A Trip That Did My Heart Good!

It had been a   l o n g   time since we had visited our Kati and her sweet family! 

Life has changed and responsibilities have changed and that is what is necessary in this season. It is what we do. But although Kati and Andrew and the children have visited us two or three times each year, we had not been able to visit them on their turf since 2022! We had never seen their new home (they moved in 2023), and the children were too young to have even remembered our last visit. 

So you can imagine how delighted we were to finally be able to head south and see our dear ones! Many details . . . much planning . . . and the kindness of the Lord! 

These two sweethearts greeted us as we pulled into their driveway . . . 

Ellie (4) and Caleb (5)

. . . and we spent the next days having the most wonderful time together! A kid-guided tour of their charming house, hanging out, catching up, going to Andrew's parents' home for a lovely lunch, house projects, an outdoor tour of their property, coffee, delicious meals shared around their table, coffee shops, a trip to the city, eating southern foods, antique shops, a bookstore, and, of course, being enthralled by Caleb and Ellie! 

It did my mama-heart good to see our dear ones in their own place, seeing their rhythms and how they live, experiencing their favorite coffee shops, shopping at some of their favorite stores, seeing them as an established family unit. 

It also did my mama-heart good to see my Kati living the life she had always wanted: happily married and homeschooling her children. I looked around and saw evidence of her homemaking skills, collections of beautiful children's books, and this vignette. 

Nestled among some parenting and homeschooling books was a "Morning Time" candle and a framed Charlotte Mason quote, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." 

Yes, it was a wonderful trip and I returned home with a full heart! 

House Project Goals for 2026

 
In this post, I told you about the projects we were able to complete in 2025. 

And these are the projects that we're planning for 2026. 

Goal #1: 
Wall/electrical mini projects 
If there is a large indoor project in a year's plans, we try to begin that project in January so that we can make progress while spending more time inside. This year, however, there was no large indoor project so we gathered some mini projects to take us through the winter months. 

• Remove phone jacks (two in the living room, one in the kitchen, one in a bedroom) and patch wall.
  
• Replace some light switches with white ones; replace switch plates with wooden ones.
• Replace two three-toggle switch plates with wooden ones.
• Lower an outlet in the kitchen.
• Add an outlet for charging hand-held vacuum in small closet.

Goal #2: 
Paint linen closet
You can tell that we have accomplished many of our major house goals, because our indoor projects this year seem small-ish. The linen closet has not been painted since we moved in; it remains the shade of green that was once in the living room and dining room (you can catch a peek ~ here ~). We are going to paint the inside white.  

Goal #3: 
Install exhaust fan in main/guest bathroom
I'm not sure why this has never been done, but this is the year.  

Goal #4: 
Replace the rails at back door
A few years ago, we refreshed the outside of our house. One of the things we did was replace the wrought iron rails on the front stoop with Chippendale rails. This year, Ron plans to build Chippendale rails on the back stoop. 

Goal #5: 
Put an outlet on the patio
Ron would like to have an outdoor outlet on the patio . . . for a lamp, or his electric ice cream freezer, or ?? 

Goal #6: 
Build Chippendale surround for HVAC unit
What? I thought we were doing a "top 5." Well, yes, but we tacked another one on this year's priority list. While Ron is building Chippendale rails for the back stoop, we thought it would be a good time to make a matching surround for our HVAC unit. It will create a much prettier view from the street. 

So those are our goals for the year. A few have already been completed! We'll keep moving ahead, doing what we can while remaining flexible, making our house a home. 

Do you have any house projects in mind for the coming year? I'd love to hear about them!