A Simple Country Life...My Goal

No, I haven't grown up in the country. I actually grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but grew up in the greatest city on this earth...New York! Maybe because of the hustle and bustle and the taking of the buses and trains every single day, the constant going that as I grew older I wanted to retreat to a quieter, slower pace.
I live not too far from NYC right now. So I do have the perks of Broadway, Rockefeller Center, amazing restaurants, Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the list is endless. I absolutely love it! But when I have had quite enough of all the fabulousness, I love to go home to my little house on the prairie in the beautiful Hudson Valley. I live in between horse farms overlooking amazing mountains and lakes.
My little house is just that, little. But it is the right place for this season. With the boys growing up we will need a bigger place before long. So pray that the right home becomes available soon. But for now our 1600 Square Foot home is cozy and intimate. It's so tiny that when my poor husband is watching television in the evenings he has to turn the volume down to 8. He is so good. He sighs a big sigh but does it anyhow. What our little home has done for us is bring us closer together...literally and figuratively. We work closer, we play closer and love more intimately. It has forced us to working out our differences, quickly. The yard is expansive so we roast marshmallows and jump on the trampoline...yes, I do that too and there are pictures to prove it. But I shall die before those things become public. Seriously! We run and play. It is a retreat for us after a hectic Sunday and a retreat for those who come to visit. I am a country bumpkin with a puertorican New York attitude...does that even make sense? Is that possible? I'm living it. I can still get a little nasty with the driver in front of me or the one that cuts me off and still go home and bake a loaf of whole wheat bread from scratch or make an apple cobbler. It can work.
I love big stone fireplaces, my checkered cranberry chair cushions. I love big hunkin' tables and pewter chandeliers. I love the scent of baking bread and apple cider simmering on the stove.I love front porches and sweet tea (learned how to make it this past summer). I love big backyard barbecues and homemade slip and slides. Homemade granola, jams and jellies. Yes, I do it all. And I love it!
I love going to barn sales and love picking through other people's treasures (some call it trash), but only if it's on the side of the road. I love to make something beautiful out of something that has been thrown away, discarded...sounds so familiar. Sounds like what Jesus did for me and to me. He took this wasted, hopeless person and made me (and is still making me) into the woman I am today. Thankfully, He isn't finished with me yet!
Give me a homemade apple pie over any delectable dessert from the fanciest restaurant anytime.
Come visit if you are ever in the Hudson Valley, we'll have a cup of tea and a piece of homemade apple pie and we'll talk until the peepers come out to play.