Monday, November 25, 2013

I Feel Loved! ☻



Never make your home a place.
Make a home for yourself inside your own head.  
You'll find what you need to furnish it -
memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things.
That way, it will go with you wherever you journey.
---- Tad Williams ----

My birthday, April of 2007.

Riverview had been home for us ever since we came to the US, almost fifteen years ago.  We lived in an apartment for that first year before we moved to a rental house, in which we stayed another year before we decided, that for a couple hundred dollars more, we could get a house with the bank's help to make it ours.  We found this little old house with a finished basement and big backyard and I fell in love with it.  After some negotiations and a lot of paperwork, we moved in.  Home! Sweet home!  

Kids playing ball on the driveway.

This house had been home to us for the past twelve years.  But as everything in life experiences change, so does our living arrangement, yet again.  We have traded the comfort and privacy of this house to go back to the simplicity of apartment living.  Now, I have to say goodbye to a house which holds volumes of memories within its walls... the home that has seen so many smiles, tears and laughter... the residence of both peace and chaos... the remembrance of my mommy's last years.  This house was more than just a collection of furniture and wall decor, counter tops and paint colors; this house had been a vessel of emotions and celebrations, our safe haven.  We leave softly and I take all the memories with me and will hold on to them tightly. 

In the kitchen with mommy.

Hello, new home!  
--- Hmmm... strong spice odors welcome me as I enter the building but I know that baby Peepay's smile awaits me when I enter that green door to our suite.  
Baby Peepay, always a delight.

--- It will be Christmas in a month and I have no place in this tight space for the tree.  Well, tree or no tree, Christmas will not skip our home.  And, we welcome Jesus any day of the year. 
No tree this year? :(

--- It has been more than a month since we moved in but I am not yet quite done with putting away our things because the cabinets and cupboards are already full.  But hey, Bong's drive to work is now just a third compared to when we were in Riverview... and when the snow comes, he will just be sitting on the couch watching TV instead of clearing the snow off a big driveway, that is something to look forward to.
Snow day in Riverview, Feb. 2010.

--- Hmmppp!  I need quarters!  But the nice thing about our coin laundry is that, it is just outside our apartment door, no stairs to navigate.  And, our gas bill has been less than half of what we once paid.  Halleluiah!
Outside our Riverview home, still some snow, Easter of 2009.

--- We are on the upper level of the building.  Yup, we have to go back twice, or thrice, down to the car to bring up the groceries.  What hassle!  But I thank God that we always have food to eat and clean water to drink.  What am I complaining about?
Thank you, God, even for the lechon :).
So many memories to treasure... but no matter where we go, we make more memories.  So many blessings to be thankful for... but I know that there is no limit on them, so I will always keep my heart open.  Our new home is a sign that I am loved!  How can I forget?  Everyday, I am reminded.

My daily reminder.  Sign in front of a house across from the entrance to our apartment complex.



 
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