If These Walls Could Speak

As I mentioned in last week's Hodgepodge, we have our house on the market. When you walk through our home, you will see some of the same things that are in everyone else's house....beds, couches, dining room table, kitchen, bathrooms, etc.

You may or may not like how we decorate. You may or may not think our house is the house for you.

But, will you see the stories that this house holds?

Will you know that this is the only house that our girls have ever known? We lived in a previous house when we had our oldest, but we moved here when she was only 11 months old. Our other two daughters have never lived anywhere else.

Will you know that these roses are the same ones that we had at our previous house, and I loved the way they grew there, so I made sure to get the exact same ones for my "new" house?

When you see this picture of Jesus (one of two) in our living room, will you know it's meaning? Will you know that this same picture (although in color) hung in my home as a little girl, and when I had the choice to choose between different ones, I chose this, because it always brought comfort to me as a child? Will you know that, while this may seem like just any ordinary Jesus picture, it is actually made from WORDS? If you look closely, you will be able to see the words clearly written.

When you see this sign that says "Love", will you know that we were given this at church, to remind us to love each other like Jesus loves? Will you know that this statue, the one with the bluebirds, was given to me by a dear friend? She didn't realize that I had always wanted one like this, because someone had placed this in my Gram's casket at her funeral, and now it reminds me of her.

When you look at our dining room table, will you just see a table, or will you see the many family dinners that have been served on it? Will you see the crafts that were made there? The hours of school work? The board games we have played?

Will you be able to imagine how much time and money have been spent on the school books that you will see on bookshelves all over the house?

When you look at our family room, will you know how long it took us to pick out just the right couch for that room? Or, how much we agonized over the color choices?

Will you know that Hubs and I sit here on most days, sipping our coffee, and talking about our plans for the day?

Will you be able to hear the music, as my two oldest girls practice their  lessons on the piano?

When you see my kitchen, will you know how thrilled I was to finally get a refrigerator with an ice/water dispenser? Will you be able to see the many, many meals that have been prepared in this kitchen over the almost 15 years that we have lived here? Will you know that my Dad and Hubs laid the tile themselves?

In the bathroom, will you be able to hear the giggles as my little girls took bubble baths, with the tub so full of toys and bubbles, you could barely see them?

In the girls' bedrooms, will you know how much work went into redecorating them, so that they would be just the way they wanted them?

Will you know that this dresser, in my oldest daughters room, was mine as a child, and has been redone to reflect her taste?

When you reach the master bedroom, and you see this on my dresser, will you know that Hubs and I bought this on our honeymoon at Disney World?

Will you know that these handcarved wooden elephants belonged to Hubs' grandfather, who is now gone?

Will you know how happy just seeing this striped umbrella makes me when I look at it?

Will you know how much love and laughter, joy and tears, pain and sorrow, this house has known through the years?

If these walls could speak, you would....