I’m a home body.
I love to travel and I’ve been all over but I’ve never lived more than 25 miles away from my city of birth for longer than six weeks. I‘ve always lived here in Southern California (so before you go judging me for my palm trees and my beach proximity, this is my home).
Last week I got an email from a woman in Papua New Guinea. PAPUA NEW GUINEA! I know that some of you all read in the UK and in Australia, but Papua New Guinea? Amazing!
For some reason that just amazed me. She described her life to me: missions and babies, and I’m thinking 
how
different
our
lives
are.
I’m past the baby stage by a few years. I am sitting in my local, favorite Starbucks this morning catching up on emails and figuring out tomorrow’s blog post. I’m thinking about second grade pick-ups and getting to four-year-old dance lessons on time.
This is my home.
But we aren’t really that different, are we?
I give my children baths at night and put them to bed with a story, a kiss, a prayer and a song. I worry about the future sometimes and about money. I think about my mistakes and regret both what I’ve done…and haven’t done.
I pray and hope God hears it. I forget where my keys are sometimes and am embarrassed that our shoes are piled up outside the front door to our house. I’m learning to say “no” and not to say “maybe” when I really mean “no.”
I got a degree in English and taught grammar to middle schoolers but I sometimes forget where the quotation marks go.
We aren’t that different. We are sisters (and brothers) in Christ. We are humans walking this earth, trying to love, trying not to hurt, and trying to do the best we can. We are tired, we are grace-lended and we forget to laugh when life is funny.
We are part of the same family and we have the same home, even if mine has palm trees and yours has snow-covered plains.
And we will have the same Home someday.
I’ve never done this before, but leave a comment telling us WHO you are and WHERE you are.
Where are you home?
I am Amy Miller and I call La Mirada home right now just a little north of you! My “home” is really just wherever I can snuggle my hubby with our two littles (5 and 2) tucked in between, where we can praise God for what went well today, and make a snack out of capri-suns and fruit by the foot. Thanks for giving me a little mental break each day by your blog. It feels nice to relax with you when I need a break from my life.
I’m currently an Upstate New Yorker, but my roots will always be in the South. I have been married to my love for almost 6 years and we have a son in heaven. God has taught us a lot over the past 10 months, and while his path for us isn’t what I’d chose, His hand is ever present.
I’m Teresa…you know me…met you when we were 2 years old in the church nursery. Now I’m a wife, a mom to 4 kids & a respiratory therapist. Anyways, lived in socal my whole life, however, the job/housing market here has not been good to us, so we are relocating to Arizona in 2 weeks. I kindof freaking out, but trusting that God has a plan for us there.
I miss you friend.
. Your sis said that you had another baby!! Congratulations! Arizona’s not so far you know…
We are an Air Force family, so home is where they decide to send us. For us, home is what we take with us and each member of our family. The place we live is just a building, but we make it a home. Right now, we are in Idaho, but have lived in TX, UT, AK, and South Korea. We are both originally from northern Minnesota, right along the Canadian border.
I’m so amazed at all the diversity and breadth of you all. We are one spread out group aren’t we? This has been so fun today.
It HAS been fun today! I keep checking back throughout the day and reading where everyone is from and a little bit of what their life is like. This was a great idea, Sarah!
parkersburg, west virginia
Hi!
Home for me is in Bakersfield, CA. I live with my hubby (we’ve been married 18 years) my son Dillon (he is 18), my daughter Patty (who is turning 13 on Friday, yikes!) plus various dogs and cats. I’m looking forward to the time when my home will be where ever we move to after our kids have grown and moved out.
I enjoy reading you posts each morning.
Thank you for being so honest and transparent.
I’m Wendy, and I’m in a small town on the Oregon Coast. My parents moved our family here when I was eight years old, and I moved back after college and met my husband at church. I’m so thankful he loves it here, because this is the one place in the world I wish most to live. I love raising our son where I grew up. It’s home.
Home right now is Abbyville, Kansas. I grew up in Arkansas and spent my teen years in El Salvador. I count myself fortunate to have three homes. I enjoy your blog, although I’m unmarried and without kids–unless you count the 17 first and second graders I teach.
Hi Sarah,
I’m Maria. I’m almost 32, currently live in Jacksonville, FL with my husband and 2.5 year old son. I’ve lived in a lot of places but home is where my family is.
Im Angela, my home is Hastings, New Zealand
I live in Murfreesboro,Tn I am from the south!!! I have been married for 5 yrs and have 2 beautiful children Joseph 4 and Bella 2. I love your blog thank you..
I live in Milwaukee, WI, but home is SW KS, where I lived from when I was 8 yrs old until I was 23. I discussed “home” with my Papa the other day and I told him home was really wherever he and Mom lived. Isn’t that the way it should be?
Home for me is Louisville, KY for the past 14 years, before that it was Nashville, TN. Love both places, one has all mine and my husband’s family the other has all our adopted family.
Hi, I’m Nicki in Northwest Georgia (USA). Married 14 years. (More happily now than ever, which is a huge blessing.) 2 Boys, 18 and 11.
Hi, I’m Beth from Canton, Ohio – home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame! Married 11 yrs with Will (3-1/2 yrs) and Caroline (2 next week!) Love your blog…it is real…keep ‘em coming. Thanks for all you share.
Hello all, I’m Makeda currently living in Charlotte, NC although I grew up in NYC, am Jamaican by heritage and if lived in several states along the eastern seaboard at some point in my life. NYC will always be home to me though because seriously there is no place on the planet like it.
Hi Sarah and all! My name is Anna, currently live in Seal Beach California with my husband and our 3 children, ella 4, jude 2 and cameron 7 months. Was born in Stockholm Sweden to missionary parents, raised mostly stateside in sunny Palm Springs California. Going through a crazy transition, husband is senior pastor our church is waiting to move to an amazing permanent facility, lots of tension and change for our beautiful congregation.. SO home about now feels like running up to my parents house Seattle Washington and smelling the smell of their home(that smell of your childhood, simpler times) and feeling young and free for a few days…Just to refresh…
Hi I’m Sonia and I live in State College PA, (home of the greatest college football coach on earth Joe Paterno).
My house is a home when my hubs of 12 years and my two dudes 9 & almost 6 are in it. We’ve lived in Denver and Philly and loved them both but there is no place like home!
Home for me is in our RV with my hubby wherever we roam. We spend most of our time in PA at a campground working and then need to leave there when it closes for the winter so spend those months traveling the east coast. I adore your blog and your thoughts.
Cheryl
how exciting and daring! i love it. =)
I have lived in Muscatine, IA for almost 12 years. I am originally from Lincoln, NE. I’ve been married to my husband for almost 12 years, and we have a son who is 3 and are expecting our second child in September.
Thanks so much for your blog…I love reading it!
I live in Sanford, Fl. I am almost 60, married…mother of 3 grown children and have 5 beautiful grandchildren. I am originally from New England, but FL is home and has been for almost 26 years.
I love your blog…
I am Hannah Braboy. My home is in a small town in Kentucky. I am the eldest daughter of my parents, big sister to 4, writer, and photographer.
My name is Melissa and we just returned from living in Papua New Guinea! Small world! We now are back in Southern California, home to my husband and I.
The easy part. Home is California. I have spent most of my life on the central coast, college in southern California, several years in the mountains near Yosemite and currently live in the central valley.
The harder part. Who am I? Creative, restless, photographer, writer, quilter, reader, mother of grown daughters, wife of pastor-husband and best of all, God’s child!
I’m Renee from South Carolina. Never lived anywhere else.
I’m from PA. Been reading your blog for a few months now. A while ago, one person made a comment on your blog along the lines of “forgiveness”… sometimes when she feels like she can no longer forgive or tolerate the sin of her husband she is reminded of God’s forgiveness of her sins on the cross… Her words were very impactful…is there a way I can search your comments section? I’m needing this encouragement… Thanks
Hey there everyone.
I’m ____ but I go by OneGirl out here in the blog land (for safety reasons). I love to laugh, sing, and dance. I love photography and I really like blogging. I’ve been through some nasty stuff and am still trying to find my way through it. God is good. Always has been, always will be. I hope I never stop believing that. Well…that’s a little about me. As for where I live, well, I live in Florida…where it’s always sunny. Oh wait, it’s not. We’ve been having these cold fronts that would make northerners laugh their butts off. But to us it’s super cold. I’ve lived here all my life, though, so it’s home for me. At least for now 
from PA. Found what I was looking for 9/21/09 post. Love your blog.. was wondering if you could have a sidebar of titles of your post…instead of just the months… would help searching through archives a bit.. Love all the words in your posts… This is more like my daily devotions….
I grew up in Southern California, but when my husband was transferred to Sacramento, we moved here. Now Sacramento is my home. My grown children live here as do their significant others. I love my Earthly life, but what I’m really looking forward to is my real home, with Jesus, someday. My mom is there, by the grace of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of God, and I long to see her again.
ya know…I’m always late to the party!
As I was reading some of the posts I started to envision the Miss America Paegant. Haha!
Anyway.
I’m Melissa. If you would have asked me a year ago, who I was, I would have had a confident, succicnt and sure answer full of passion with a sparkle in my eye. But God is breaking me down and building me up, so life’s view from my window is just a bit different now. Normally, when people ask about me, I tell them who I was…what I had…what I lost. Perhaps to sound far more intriguing.
But today, I will just tell you who I am…and I love who I am.
I have been married to my husband for 7 years (8 this May) and this is a year of new beginnings and it’s amazing to see God’s grace and mercy unfold before my very eyes. I am a stay at home mom to two amazing girls, ages 5 and 7.
Home is Buena Park, CA…we are literally on the border of Fullerton, La Mirada and La Habra, depending on which why I cross the street. Haha!
I have been dwelling on Psalm 84 and am knee deep in studying Revelation so when I speak of home, I am really waiting with joyful expectancy to one day see my real Home…
Thank you for the invitation to introduce myself (I often feel the urge to comment here, but then think so many others comment already).
I’m Alisa Beth: lover of scrap booking, photography, blogging and blog-reading, peonies and hydrangeas, and baking (and eating baked goodies – especially cheesecake!).
God blessed me more than I ever imagined possible when he brought my best friend of 15 years and I together in marriage. We weren’t high school sweethearts, but just best friends (though truth be told, of course I had a crush on him for half of my life!). In October 2008, just three months after we were married, we moved away from the only place I ever called home for 29 years (Palm Bay, FL) … we moved across an ocean to Reading, England where my sweet and brilliant husband took up a post at the university here.
So, I read your blog from what seems a million miles away. I miss the US every day, my heart aches for my mom and yellow KitchenAid and Jiff peanut butter, and I struggle with learning to call this place home. Thankfully, we have found a wonderful church here where worshipping and being in fellowship with other Christians does feel like home. (It helps that there’s a McDonald’s near by … but there’s no sweet tea here!)
I love your blog: your beautiful photos, the details you share about motherhood, the insights you share about the very nature of God. Thank you.
Hi Sarah
I’m Ruth
Broken and being restored daughter of a kind God.
I live in New Zealand.
We’ve been here for 7 years. Before that home was South Africa.
3 of our children were born there, 3 here in NZ.
I have 2 daughters and 4 sons, age 13-1.
Dh and I have been married 15 years. He’s amazing.
Love to read your blog. Thank you for sharing yourself with us…
Spent 18 years growing up in Fairfax VA (DC Suberb) – Now I lived in Blacksburg VA (the mountains) for over 13 years! Still wows me! Always a Virginia girl
I did spent a summer in Myrtle Beach and a summer in Nashville
We do plan to move our West at some point. Utah, Colorado, Wyoming??? Somewhere we can explore! Probably not for another 10 years or so. I want my kids to be old enough to explore (and remember) too – and the first one won’t be here til August!
I call Saskatchewan,Canada home. When I’m cold I remember all my loved ones here, and it really isn’t that bad! Life is not about what you do, or where you live, but who you’re with. Thanks for your blog Sarah….you inspire me daily to think of something other than myself!
I am daughter to the King, wife to an amazing man, mama to 2 beautiful girls, ages 5 & 6. Until I am Home, my home is in Murrieta, CA.
Hi there!
I’m from Brazil!
=)
I enjoy your writing!
I’m Julie, a follower of Christ and wife to my amazing and incredible husband for 7.5 years. I am Mommy to my handsome 5-year-old son, sweet 3-year-old girl and adorable 5-month-old baby boy! We are living in the love of our chaos in Fredericksburg, VA (1 hour south of D.C.)
I love your blog and appreciate your precious heart, Sarah Markley! Keep pouring it out, sistah!
Somebody’s reading this in sunny Singapore:) God bless you.
Hi Sarah
My name is Cyndi and I live in Harrodsburg, Ky. Love your blog. You are stretching me to be more authentic in my writings. Thanks for your honesty.
Blessings!
Hey Sarah,
I’m from Chilliwack, BC, which is near Vancouver…home of the 2010 Olympics. I have 3 beautiful kids and live in a little city that has all the benefits of being in the country! I’m hoping to take the kids to California this summer to do the Disney vacation!
Hi Sarah,
You know me. I kinda grew up with your hubby at Zion. It’s Deidrah. I was born and raised in Southern Cali and lived there until the age of 27. I know live in Jinja Uganda. I have lived here for the last 12 years and this is my home. I can’t imagine living anywhere else then here with my 31 kids. It’s amazing that God settles you where He wants you to be.
I’m an American living in South Africa. I’m a mom first, a missionary second- I lead Thrive Africa with Alece (she’s my fabulous Kitty!).
I chewed on your post for awhile- because one of the struggles of my adult life has been a lack of “home”. During the first decade of my marriage- I moved 5 times between 3 states and 2 countries.
…and today I’ve realized, with tearful appreciation, that God has made this place… 8500 miles away from all of my dearest loved ones… Home. O.
Hi! Current house is a sailboat, right now in San Diego, CA but getting ready to head to Mexico and beyond. “Home” seems to always be both where I am and where I’m not
Hey Sarah, I am from Kuala Lumpur and have been a follower of your blog for quite a few months. I love your beautiful writings and thoughts so do keep them coming
Hi Sarah,
I’m Rachel, child of the King, longing for my heavenly Home even as I make my temporal home with my wonderful husband and three sweet daughters in Shandong Province, China. We talk about the idea of “home” often in our family because of our daughters being born and now raised in Asia to American parents. Our life involves plenty of transitions and so we emphasize to the girls that, put simply, home is where your family is. Both our physical families in this world, and ultimately our larger family, the family of God, making its home in heaven.
My 5 year old daughter recently said, in view of an upcoming trip to America, “Mommy, first we’re going to America and then we’re coming home again.” I was a bit startled at first but yes, she’s right…to her, China is her home. And so it will be until the Lord calls us elsewhere…
Well, I’m Sarah. Home for me is just outside of Vancouver, B.C. in Canada. We just had the Olympics here so it’s rather fun that now everyone knows our secret: it’s the most beautiful place in the world.
Hi Sarah,
I live in Colorado Springs. I call it home. We’ve only lived here for 4.75 years but it feels like home because of our deep community whom have become like family to us.
Hi Sarah…I know this is late – I am just trying to catch up on your blog through email. I live in Illinois with my hubby and 3 fabulous boys – 12, 10, and 5. Jealous of your lovely palm trees and sunshined warmth. It has actually been sunny here the last couple of days and our snow is melting away…
Thank you for your blatant transparency on this blog. You are an amazing woman and I appreciate your willingness to put your heart into each of your posts.
Hi Sarah! I am sorry that my post is really late! I am Jo. I live in New Mexico with my hubby and eight and a half month old baby girl, and our two cats. Outside my window are beautiful mountains and desert. During March, it is cold here at night and mild during the day. I call New Mexico home, even though I was born and raised in Florida, and lived in West Virginia for two years before we moved here. Thank you for sharing your life with us!