My Home is a Safe Haven

I like to think of my home as more than just a house. As a shelter from the storm, a safe place, a haven of sorts.

Currently it is a place of refuge for my family. A place to be with those you love, away from the world and its scary parts. I like to think that it is a place filled with the Spirit, where my husband and children can feel peace and calm. Sometimes its a loud, chaotic, peaceful calm, but I think it is still there.

It seems to also be a place of refuge for a few of the neighbor kids who wander in from the common back yard. One girl in particular seems drawn to our kitchen table, for homework help and family dinners, and loves to tag along to church activities. I hope that the welcome and "warm fuzzy feeling" she gets will heal her heart a bit from whatever it she is avoiding at her own dinner table and fill the void created by a latch-key afternoon routine and two working parents. Or maybe its just the full cookie jar and popsicles leftover from summer.

However, there is one area in which I am rolling up the welcome mat and refusing to offer safe shelter. Apparently, the warm smells and lighted windows are attracting the attention of these guys.

I find one or two a day, trying to sneak in around doors and windows and hang out in corners and toy boxes and kitchen cabinets. Yucky!
And these. One or two are cute. Three or four interesting. A whole mass trying to infiltrate and hole up for the winter? Not cute!

I found them in the dining room chandelier, in the car, under the table, in kitchen cabinets, and in the windows. And they fly. And stain. And scare little kids when they try to hitch a ride in hair or swim in your drink.
And these guys. A present from imported Chinese junk. Now wreaking havoc on area crops and homeowners. Brown stinkbugs.

They buzz, fly around your head, and smell bad and leave a stain when squished. They sneak in window frames and hide out in boxes in the storage shed. And they freak everyone out. Why can't they get together and go find a hollow tree to hang out in?

I admit that nothing can compare to the horrors of the great Georgian flying roach invasion, fire ant swarms, or mosquito clouds that we just left. So I will count myself lucky and try to adjust to the new native wildlife- we really liked the fireflies in June and the funny groundhog that used to wobble across the lawn!  

In conclusion:
Extended family visitors, you are welcome any time, please bring cookies.
Stray children who just need a warm meal, the door is always open as long as your mom knows where you are and you pick up after yourself.
People who live here, I hope you feel safe and protected and wanted always.
Critters with more than four legs- consider this your warning. I am off to buy a can of Raid. Go find your own safe haven!