Not My Home

Welcome to the Porter's

Here's what I love: This is not my home.

Ah, “the rental.”  I tried calling it other cute names to make it sound better, but we still just refer to it as “the rental.”  Allow me to tell you about it.

First of all, it is surprisingly cute on the outside...sort of...if you can ignore the rotting wood railroad ties bordering the front flower beds and the pitiful shrubs and the potholes in the gravel driveway.  If you get past that, it has a charming little red door and while red is not my favorite, it is rather a cheery welcome.  (The door knocker reads “Porters.”  We are not the Porters.  This is not our house.)

But, come on in.

The front room is my favorite.  That’s because it has white plaster walls, an old stone fireplace, and we managed to arrange our furniture to look pretty cute in the room.  However, there is no overhead lighting nor do the numerous mystery switches on the wall control any of the outlets.  So, if it’s dark outside, you must trip across the room to fumble for the switch on a random lamp to get some light.  It’s a bit of an inconvenience. 

Speaking of inconveniences—that seems to be the theme of our stay in the rental.  In order for the lights on the detached shack of a garage to work, the random switch in the hallway inside the house has to be in the on position.  Wait, what?  You mean, your hall light switches don’t control your exterior garage lights!?  How silly. 

Further more, there were not any curtains on the big front window, so, I’ve hung a sheet up—very classy, I know.  The back door opens directly into where the counter stools pull up to the counter resulting in the door banging the chair Every. Single. Time.  There aren’t enough outlets by the bed to plug in my bedside clock, so it sits on the floor across the room.  Bill decided to put his clothes in the closet in the spare room giving me the master closet all to myself.  (He’s so nice like that!) But, as a result, he gets to hike it to the other side of our little house to get his clothes from the closet, which is inconveniently behind the door to the room. 

The girls find it inconvenient to have to share a room, but I actually think that it’s fine.  The afore mentioned detached garage is not suitable for parking in, so we park outside.  This is a minor inconvenience when it is raining and will be even more so if we ever have any sort of frost to scrape off in the mornings this winter.  The fridge is too wide for the space it’s in which means that the right side door is difficult to open and does not stay open.  Which brings me to the kitchen and the location of the mother of all inconveniences:  NO GARBAGE DISPOSAL. 

I know—it’s not really that big a deal.  I mean, we have a dishwasher after all!  We should be grateful and we are!  But, the big “problem” has been when we forget that there is not a garbage disposal and then end up quickly thrusting our hands down into filthy water to grab bits of food before they slip down the drain and clog up our pipes.  That part is not very fun.

However, there are some lovely things in the rental.  It has beautiful old hardwoods and I think that every creak is charming.  It has tall ceilings and lovely new windows.  The bathrooms have both been completely updated, so they are actually quite nice to bathe in.  While the house is certainly NOT an “open floor plan,” the rooms are large enough and the best part for us was that there was extra room to store all of the junk we’ve accumulated. 

I'm sorry if this is your wallpaper,
but it's not the 90s anymore.  Seriously.
(At least I didn't take a pic
of food bits in the sink.)

While there are definitely things I don’t love about the rental, (black mini blinds, forest green tile counter tops in the kitchen, and some ugly 90’s era wallpaper in the dining room to name a few), the house has really been a blessing.  It’s cozy, it’s functional, and it’s certainly fine for the interim because God totally provided it!

But, don’t forget: we are building a house.  Just a block over, on a lovely shaded street, we will have a brand new house designed just for us.  It will have the white kitchen I’ve been dreaming of, an open floor plan, and a garbage disposal!  Woohoo!  It’s sure to feel like complete luxury after our months in the rental. 

Which made me remember—this world is not our home.  Just like the rental, it has it’s charms: gorgeous landscapes, stunning skies, bountiful provision.  But it also has it’s inconveniences like taxes, global warming, illness, and traffic.  There are some bits of earth that we just adore in the way I love the front room in the rental.  We might love nature, or city skylines, and family!  Then, there are parts that aren’t our favorite—pests and pain and people who rub us the wrong way like 90s era wallpaper or black mini blinds.  We wish we could change things.  But, we can’t. 

However, we can remember that a home is being built.  Designed especially for us—it will have more than a white kitchen and a garbage disposal.  It will be even better than we can dream or imagine.  Taxes, and traffic, and pain, and pests, and severe weather will all melt away.  We will look into the Builder’s eyes and be filled with the joy that comes from finally, fully comprehending His true and fathomless love for us. 

And we will realize that we are finally home.