Give me a kitchen or give me death. lol

Im kidding….ish

But seriously, living without a kitchen is really difficult & if I’m honest…sometimes a little depressing.

Leaving a comfort zone (in my case our previous home & kitchen) hasn’t been easy & add two toddlers to the mix & it’s just straight up chaos. It feels like we are constantly on a vacation & missing home, but we don’t have a home to go back to because it doesn’t exist, except for on paper lol.

In case you missed it, we sold our house this past summer & are living in a camper/garage while we are building a house. Yes, there is a kitchenette in our camper, but we aren’t hooked up to water. Our living situation is a little complicated at the moment.

Our camper is parked at our grandparents’ garage which has heating & air as well as a bathroom, washer & dryer, refrigerator, & freezer. So, we go inside the garage for really everything. We don’t eat in the camper because toddlers are VERY messy! All things food is stored in the garage. I have a Ninja air fryer/oven/dehydrator/grill, electric skillets, & crockpots that I cook with, but the sink is a small bathroom sink & so most dishes I wash in the shower.

But I long to have a kitchen to prepare meals for my family, friends, shut ins, etc. I just long to serve from within a kitchen & often throw kitchenless pity parties for myself!

However, my son recently opened my eyes when I asked him where his cup was, & he pointed to the corner where I prepare our meals & said “it’s in the kitchen momom” 🥹. I teared up because here I’ve been, feeling sorry for myself & making excuses as to why I can’t serve from within a kitchen & my 3-year-old son is like, we do have a kitchen? I’ve been so focused on what I don’t have that it’s blinded me from seeing what I do have. So, I am going to start serving more in my little makeshift “kitchen”. What a blessing & privilege to have the means to prepare meals for others & to belly up to a table together over a homemade meal.

I realize now more than ever that it doesn’t matter what our circumstances are, it’s how we choose to live in those circumstances that truly matters.

But this actually isn’t my first rodeo! I’ve lived with makeshift kitchens two other times!

Back in my college dorm days & again when I first moved to NC- Tylers mom let me live in her late father’s barn apartment which didn’t have a kitchen sink. The bathroom sink was so small that I found myself kneeling at the bathtub “bathing” my dishes. I didn’t mind though; it was actually quite nice having such a large “sink” to wash pots & pans in lol.

I’ve always made it work no matter the circumstances! & God has always provided the essentials to do what He leads me to do. & I’m confident He will do the same for you.

Well, I think I’ve made it abundantly clear that I look forward to having a kitchen someday, God willing. But my reality today is, I don’t 🤷‍♀️ & so instead of being fixated on what I don’t have, I want to find ways to serve with what I do have. & I think we all need this reminder. I’m sure I’m not the only one in a season of waiting. & when we are in a season of waiting, it’s easy to throw pity parties & list out excuses as to why we “can’t” & forget all the reasons why we CAN!

All this kitchen talk has me reminiscing our old kitchen, & all the meals we shared around our little round wooden table I salvaged from the local flea market. I spent hours sanding & staining & painting that little round table. I was so proud of it. My husband was proud of me for doing it too & would often tell me so. I fed my babies their first foods around that little table, we laughed around that table, prayed around that table, served & spent time with many guests around that table, countless card games & chess matches were played around that table.

But we are making those same beautiful memories around our plastic fold out tables in this garage! We hosted Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years without a home, kitchen, or a beautiful, salvaged round wooden table.

It. can. be. done.

It may not look like what the world is selling, but in my experience & opinion…it’s better.

I hope these words will somehow help you to see the beauty in your own circumstances &/or inspire you to live beautifully where you are, even if the world tells you otherwise. Because let’s be real…the world ain’t got nothin’ on the joy & happiness that is found in knowing Jesus.

If you, like me, are in a waiting period, take heart! This isn’t forever!

It’s all in the little things we do as homemakers that make any living situation feel like “home”. Even if you’re “homeless” like me 😊

The homemaking doesn’t stop just because we are “homeless” lol. & so, the show must go on! & it shall, all by the grace of God!

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

1 Corinthians 15:10

with love,

kortney sue