Life in Alphabet - H

is for Home. The saying goes that home is where the heart is. In that case, I have multiple homes! Big Spring and I have moved a lot since being married, including 2 interstate moves.

It's been hard defining where "home" is exactly for us! Is "home" in Hamilton, where I grew up? My parents moved out of my childhood home while I was living in Melbourne, so I don't have an emotional connection to the house they now live in and I'm not really in contact with anyone else from Hamilton (most of my school friends have either moved away, or never lived in Hamilton and travelled a distance to get to school). But, I still call Hamilton home (even though all the shops and landscape have changed as well, so there's not a lot left of how I remember it growing up!).

Is "home" at Big Spring's parent's house? He also didn't grow up there, but has moved in and out a number of times. Where they live isn't even in the same suburb that he grew up in! But, he still calls it home.

Is "home" the city of Melbourne? Between the two of us, Big Spring and I have lived in many suburbs of Melbourne (I lived in 5 different places/suburbs before we got married and after we were married, we lived in 6 different places, before moving to Adelaide!). Whenever we are driving in Melbourne suburbs on a rare visit, it's familiar and we know our way around really well. It feels like home, even though we could never pin point a particular suburb to call home.

Is "home" North Adelaide, where we lived while Big Spring studied to become a Lutheran Pastor? We were only there for four years, but managed to live in two different houses! In one sense, it felt like 'coming home' being there - we came from different church backgrounds, so had worshipped together at a number of different denominations. I hadn't realised the importance of the Lutheran church in my heart, until we started worshipping together at a Lutheran church and him studying to be a Lutheran pastor, but we both felt like we had 'come home'. It was such a wonderful, comforting feeling! However, that doesn't reflect on the houses we lived in. I think we never really called Adelaide our home as we always knew that it wasn't going to be permanent - it was just a stepping stone for Big Spring getting into ministry and we were only going to be there for a short time, while he studied. However, having said that, Adelaide is where Little Spring was born and it was her first home, so of course, we'll always have a place for Adelaide in our heart!

Is "home" Cairns, where we now live, as Big Spring's first assignment into the Lutheran Church of Australia? Absolutely! We've settled well into the house we live in, with all our familiar furniture and we are here as a family - our gorgeous, beautiful daughter and my wonderful, loving husband. We have made some fantastic friends and we really feel a part of the church community here. The house is not ours, but the home we live in, certainly is!