if this really is heaven, why doesn't it smell more like dreamland?


i think i've found my muse. it's not a she. it's not a he. it's a rib. i think if i looked back across my blogography, i would find that if i've been inspired or motivated to put fingers to buttons by a common denominator, more times than not (common denominator-wise), it was meat from dreamland. disenchantment with my church or church in general would follow closely behind, but by splitting the remainder of the votes between those two candidates i would wager that the rib would and will continue to carry the popular vote. that may be interesting to only me, but i thought it worth mentioning.

my family and i are about to embark on a first. we are about to purchase our first home. not to say that we have been homeless, but the homes that we've inhabited thus far have been a church parsonage that was too big (and filled with old people stuff) for us and a double-barreled apartment approach that came to end (finally) last month with the final owed rent payment (and one of the last nagging memories) paid in huntsville. since the third of april, we have crammed ourselves into our "intimate" two-bedroom apartment and been happily close to each other. but the time to (be able to) stretch our wings and find another nest has arrived, and we will be moving. the house we are purchasing is a perfect example of a starter home. one that we know will not be our "dream" home, but one that allows us the room to expand our family if that is in the cards and one that will allow us to remember what it feels like to have separate corners of the home to retire to. it is cute. two stories. in the need of some repairs and a serious paint job, but one that i can't wait to move into. because it will be ours. not yours. and yours and yours and yours. not one that allows the congregation of a church to lay claim to. not one that flushes our monthly rent payment into an account that we have no claim on. but ours.

it will be fun and a long time coming. but well worth the wait since it feels like a decision that sarah and i made and not one that was made for us due to school or my job or feeling obligated to something or someone. hannah will have a new house. and her (my) puppy back. hardwood and tile floors and a street to ride a tricycle on. stairs she gets to climb to go to bed and stairs that she gets to come down for breakfast. we will have a dining room table. a yard to (unfortunately) attend to or pay someone to attend to. did i mention that i loved the idea of watching hannah go up and down the stairs?

i will have to enlist kiker (and andy and others) and a truck again, but he seems cool with it. but we will have a dining room table, so we can have him and sarah over for dinner to say thanks, and then kiker and i will sneak into the living room to play ncaa 07. we'll sit on our new couch (hopefully). and then i'll help sarah clean up (don't laugh, sarah) from the dinner and then we'll see hannah to bed. and then we'll come downstairs for no other reason than to have to go back up the stairs to our new bedroom and new bed (hopefully).

it will be fun and a long time coming. it will give us (more) reasons to smile and look across the house and share a knowing grin that "this is nice." and it will make it easier, as we drive back to our first house, to swallow sundays when the worship service starts with the choir director telling the congregation that their singing over the last few weeks would score them a "C-" in his book, and "he may be scaling that grade." great.

ok, so maybe there were two common denominators this day. can that even work?