Content where I'm at

This weekend was nice. 3 days of having my husband at home and nothing to do but be a family. I usually have an itch on the weekends to go and do something. . .anything. After being at home all day every day, I'm usually begging Dan to take me to the Plaza, or to get ice cream,
or just anywhere out of the house. The funny thing is, he is wanting ONLY to stay in the comfort of his home after being gone all week.
But, this weekend, I did not scratch that itch. I decided I will stay where I'm placed and be content. It's amazing how enjoyable "doing nothing in particular" can be when your heart is content.
So, I spent the last couple days enjoying my home. We have been blessed with fabulous neighbors that are always up for fellowship and fun. So, we had a meal down the street at the fabulous Fran's home on Sunday, then had a get-together BBQ with a couple of the neighbors on Monday. In between, I worked in the backyard while Dan changed the timing belt in his car. Oh, and of course, Elijah was sleeping during that time. When he was awake, I just put some cortizone on that stinking itch of mine and played with him right where we were at.
I am realizing how having a child all of a sudden makes you want to be a homebody. I have always felt my home to be a sanctuary and place of rest, but it seems to have become even more now. With a curious child around, our eyes have been opened to all the fun you can have in one spot. We don't have to go to the park. . . Elijah is purely content with swinging in the front yard and playing with daddy's tools. Also, now that I have been working on trimming trees and honeysuckle in the backyard, we can also watch the sunset from there.
And, as for playmates, there are always plenty of those around. The neighbors have a porch swing which has become a sort-of meeting place. Whenever anyone is bored of the indoors, we go to the meeting place which quickly becomes a magnet to neighborhood kids that like to entertain babies and stay-at-home moms who desperately look out the window throughout the day to see if anybody that has a wider vocabulary than "why" is outside to talk with.
Contentedness comes from thankfulness of the blessings you have. I may not have the ability to ride off on great adventures on horseback anymore, but watching my son process what to do when i ask him to give me a kiss and then lunge for me with an open, drooly mouth (he can't quite make the kissy sound with his lips just yet) has become even better. That old saying "home is where the heart is" has become so true to me. And, that itch that "I have to do something productive" or "I've just got to get out of this house" can be soothed with the worship and thankfulness to God for what I have right in front of me. I'm finding that when your heart is content and not anxious because of the billions of things you could be missing out on, your eyes are opened to all the things you are missing out on that are right in front of you.
Paul wrote in Phillipians:
"I know what it is to be in need, I know what is is to have plenty. I know what it is to be content in any and every situation. Whether well-fed and hungry, whether living in plenty or living in want. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." vs 13,14
I'm learning to be content with the mundane, and not constantly have that "itch" to be doing something exciting. Those that know me know I always love to have adventure and "living on the edge". . . but I'm starting to really enjoy the normal, simple life.
One other great quote I found in a magazine:
"The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the starts, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life." -Robert Louis Stevenson ( don't know who that is, but I like what he says)
Guess this is an awfully long blog, but I felt like journaling, and so that's what I did.