The place you call 'home'
Last weekend my son and I made the drive back to the rolling green hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where we stayed for the weekend.

Yet again, I sensed the change in the scenery as we left the flatlands of Indiana with its pockets of trees here and there to the endless tree-covered hills of Pennsylvania. Our coming back showed me that while much stays the same, things also have changed. We moved at the height of summer; but the leaves have fallen off the trees in my absence. Little things have changed--a new yellow line painted on the street, a business now closed. So where do we call "home"? Is home only the place where you lay your head on your pillow? Where you "hang your hat"? What defines home?

I've also been thinking about the physical space we call our own. We live in these four walls. Here my family eats together, prays together, reads together. This is where we are a family. And yet the family endures beyond these four walls.

That's why I love having the wonderful simple house blessing whenever we move. It's not to chase out the ghosties so much as praying for the inhabitants of this place to love one another, to help each other, to welcome visitors, etc.

Anyway, those are just my random ramblings this afternoon.