“HOME is where we LEARN to LAUGH, to SHARE, to LOVE, to LIVE and to FORGIVE. ”  :)

 

“HOME is our “safe Harbor” filled with UNCONDITIONAL  love,  LAUGHTER,  HOPES and  DREAMS,  NEW VENTURES  as we GROW TOGETHER and THE ONE PLACE we can TRULY BE OURSELVES  as we are NEVER JUDGED.”

 

There were no words to express the felicity within our hearts and spirits…the longing inside that  Kit and I had for  such a long time, God Himself had brought into fruition... He had given us His hand picked new home,  all done by the work of His hands. (In His perfect timing.) 

The scripture;  “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12,  had proven to be true for Kit, Graham and I … our spring season was filled with a deep joy…and as the season represents NEW LIFE, it was certainly a mirror to what we were experiencing. (On many levels.)    

FINALLY…A place of our own… It had been almost 2 and 1/2 years of being apart of others households, a time of refinement, transformation, dying to self, a creation of deeper faith, a new intimacy with Jesus and a stronger  dependency upon Him within our lives.  It felt as if we had just arrived home from a VERY long vacation and all we wanted to do was throw our shoes off, get up on our bed and exhale…crying tears of jubilation, bliss and thankfulness to God for His promises fulfilled, unfailing mercy, grace and love.

We were now in the one place that would become our castle and our hearts snuggery. I am a firm believer that our homes are our safe harbor, warm cozy place of refreshment and a berth where beauty can surround us everyday, soothing our souls and spirits.    As we create the dreams  within our hearts and bring them to life in  each  room, they  add   joy  and comfort  to our lives  and  are a  place  of  repose  and tranquility to every guest who enters our doors.  There is such a wealth of ways to bring forth an abundance of  beauty within  our ‘safe havens.’  My ideas about  decorating our home, creating it to have a comfortable, charming and resplendent ambiance for not only Kit Graham and I, but for all who enter our doors was something God had taught me years ago. (Chapter 3, of Journey Pt.  1.)  Now  I had the opportunity to get busy and  bedeck our new haven, bringing forth beauty, showcasing family heirlooms and the desires within our hearts to share with others a part of who Kit and I were.    I love this saying; “Bathed in a golden palette of calming hues, our homes are an extension OF WHO WE ARE! ” (Author unknown.)

We have never had more  exhilaration  on a “Moving day” than we did that day in spring. Our hearts were overwhelmed , filled with a pure joy that God had provided a home for us, stability, a community in which we  had already  fallen in love  with,  a family  that we had never expected to have on our journey, fellowship, and  in – depth teachings on the grace of Jesus with Vito.  It was if the Lord had opened a door to an entirely new venture of our life , as He told us to now “JUST ENJOY”.

After a few cups of freshly brewed French Roast coffee, and pastries, (what can I say, we were so excited to begin moving into our new abode and we  had  no  time  to  cook and  needed  ‘quick energy.’)   We  began unloading the truck as soon as  the  sun  had made  its appearance. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect temps and the first  person to  show  up to help unload our over sized Penske  truck was Tina… As  we began  bringing  in box  by box, ( in  between Kit bringing in all the heavy stuff ,) I could hardly wait to begin opening all the boxes…Kit had to keep  reminding  me that unpacking would come later…today was the day to unload as our truck was due back by 5:00 PM. After our drive to Dover to return the truck, we were both exhausted, but at the same time so excited we  could have stayed up all night. After some homemade chili and cornbread, we watched a show, fell asleep and I don’t think we even moved an inch the entire night.

Our jobs had already been agreed upon…Kit would finish putting up his office and I was given a green light to decorate the rest of our new abode.

I did not know where to start or stop…It felt like Christmas day! Every box had something I had  forgotten we  even still  had, that brought an abundance of  memories and joy to my heart.  At times, I  was so  overwhelmed that I decided to take what I had unpacked,( there were so many partially unpacked boxes, our floors were filled  with only a  small  path to walk through,) and begin my adventurous task, festooning each room ,  one  at  a time …creating,  hanging  wreaths and photos, getting out my topiary trees and  décor  items to  bring forth the perfect  pantina and desired  ambiance  of  each room. The first week, we  had  more  visitors  than we  could  have   imagined… Everyone was  wanting to  come by  and see  our gift from the Lord…I think our friends were just as excited as we were.

Everyday was filled to overflowing with reverie, praises to God, tears of joy and before I knew it…we were done! I knew I always had the option  to change things around at a later time, (as many of us women who love to rearrange our homes every few months, know what I am talking about.)   Kit use to always tell me ;  “It is a good thing that I am not blind or I would come home in the evening after one of your days of  redecorating  and  moving the  furniture around and trip over everything.”     Within a  few  weeks, everything  was in its place and we  had  turned  an empty house, with its 14 grand   windows into a cozy, enchanting cottage style home.

 

I set our antique dining  table with the beautiful Haviland china I inherited from my mom…We  had no  dinner  guests coming as of yet,  but  I appreciatively  enjoyed  seeing  it  out  every day, as  it  gave  me  great comfort and  wonderful memories of my mother. Little did I know that this table would hold many a luncheon, Ladies Tea’s , dinner guests and holiday parties. There would be the sharing  of many a meal with friends and family from  out of  state , along  with an abundance  of  laughter, sometimes tears and  wondrous old memories, as there were a  myriad of stories that my siblings and  life long friends would recall, (and eagerly wanted to share,)  with  such heartwarming fervor as we all had such marvelous times growing up together.   God knew that one day this house would be the place we would continue to flourish in HIM as well as in our overall lives.

 

Graham was like a new dog… He had finally stopped looking for Vito  (It was hard to break it to our little guy that Vito was no longer living in the same house with us.) Grahammy  had his bed set up, the biggest yard he had ever known and  he  got  to  see Tina  and  McPherson  every  single  day…Whether I  was  over at  Tina’s or  she was  here, everyday we were having  more fun giving  each  other   treasures   for   our houses…we  both loved each other’s décor styles and she’d bring over things she wanted me to have and I in turn, gave her anything she loved from my home. I will never forget the day she helped me with my curtains…Our windows were so big in the living room and  I did  not  have enough  curtains  to cover them… we ended up putting a few of her valance curtains mixed with mine and it worked out perfectly… That is just what God  did  every single day…we had just enough  to complete our  home  without having to go out and  buy.

 

I remember one morning waking up in the early hours with the moon brightly lit.    Our home was perfectly still, Graham and kit fast asleep, and as I looked outside, there were at least 9 deer feeding off the grass. It was one of the most tranquil ,  beautiful moments I have ever had… I just  watched  in awe  until something  outside  scared them and  they  ran back into  the  woods. Little did I know  that Graham was  going  to  discover them  and  not only  look  for them  night and day,  but  chase  them  back  into  the  woods  when  he  encountered them.  I  always  thought  to  myself, ” what  on earth  Graham  would  do if  they ever  turned  around and chased him back.” 

 

 

OUR SUMMER HOUSE WARMING PARTY!

Because entertaining and bringing people together is one of my favorite things in the world, I began  preparing days before our summer gala… All the RSVP’s were in, and it looked like we  would  have  a full house. We asked  for  everyone  not to  bring a gift,  but  instead, to bring their favorite appetizer or dessert. I knew that with so many people  arriving , every  room in the house would be occupied so  I made  sure we  had an abundance of candle light,  a beautiful  buffet  table  set up, choice summer fragrances with our Yankee candles burning, and and we picked out the perfect music for our fete. We chose Josh Grobin’s live concert as even though most of our guest were our Christian family, there were also some  of  Kits  clients  as well  as  our  new neighbors coming and I wanted everyone to be comfortable and to feel at home.

I still laugh to this day as most of our Christian friends were settled in the living room watching the concert and when Josh began to sing  “You raise me up”, sure  enough a few of them  began praising  God…lifting their hands in  praise  and  worshiping the  Lord.  A  few  of  our  other guests didn’t know quite what to do, but God was there and it was a time of rejoicing.  I think we only had two people leave right after that  moment. 

 

I  read a sermon one day that has always stayed within  my  heart  as Kit,  Graham  and  I  have continued on this journey. The Christian author  said; “the Lord desires to MAKE KNOWN to His kids, (an intimate  experience with Him )  in every title  or  name  He  has  given  Himself  in  His word.     We all  have  an  abundance  of  head knowledge of His word but until He makes it real to us and  we  have  come  to  know  him  in  His “names,” we do not  have the  complete or full  KNOWING within our hearts of WHO  HE IS WITHIN OUR LIVES. I think it is wonderful that He desires such intimacy with us . For example some of  His titles  are  “Abba Father,”   “All sufficient,”   “Jehovah  Jireh,  our provider,”   “A very present help in trouble,” and   “Blessed hope.”    These are just an infinitesimal amount , as His “Names” for Himself in the bible are prodigious.

 

Jehovah Jireh, Our provider. (One of Gods ‘names,’ we had come to know quite well in our walks with Jesus thus far,)   but the  Lord was  making us  know  Him in an even more intimate way in this area.  Has the Lord ever commanded you to DO SOMETHING that in your best calculations and logic just did not make any sense at all? (Especially when you write it all down on paper? In our particular case at this time, we were adding up what our monthly income was and what a move into a new home would cost.   Well we were in a dilemma as we knew 100%, the Lord had told us, (after He led us to the home He had for us) to take the home even if it did not work out logically on paper. He told us to TRUST HIM with the gift He was giving us. Most financial advisers, or my father,    ( would  have advised us that  you never  take  on  anything bigger  than  your abilities financially. )  Though this is wisdom, it is not always Gods way, (especially if  He is desiring  to   give you a  new  measure  of faith  in  Him and is asking you to not rely on your mind and normal way of thinking.     We had  learned  it before  in many ways, but  still  it was a little scary…(butterflies in the stomach scary.)  

 For Kit and I, signing all the paperwork,  making deposits on everything it takes to run a home and securing a  moving van to go back to South Carolina to get  all of our belongings  was  for  us, “A leap of faith! But as As we chose to obey, God took care of everything, we were never lacking.  HE MADE IT ALL WORK OUT. Whether it was God giving Kit a new client in his company, an unexpected check or a provision in a new way we did not even think about. After we moved in and began our new life with  many more  expenses  than  we had living at  Lilian and  Vito’s, we knew that one of  the  ways  we could  cut  down  our costs was  lessening  our  grocery  shopping expenditures.   Because  meat  is costly,  we made a  lot of casseroles,  omelettes,  salads  and homemade  soups.  Hey a big  pot of homemade  chili can  last for  4 meals with  some  delicious  cornbread. (For two people anyway!)     Gosh did we miss our seafood, steak, roasts and just about every meat you could think of…. Without knowing anything about our “budget cut,”  to  make  all  of  our  payments  and  new  bills  on  time, many a  late afternoon, there was a knock on our door and it was Tina. She’d walk over with a delicious plate of shrimp scampi, London broil, telling us her family did not like to eat leftovers…One night she got some take out  grilled chicken, (with all the sides,)  from their favorite eatery ,  bought two extra and brought them to us that night. Mark and Tina invited us weekly for BBQ’s and home cooked  meals  or  treated us  to Chinese  takeout or Pizza and hot wings.    The path between our homes was quickly created.  God is so good…He showed us not  only  would  He  met  all  our NEEDS,  but  our desires and wants as well. It was not a small thing to Kit , Graham  and I …(Graham loved meat to , his favorite was salmon, right off the grill.)  

 

“Summertime and the living is easy, Fish are jumping and the cotton is high.” Ella Fitzgerald

Our summer was different than when we lived on the water with Lilian and Vito. No longer were we living amidst the seagulls,  sandy shores,  Inlet marshland and delightful  breezes from the Bay. In its place we welcomed the quaint  street we lived on with such wonderful neighbors, acres of land nestled up to the sylvan  woods and  the  romantic,  fairy-tale like  meadow, where all the ancient trees were entwined with rich green ivy. At the end of the meadow was a weathered old barn with vines of ivy running up and down its old rustic white exterior. We now had an abundance of bunnies, ground hogs, wild turkey’s , red foxes, whimsical winged creations of every kind with their unique   song, arrayed  in an  amazingly stunning kaleidoscope of rich colors. We were  also  graced  with  docile  and  intriguing deer, (a few bucks as well,) and one of my  new  favorites, dancing  magical fireflies  lighting up  our yard  in  the  evenings  all  summer  long.    Grahams new  favorite activity  was chasing after everything he thought he could catch as well as the fact he lived right next door to his girlfriend McPherson.   The three of us enjoyed trips to the beach walking Graham amidst many a shoe crab on the glistening, sandy shore and  seeing him run freely and our beach  which was only 10 minutes from our new home.

Towards the end of summer, Tina had an old fashioned revival with a huge tent set up in her Brobdingnagian gorgeous back yard , also nestled  next to the woods and meadow.  She invited a few of her friends who were also pastors, and their words and teachings for  all of us were very encouraging. Her tent was filled with many familiar faces, but also, new people who had heard about the ‘Tent Meeting.’  The Lord blessed us all with anointed worship and praise, great fellowship and a memory that would last forever. I loved the stories my mom use to share with me growing up in the South. She was a little girl, but still went to every single ‘tent meeting and revival’ as her grandfather  was  a  renowned   preacher,   whose  ministry was  eminently  blessed  with Gods favor and anointing. ( And he was  a man who  told it like it was, without any apologies.)  .

 

October arrived in all of it’s welcomed and glorious  presence.  Our neighborhood and charming city was resplendent as well as alluring, looking as if God had covered every leaf with such exquisite and  riveting  colors… impressive  golds,  soft amber’s, crimson red’s , bright yellows and tawny browns. I absolutely adore the autumn season  on the east coast. I can actually smell the first day of fall as the equinox changes.  Every drive we took in our jeep was graced with pumpkin patches set up on the side of the country roads, bales of hay, scarecrows, and all shapes and sizes of pumpkins and  gourds filling our neighbors yards as well as our front porch. With fall’s air so crisp accompanied by chilly breezes,   we enjoyed our  change of  wardrobe with wool socks and our comfy, warm  sweaters unpacked from our cedar chests. It  was  time to  keep hot cider  on the stove, baking  pumpkin  and apple pies, and  our  light  summer menus turned to  comfort  foods with  many a pot of  chili, spaghetti with Italian sausage,  Caribbean Roast in the Crock-pot along with homemade bread served hot with butter, (real butter not imitation.)   I had more fun decorating our new home with all of  our  fall  decor… pumpkins, a diversity of unique scarecrows, fall garlands  and  our annual  Autumn tree. Every room except Kits office was adorned and exuding a magical  ambiance  of  the  new  seasons arrival. ( Kit’s study is my only “off limits” room with decorating  in the entire house .) Its not only his office, I think  it also his “man-cave.” 

 

We joined our community gym, discovered  a few eateries that became our favorites, (they have the very best Italian restaurants  here,) and the seafood is fresh, straight from the Atlantic ocean and it  is out of this world. We spent many a evening siting upon  Tina and Marks screened in back porch, sipping Starbucks coffee with delicious creamers together while  snacking on some of Melissa’s  homemade sweet confections. The season went by way to fast, but Christmas was coming and there was a lot going on. Kit , Graham and I enjoyed a festive and blessed Thanksgiving  in our new home… Kit wanted a full on  celebration with all the trimming this year. It made me so happy to fulfill  his request.     I baked  our 15 lb.  turkey, (filled with sage sausage stuffing,) sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, squash casserole , green bean casserole, a relish tray, hot  bread  and Kit made his renowned  homemade  pumpkin  pie  topped  with real whipped cream for our dessert.   Needless to say, we had leftovers for days…We all ate together in our dining room by candlelight with soft melodies, gently  wafting  through the air from our  living room,  (Victoria ‘s classical symphonies.)   And  though  he THOUGHT  one  of  the extra chairs at our table was meant for him, no… Grahammy did not sit at  the table with us   (just under our feet , desperately hoping  we would  occasionally sneak  him some turkey.

 

 

“When we recall Christmas past we usually find the simplest things~not the great occasions ~ give off the greatest glow of happiness.”  – Bob Hope

 

CHRISTMAS!  There is no other time in our 12 month calendar as the magical month of December.  It is a season of  reverie, felicitous  gatherings,  tree  trimming  galas, the lilting sounds of carols whirling within our homes, carolers at our  doors, their  songs and  bright  smiles  evoking  such  joy  within  us,  as  well  as cherished  memories of Christmas’s past.  It is the season to bake our favorite holiday cakes, pies and cookies, giving  gifts from  our hearts,   special Yuletide dinner parties with treasured friends, (getting all dressed up in  our new  holiday  attire,)   but  mostly CELEBRATING the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus, (praising God for the  most wondrous gift He has ever given us.)    I can’t  leave  out  the  days  and  evenings  of blissful creations,  synchronized with beloved memories as we decorate our cozy havens with relished Christmas decorations.

 

Our Christmas season was beyond blessed with Gods presence, love and many a celebration with friends and family. Kit and I hosted a Christmas gathering in our new home.Just like our house warming party in  the summer, our  house was  full  of  friends  and  family. It was so wonderful to see that a good time was had by all.   Each room  was  festooned  with  our  Christmas tree, Santa’s, snowmen, twinkling white light intertwined with garlands and roses, and of course  glowing  candle  light.   There  was  plenty  of  delicious  dinner  entrees  accompanied  by  superb desserts, amazing  fellowship, carols filling our home with warmth and joy. The crowning touch of the evening? Vito showed up as Santa Claus.     It was a night Kit and I will  hold  dear with  in  our hearts forever.

 

We could not stop thanking God enough for His chosen detour to our beloved new home,  however long it would be, to be apart of  such a loving Christian family, having  our  own  home, feeling  a  part  of a wondrous community and for all He had done within our hearts, spirits and lives.   We knew His promise of Kings Tavern still stood and He reminded us that He was not going to settle us in Delaware, but  that we would be here for a time and season for His purposes.  We  had  much to  look forward to  in our  future and one of our  goals for the  New  year was to seek  God and  listen to  His  words to us, ask Him to show us His plans and give us wisdom for what our time here  was for and to keep us  within His will. We were sure enjoying the special gift  He was  giving  us in  Delaware. Thank you Lord for another blessed year and for your unfailing love, mercy and grace

 

“Trust in the Lord and do good;
    dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
    and He will give you the desires of your heart.” ~ Psalm 37: 3,4

 

 

How blessed are we to have a father in heaven who not only adorns us with his love and grace,  but places  His desires within  us,  making them  ours and  then  grants our hearts dreams to come true. His graciousness, love  and  faithfulness overwhelms us and all we can do is continually praise Him and say “Thank YOU” with all our hearts.

*** PHOTOGRAPHS: In scrolling upon each photo or graphic, it will display where each picture  was originated from.