the wood floors. i love that yellow daffodils are blooming outside. i love our new refrigerator.

my mom just came for a visit. jeremy was in san jose for work, so it was good timing for her to come and stay and keep eli and me company. she bought us sweet housewarming gifts (a picture for the dining room, a pretty little tablecloth) eli loved having a playmate while i unpacked boxes. i had thought i would take time to rest while my mom was here. maybe sleep in a little and let her have mornings with the baby, but we ended up working busily the entire four days. we moved a piano. she sewed curtains and cleaned our windows while i filled bookshelves. we entertained eli; he entertained us and chattered away in his own enthusiastic language that sounds like a cross between chinese and ewok.

jeremy returned with a suitcase full of Peets coffee and was happy to see all we'd accomplished. we've both been desperate to feel settled. i am determined that we will slow down now...we will tackle our list at a reasonable pace: hang doors, paint trim, install backsplash, more curtains and rugs. it takes awhile to make a home, but we are on our way. and in between there is time for rain, for rest, for good bottled beer in a living room of our own.