Friday, July 3, 2009

FFF- Home

Today's Favorite Foto Friday theme is 'home'. Ironically, the only 'good' pictures I have are the homes of our past! Seems like I never have gotten a full shot of our current home?? Sorry but I have no time to run out and snap one right now! Patrick's 'home' in Ireland. Really, he was born in the white washed 'ruin' in the left of the picture but it was turned into a chicken house and peat storage shed after their 'new' house was built in the early 60's. It is in a beautiful location and I could feel right at 'home' here if need be!
Here's Patrick's brother, Michael, standing in their old back doorway with the thousands of years old bog wood header board!! My husband's family has been waaay tall for generations so I imagine quite a few inebriated heads whacked that low opening!!!!
When Patrick's only child cousin went off to university, he was sent off to live with his aunt and uncle in this "grand two story estate" to help out with the farm work! It's so sad to see all these beautiful old homes melting back into the land! I floated the idea of fixing it up as a vacation get-away for us Yanks but was smacked back into reality by the news that it had been condemned because harmful mold had impregnated the two foot thick walls! Oh well at least Ireland is looking out for the health of their citizens......
unlike Guatemala! This is the home where our Mari was born in Tiquisate!!!!!! Sadly, this is actually considered 'good' housing in Guatemala and I mean now in 2009.....
while this has been how my family has lived for generations!! This was built sometime in the 1920's and is vastly more luxurious than the current homes of my daughters' first families!!!!! My mother was born into this home, I was born into this home, the new family came and had two more generations into this home...a true testament to the quality of life here in the United States!
When we moved to the 'boonies' we actually downgraded! In order to get the size of home we needed for nine children we landed in a rambling old frame farm house. Here is the 'best' shot I have of the house on digital memory! I'm sure there are lots on paper somewhere but this one of the girls trick-or-treating there is all I can find in my folders!!!!
Our family now calls a mid-century ranch home!! We are most blessed to have this solid home to call our own in which we can keep our daughters warm, dry, and safe. This home with it's state of the art kitchen in which I can keep my family fed with minimal effort. A home where electrical wires join cable wires and gas lines join sewer lines in providing us with all the American standards of living! Tonight as we watch the fireworks and sing ourselves hoarse on patriotic anthems, I think I'll add a prayer of thanks for being born in the time and place I was given and a prayer of hope that we will be able to do more to help those with nothing!

4 comments:

  1. The people living in those make shift homes in Guatemala have been heavy on my heart lately! Time to make another move to help some more folks out!!

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  2. what great homes we all have!!!! I love how you put your daughters guatemalan home in the post..love it!

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  3. Wow, we live pretty darn good over here and we need to be remember more often. Thanks for posting all the pics.

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  4. We are all so blessed to have such beautiful houses. The poverty of Guatemala hit me so hard. I soooo wanted to cry but the pride they had in their houses was truly incredible.

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