[Nevertheless] It's Normal for Us

Bathroom wine-racks, a van seat in the living room, brown paper flooring ... hanging out in a former warehouse doing creative things, Sunday School on Tuesday nights, preaching the Word with puppets and wooden dowels ... storing memories in jars, physical therapy equipment in the dining room, and a wheelbarrow of fruit snacks. These things sound silly or downright absurd, nevertheless, they're normal for us.

My husband and I have our bed in the living room which serves several purposes - it gives the other children the bedrooms, it allows me to be a part of daily goings-on when I'm too sick or in too much pain to get out of bed, and it's a great place to cuddle while watching movies as a family.  We also made a couch out of a minivan seat, our tv sits on a dresser full of dvds and books, and yes, we have a wine rack in our bathroom. It holds rolled up towels, as we have seven people in our family, one bathroom, and limited storage space. We pulled up horrible old flooring and redid our floors with brown paper. 

We spend a good portion of our time in a warehouse turned arts space, whether it be for play rehearsals, art classes, homeschool co-op, paint nights, dances, or other events. Our children's art adorns our walls, and half the year there are script pages adrift on tables and other surfaces of our house. 

Our church has all-ages Sunday School on Tuesday Nights, complete with pizza, salad, dessert, and a lesson, and I lead a Puppet and Interpretive Movement Ministry on Saturday mornings, where we share God's Word through puppet skits and songs and interpretive movement pieces using wooden dowels.  

As we journey through our year, we write down memories and put them in a big glass jar on a shelf in our dining room. Movie ticket stubs, programs, and other memorabilia join the slips of paper. We then share these memories each New Year's Eve. Also in our dining room, you'll find physical therapy equipment for our hypermobile almost eleven year old's daily use...and a little wooden wheelbarrow that usually contains fruit snacks and other small snack items. 

Our life and living space may not seem normal to the rest of the world, nevertheless, it's normal for us!