there's probably a dead body in there

Our house has a crawl space under the den (which is behind the garage). It's been boarded up by the previous owner. Not sealed, like to keep rodents out or anything, but boarded up with wood and nails.

We've never looked in there.

The previous owners were initially a family, but after the kids left home the parents divorced. According to the neighbour, the wife quickly remained and moved away, never saw her again. So it was just the husband that was in the house, for years and years (which explains why the place is sound functionally, but terribly outdated aesthetically).

 So, back to the crawl space.

 Why is it boarded up like that?

Tom was convinced the wife was actually in there, but we've never had the guts to check. That is, until the other night. We thought we'd be smart about it, and pry back the wood just far enough to stick a camera inside so we can get a view without having to remove the entire thing.

This is what we saw on the camera display.

What do you see?

my blog is broken

Bah, I can't format!It's driving me nuts. I add spaces and lines between paragraphs (like here, here, and here) and it all comes out in one big block. Boo. It must be all the dust.

the social hangover

There's a phenomena that occurs in our family after traveling. We call it a social hangover. From what I've observed, in the history of us, is that it's the fallout from social overdrive. The intensity of living with others, continual visiting, frequent embraces, intimate conversations, good meals, and great company. The laughter, the tears, the connection with others.

Then you arrive back home.

And there is silence. There are menial tasks to complete. And there is life to get into the swing of. And it feels like swimming against a current. The social hangover is a pit in your stomach, reminding you that they who are there are not here. And they who are there will be older when you see them again. Which reminds you that you will be too. And you will have missed all that had happened in between. The details of life, outcomes of prayer requests, and decisions to be made... You probably won't hear the outcomes.

In the healing from the hangover there is minimal conversation. Silence allows for digestion and reflection. And this hush collides with friends excited about your return... But that pit in your stomach only grows because you realize you missed the details of life happening here while you were there. And with so many places you call home you realize you are always missing somewhere. Friends want to swing by, have coffee, hear how you've been. But you have this social hangover and just need to rest. Your heart hurts and in a twist of logic, you don't want to connect to anyone right now. So you fill your time. Paint a room. And slowly get back into the swing of life in where ever you happen to be.

someone bought my chair!

We arrived home last night, around quarter to one.
No food in the house, and that is no fun.
To the store we went and loaded the cart. 
Then something happened, that near stopped my heart.
Have you ever visited items you want to own, but don't?
You know, those items you mean to buy, but won't.
I came around the corner to visit my chair.
But my chair, oh my chair, was no longer there.
How silly one must feel with my chair in their room. 
How long will it take them, to realize the doom?
So at the empty spot, I stand and I stare
Seriously, someone bought my chair?

i kind of just want to be home

The past week we've been in Montreal. The week before, we were in Colombia. Tomorrow I need to book passes to a missions conference in Kentucky, and I just checked my email for an update on a potential work trip to Africa in November. We haven't been home in two and a half weeks. We won't be home for another week. I love what we do. There isn't anything else I'd rather be doing. When you feel called into something... There simply isn't anything else even worth considering doing. And because we feel so compelled to do what we do, we are so grateful we get to do it. And what we do requires travel, which is great, because I love to travel. But sometimes, oh sometimes, I kind of just want to be home.

Go fly a kite!

Jonathan's second favorite pastime these days.

Second, because nothing is ever better than trains.

---> Awesome pictures that I can't get to load properly would go here <--- nbsp="" p="">
Ps this isn't actually tom. 

it's so dusty in here!

Blogtober will probably be failtober, but let's see if we can get some gears grinding in the mean time. Happy blogging :)

Christmas Carols

give a boy a camera....

And this is the series of 148 pictures that he takes!

FYI

Continually adding to The Lists, for anyone interested ;)