My phone rings this morning.

Your goats are out, he says after I answer, and I panic for just a minute. How will I get them back in? What if they are on the road? What if I can’t find them all?

I gather the two boys who are home (my husband and one of my sons are away on a hunting trip), and I tell them I need their help.

They throw on their warm clothes and head outside, and I say I’ll be out in a minute. ‘Cause I’m still in my jammies, you know.

I’m fretting the entire time I’m getting ready. I can hear the wind; it’s been moaning in the trees since last night. I’m pretty sure the wind is the culprit. It probably blew open a gate in the night.

I walk out the door and burst out laughing. The boys are standing by the barn, shaking a pail of something. Tyson’s calling, come on girls, and the girls are racing each other to get through the open gate and back into the pasture. I walk across the drive to close the gate and we’re done.

I’m thinking as I walk back inside that this is my lesson of the day.

I want my kids to head out though the open gate. I pray for them to have adventures. I pray their stories will be full of love and joy and enough risk-taking to make it all interesting and meaningful. But, I pray that home will go with them in their hears, warming their journeys and helping them as they establish new homes of their own.

I trust they will know that this home, that their dad and I, will always be ready to welcome them back.

And that their dad and I will, for as long as we can, be always ready with open arms, with love, and with a bucket of treats.

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If you would like to read all the posts in the 31 days to loving my home series, click on the tab at the top of the page. Hope you enjoy it!