mama once told me you're already home when you feel loved.

Wow. Do I feel like a grown up this week. The Christmas that I was pregnant with Claire, we decided to remodel the house- mainly in preparation for her arrival that spring. It felt like an incredible inconvenience.

When Everett was one, we gutted our kitchen. He watched and cried as Nate demolished our cabinetry, because he wanted to help that bad. We hosted our home group without flooring or running water. Nate installed the new floors one long night by himself because we couldn't leave the stuff out the next day with two kids around. It felt like an incredible inconvenience.

Friday night Nate removed the walls, floor and ceiling from Everett's gross little bedroom. We slept three little ones together. We have foregone naps for five days. We hosted a very fun worker-guy birthday party on little sleep and lots of grace. It makes those earlier inconveniences feel a lot more convenient. I am convinced that I am going to look back on these years as precious. Even the lack of sleep. Even these three inconvenient ones that make my life so wonderfully messy.