home

Two months to the day that we arrived back in Canada we were sleeping in our very own home. At long last.
We moved in last week and it's been crazy and busy and awesome and tiring.

We are officially home owners! Our house is great. It's dated and there's a lot to do to make this space feel happy but it's ours and we're here. And that is enough to keep me sane. Most days.

We just got internet today, Jamie's back to work and the boys start school next week. So yeah. Crazy times ahead. If I do recall, I did tell myself that once we moved back to Canada it would be go-go-go right into the foreseeable future. I'm so smart.

Oh! And we have a pool! Well, our town house complex has one. All the benefits with none of the work. That's my kind of pool!

If anyone still reads my blog, thanks for sticking it out during the echoing silence here.
More to come. Oh! And I'm on Instagram now so you can follow me there if you want to see the ins and outs of life here at Casa Crazy Strickland.

home is wherever I'm with you

I remember when I first got married and my parents' house still felt like "home". I had two homes. The apartment I lived in with Jamie in Kitchener and the semi-detached house in Toronto that my parents and brothers still lived in. 

The longer we were married, the more the house that Jamie and I lived in seemed like home.

And then when we started having kids it was solidified. We moved a bunch of times, but home, our home was wherever we all lived together whether it was on Brant Avenue or Gaw Crescent in Guelph or Plot 334 Kampala, Uganda. 

With our move back to Canada closing in on us, I oscillate between calling it "Canada" and "home" when I talk to the boys. I think for Jude, Uganda is home. For Noah, home is in Canada. But for both of them, we will be changing it all up. The house we left is not the house we'll be moving back to.

This house in Kampala has become my home, but growing up in Canada for 29 out of 31 years, for me we are going home.

i must be dreaming

the other night i dreamed it was winter and i was in canada. i was with 3 other coworkers {all females and all friends of mine}. we found our way into some sort of department store that was decorated all christmasey and happened to have a starbucks attached to it.
we found a group of 4 seats and sat down and started chatting. mainly i was chatting with one of them, but we were all having a lovely, relaxing time. the guy near us was on his cell phone and was ending his call when he said,
"i have to go, but what can i pray for you for?"
and the friend i was talking to said,
"prayer requests...NICE." pretty loudly with a very affirming voice {as opposed to sarcastic which you could totally read it as. it was not. she was impressed. or something.}
turns out he was a starbucks employee on break and when he came back on shift, he served us all $8 muffins {on the house} which were gigantic and delicious and we were happy for the freebie.
i woke up from the dream and it was the middle of the night. i was smiling. i honestly felt so refreshed by that dream girl time that i could have started my day. except it wasn't day. it was night.
my thoughts: i need more girl time. and starbucks.
also? hilarious but not far from the truth with the $8 muffins.
my subconscious must be dreading the sticker shock when i return to canada.

and that's okay.

this place is not my home.

not yet.

i know it will feel like it someday.

but it doesn't feel like it right now.

and that's okay.

i miss my home and native land.

and that's okay.

there are so many things that are wonderful in my life and in my house and in this city.

and i'm learning to count them every day.

but i'm not denying that right now...

i miss my home, my friends, my family, {my car}, my city, my church.

and that's okay.

{there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens;}

found on pinterest.