Joy in Clutter

*apparently I didn't hit publish after I wrote this.  go figure.  I wrote it two weeks ago.*

It's after noon and breakfast dishes still sit in the sink, in what had been hot, soapy water but is now cold, soapless water with a ring of grease around the edges.

Clean dishes still in the dishwasher, waiting to be put away.

The dryer just buzzed letting me know the clothes are dry and need to be folded.  And put away.

The bar is covered in school books, cookbooks, color crayons, a Nile River project and a three year old's clean clothes that she needs to take upstairs.  And while I'm being honest, there's a Starbucks cup, 10 chocolate chips (math manipulative) and a stray noodle.

There's a laundry basket on the living room floor that has been turned upside down to be used as a platform.  A barstool just randomly placed out there, too.  A memory game.  And books all over the couch and end tables.

There's also a fat Beagle snoring.

And there are two happy little girls.

School is done for the day, lunch has been made and devoured.  And my house looks...it looks lived in.

Loved in.

It's a bit chaotic looking, to some, I'm sure.  If you stopped in right now, you'd trip over a pair of little girl flip flops and a blankie that shouldn't be there.  If you stopped in right now my house would not look magazine cover worthy.

And I'm okay with that.

I'm learning to find joy in the chaos of clutter.

These last few weeks of life for us have been some of the most beautiful productive days.  Time spent together making these crazy little messes.  My husband enjoys a very clean home {who doesn't, right?} but he says that he really hasn't minded coming home to a house that is less than perfect.  He's been coming home to happy, contented children.  And a wife who is finding herself more relaxed.

We're having fun.  We're enjoying each other's company.  Our home is not perfectly cleaned but it's perfectly lived and loved in.

There can be joy in the chaos of clutter.  I just have to choose to find it.