There's no place like home...

Who would've thought that Dorothy would be right? :)For me though, the hard part is figuring out what home is. Last week I tried to delete the number for "Home" in my cell phone. It was our phone number from our house in New Orleans. When my parents got a new number in Baton Rouge, I wasn't ready to let that go yet, so its saved as "Parent's House." For whatever reason this small task is harder than I thought it would be. I mean I never even liked our house in New Orleans (except the deck me and dad built was pretty sweet). It was too small and in a bad neighborhood that was kind of far away from where all my friends lived. And yet I have so many memories there and somehow I feel so...defeated when i think about deleting the number. I wish I could explain it better.
This weekend I finally got the chance to be at home in New Orleans with my church family and it was a blast. The Hollygrove Church of Christ opened it's doors for the first time and it was an amazing day. My heart was overflowing with everything that happened there. I ate oysters and boiled shrimp and looked at art and shopped on Magazine street and raided a garage for some left over Mardi Gras cups. At church Sunday, Vann (who came in for a visit, what an extra surprise!)retold a conversation that me and him had had previously. I told him that when you take Carrollton and look at all of the small parts, it doesn't even seem mediocre. We never start on time, the singing is never any good, the sermon is never the best one you've heard, and sometimes the planning is a little to be desired. But when you are there you leave different, because you met Jesus there, and no one who ever meets Jesus walks away unchanged. Maybe that's what home is, something greater than the sum of it's parts. Sure your home may be small or the carpet might be dingy or the yard not the way you'd like it, but when you are there- there is a peace that is found nowhere else. You exhale a little more deeply. Unfortunately, I don't feel that way in my Parent's house in BR. But I do feel blessed, because Abilene has somehow stolen my heart and become my home just for now. I got back into town yesterday and feel so relieved. I was so depressed this break. The funny thing is, I don't know how it happened and I didn't even see it coming. But being back here has lifted a weight from my shoulders and I am thankful for that feeling.