Home is Where Your People Are

I will never forget the last few months before Kelsey was born. I was so excited to meet her but I was almost broken-hearted at the thought of the ways Emma's world would be rocked. Not only that, Emma was still such a baby. I also think I knew somewhere in my subconscious, although I was consciously aware of it, that as soon as Kelsey came into our home, Emma wouldn't be a baby any longer and I couldn't keep time reined in. 

I had a few of these same feelings in the winter this year before we met the kids. I wrestled a little with the drastic upheavals this decision was going to bring about for Emma and Kelsey. I worried as we moved them out of their bedrooms, as we consolidated their closets, as we relabeled things and redrew lines. And then we met our Sweet 3 and I knew, just like I knew as soon as my precious almost two year old held her baby sister for the first time, big eyed and soft handed, that this family God was creating was beyond any of my hopes or expectations. 

The last time I bought a "big sister" gift, it was 2005 and I was a nervous wreck that my sweet little 22 month old was going to have her world dashed by the arrival of her new baby sister. I bought these two dolls for her to show her the sweet friendship and love they would eventually share. 

It's been 12 years and 1 month since this last family transition and today I gave the girls these "new sister" gifts, bracelets with their home coordinates that match the bracelets we got for F, R, and A that have the coordinates of their first home and their second. 

With this gift, I want all of us to know that home is each other. Although I'm still a little nervous about this transition too, having seen that blonde, blue-eyed toddler grow to fiercely love that screaming, fuzzy-headed baby (and vice-versa) reassures me that family isn't about your "place". It's about making space for more love.

Home is, after all, where your people are. And all of our people will be in one place very, very soon.