What makes a house a home?

This is our 7th house we've lived in over our 19 years of marriage. I just laugh when I think about this journey we've had with our many houses starting with the 1st one in B'ville! which was actually a rental. Thank God for Gramma Ann and Miss Peg who shipped boxes of decorations to us and then showed up for 3 days of whirlwind transformation. They were like Fairy Godmothers magically appearing to turn our cold, dreary 2 story raised ranch into a cozy, comfortable home. We had very little furniture-  a butcher block table from Gramma and Grandad Joe - a bedroom set from PaPa Russo, a Waverly print couch we bought when we got married. We unpacked many boxes including those shipped by bus to reveal pieces that became a beautiful green armoire. That armoire was our primary piece of furniture in our family room. It took on many different lives in our next houses... it became a living room piece in our 3rd home in New Hampshire and then a tv chest for our Master BR in California, to the basement in St. Louis, to the guest room in The Woodlands and now sits charmingly in Catherine's sweet pink and yellow room.

as I try yet again to transform this new house into a "home", I think about the green armoire. The green armoire has history, it has a story and when we see it ~ it brings us back to many many memories and fills the space in a way that an ordinary new piece of furniture can't do. What makes a house a home is making it a place that has unique and special meaning for our family. Our front hallway has a canvass picture of Christopher and Catherine at 3 and 6 and every time I see it I smile. I think about how Catherine cried and Christopher was so sweet and tried to make his baby sister smile for the pictures. I think of how we were running late and Lisa gave me a crystal barrette at the last minute for Catherine's hair and how beautiful the Strausburg dress we borrowed from Jenn looks on our baby girl. Our dining room has "The famous Armoire" ~ that I bought with Miss Peg in Chicago when we lived in St. Louis. In the hallway are 2 very special pictures that my mom and dad received from my Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw when they were married and I got them when I was married. There is a beautiful maple hope chest in Cat's room from Grandma K, and a maple table converted to a desk in our guest bedroom that was Grandma File's kitchen table, many treasured gifts -the "Cafe Kasparek" canvas - from Mark and Shawn,  a wooden bowl on the kitchen table- from Jennifer, our china hutch filled with crystal from years at Anheuser-Busch... my kitchen desk with flower pots painted by Christopher and Catherine each in Kindergarten... and on and on!

so my house may not ever be finished... there will probably always be a "wish list" .... but this I know... there is history in the "things" that fill this home, there is great joy in the memories remembered with the many collected items throughout our home, and making a house a home is just as much about what we do while we're here than what we fill it with! Because it really is true that "home is where the heart is!!" and my heart is here with my family!