My Hope Chest: Part One

During my rare spare time over the past week, I have enjoyed sorting through the items from my hope chest, taking pictures, and preparing a blog entry to be posted soon. Throughout the week, my bedroom has been a disaster area and it appears as if I am moving out! Although I have barely endured the great mess, it has been a fun experience and reminiscent of "playing house" as a little girl.

I received my beautiful white wicker hope chest as a Christmas gift from my parents when I was 17. While my collection has outgrown the small chest, I have added a trunk, several boxes hidden in the triangle behind my bed, and at least one more box in a closet at my grandmother's house. I suppose you could say I'm pretty serious about collecting things for my future home!
It is such a joy to think about my future home and family, and I find it very rewarding to accumulate items that will hopefully contribute in making our home a sweet and refreshing place. I love my hope chest collection very much because it reflects my love for my future home and family. I can't even begin to express how very eagerly I await the day when I will be some man's wife and can welcome him home each day to our cozy, little abode. That is the reason my hope chest collection is so special to me. It represents creating a peaceful haven for the man and children I'll love.

I envision our home to be a place of rest and refreshment, a solace from the craziness of the world around us, a place for the training of our precious children, and hospitality toward believers and non-believers alike. Of course I'm not so naive as to think that there won't be days of discontentment, disagreements between my husband and me, nights of crying babies, and plenty of trials and hardships! But since Christ will be at the center of our home, we will have the hope that the difficult days will be bearable through His grace, and we can have confidence that even the trials He will bring us through will "all work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose..." (Romans 8:28).

I hope to post the pictures and their corresponding details very soon!

"Six things are requisite to create a happy home. Integrity must be the architect, and tidiness the upholsterer. It must be warmed by affection, and lightened with cheerfulness, and industry must be the ventilator, renewing the atmosphere and bringing in fresh salubrity day by day; while over all, as a protecting and glory, nothing will suffice except the blessings of God." ~Rev. Hamilton 1878