{Day 15} My Real House

How about a few days of "Real Home" as we journey on in this series?

I've been a decorating magazine junkie for years. I'm crazy for house blogs and I love it when friends ask for my help with their own re-do's and design schemes.

But as I sit here and type this, I have dishes stacked on the countertops and books and puzzles strewn across the living room. The armchair is full of toys I threw away that my kids discovered and dug back out of the trash today. 

Blue nail polish is smeared across the kids' bathroom countertop and floor, compliments of the 3-year-old. He did that a week ago and I haven't cleaned it up yet. That's okay. It blends in with the Crest blue bubble-mint toothpaste that's also smeared across the countertop. 

It's October and there are still summer clothes in all the drawers. That's what jackets are for, I tell myself. My goal is November.

Random toys, flip flops, and sippy cups have spilled out onto the lawn and too often I bring the kids in for dinner and forget to have them clean it up. And because they are kids, they are just fine with that.

For two days in a row I have been near tears over mess. Tomorrow is Saturday and we'll all pitch in to pick up and clean and I'll feel better for two days. 

By next Friday, however, I'll be able to write this post all over again. 

These words I type? They are for me as much as they are for you. 

The truth is, real home {like real life} is messy and frustrating. But it's also bursting with life, energy, and creativity. I've decided that a creative, lively home will always boast mess in some form.

A friend of mine used to have college students in and out of her home while her four kids were young. Her house was rarely clean or picked up. Years later one of those students {who had since become a mom} thanked her for living real. One woman's messy house freed that young mom from ridiculous expectations and equipped her to live real too.

Crazy, isn't it? My friend actually had a ministry out of living authentically, not obsessing over perfect, and having others in her home to share life together, mess and all. 

Perfect homes can be intimidating. 

Real homes are usually inviting. 

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{Click on the button for the list of all the days 

& topics thus far.}