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This was our last week to "figure out" in terms of what to do with the kids while we were at work, so we maneuvered it a bit and I worked from home for most of the week, with Jon filling in when I had to be in the office. It actually works out pretty well because I have a dedicated work space now in our room, and while it is only a folding banquet table, I have accessorized it into a quaint "office space". My cube at work is full of "toys" that the company gives us...stress relief squeezie balls, Slinky's, anything you can make into the shape of phone, stuffed animals...you get the point.

My desk at home is taking a similar shape, complete with stuffed animals. I know, I'm a dork. The original intent for my table at home was to crack out the sewing machine I inherited, but I need the "Introduction to sewing machines" course again first, so for now, it's my "desk". It worked out really well and I actually get a lot of work done from home. I look forward to taking advantage of the ability to work remotely when it is because I want to, not because I have to. How nice it will be to decide that the bad hair day I see coming doesn't mean that I have to suffer through it in the office...I can stay in my pajamas and hide the bad hair if I want. It's even fun because my cat Buddy sleeps on a chair next to me all day, so I have company.

Why am I writing a post on the topic?

I realized after touring that blasted house last weekend, that I found myself being frustrated with our house, even disliking it a bit. Then I got frustrated with myself for being frustrated with our house...talk about being unappreciative.

I remember a time when Jon and I couldn't afford the apartment we were living in and having to leave it to move back in with parents or family until we could get back on our feet again. This was a big bruise to our pride and I am sure that our parents and family were less than pleased.

After we were married, we moved into a very small apartment that had brand new carpet and was freshly painted...the perfect place for newlyweds to use all the new things we had gotten for our wedding. About two months after we moved into the apartment, we went to dinner at a restaurant where our friend Nicki was waiting tables and we got to chatting. She mentioned that her Grandma was moving to a nursing home and her parents were going to rent her house and thought we should consider it...who better than friends of the family to move in?

I TOTALLY didn't want to move...I loved our little apartment, our first "home" together as a married couple. Jon convinced me to be open minded and take a look anyway...lets just say I was less than thrilled with it, but Jon convinced me and here we are.

It occurs to me that this house was a lot like so many things in my life...part of a plan for me. God planned that I would have exactly the family that I have, the exact man I would get to marry, the exact children that we would have, and the exact place we would call home...this home.

I have said many times over the years that I would be perfectly happy living out my days in this house and that if God never game me anything more than this home and the people in it, I could honestly say I was truly and completely blessed. It is very easy to see the "things" that others have and become envious, even greedy about it. So, as it sit in my very simple bedroom, at my very simple desk, I look around me and see exactly what God intended for me and I am so thankful. It's modest, not out of the pages of a decorating magazine, but its ours because He gave it to us.

One day He may have a plan for something else, but if He didn't, I could honestly say I am completely blessed beyond anything I could ever have hoped, and as Buddy and I sit here and write, I find myself smiling with appreciation that a less than lovely attic bedroom, with a less than fancy desk, in a less than picture perfect home, could make me feel so very very lucky.