A Few Twigs of a Nest

I remember that when I packed up my scrapbooking things before the Big Move I remember thinking that I wouldn't be seeing them until we moved into our "real" house - the non-rental house. I figured they would be tucked away in their boxes in the garage until we moved again.

However, I have missed them, and have starting pulling them out. (Plus, I am finding myself with a little more time on my hands to be creative than when I did when I was working full time).

It's a great example of this life-scenario that we're in. Living in a rental, not wanting to unpack more than the very basics to not create too much work when we move again. At the same time, feeling every day in limbo, not settled, and not yet at home. Not "nesting", per say. It's the practical thing to do, really.

However, I don't really like being in limbo. In fact, when I just looked up the meaning of that phrase here to find out its origins, I got this definition: "In a state of being neglected and immobile, with no prospect of movement to a better place." Yuck. I'm not feeling the "neglected" part so much, but the rest of it is pretty much right on.

In the midst of LimboLand this week, I found comfort in these verses from Jeremiah 29:

4 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

Now, granted, I don't feel that we have been carried into exile, but I, like the Israelites, am currently living somewhere that I didn't plan to make into a home (with "no prospect of moving to a better place" at the moment.)

After reading this, I have decided to do a little figurative house-building and settling, a little garden-planting, and produce-eating. (We'll probably skip the "increase in number" part, though.)

As a result, the scrapbook stuff has a new home:

I'm also starting to work on my "Richest of Fare" art, which I started way back in Morgantown.
Yesterday I even planted some of my perennial seeds out in yogurt cups on the back porch.

It's a small amount of a nest - just enough to provide some comfort and joy where we are today.