with apologies to Ed McCurdy, "last night, i had the strangest dream.."
it was really stormy, and huge claps of thunder kept interrupting my dream cycle, so it was like one big dream, in vignettes..

in the first part, han and i were getting off a plane, carrying satchels, and wearing long flowy skirts. the wind was blowing, it was sunny but sort of hazy, and we were walking down the plane's stairs, directly onto a tarmac. i don't know where we were going to or coming from, but we were happy, and i felt fulfilled.
next, we were at my father's house. it was new, and huge. there were two ENORMOUS trees in the front yard, and one was dead. i was standing on the front porch, watching my father as he was making plans to cut the tree down.

at this point, i think i woke up completely, and when i fell back to sleep i was dreaming that i was at a picnic with some friends, at the place where we went when i was very young to have our church picnics. there were a bunch of kids splashing around in the stream where i used to catch water skippers..i remembered how cold the water was. my friend was telling me that her husband wouldn't be joining us because he was at home enjoying his newest pastime...taking a dust bath. like a chinchilla.

back at my father's house, the huge dead tree was cut down, except for the massive trunk...i suddenly thought, "we should carve a house out of that!!" so i ran to where my dad was standing with an axe in front of the trunk, and started to tell him my idea. he just kinda nodded at the tree..and suddenly there was a door in the trunk, and i could see that someone had already made it into an awesome little cottage.
inside the trunk house there were three levels that kind of spiraled up toward the ceiling, which was made of what looked like moss or something..on the inside and the outside. there was one stairway in the middle, really more of a ladder, which you could use to climb up to any of the levels if you didn't want to walk through the rooms that made up the spiral. it was freaking awesome. it sort of reminded me of something you'd find in the shire, except that it had a washer and dryer on the lowest level, and i'm pretty sure that hobbits hand wash their clothing. haha.

i explored this awesome little cottage some more, and upon exiting, my father handed me a big, wooden skeleton key.

insert incredibly loud, house-shaking thunder...
i was disappointed to have been so rudely excused from that dream. i totally wanted to move in and make it my home. i tried to fall back to sleep quickly, but that was one whopper of a storm, so i reminded myself how much i love thunderstorms and i'm pretty sure that i eventually fell back to sleep with a smile on my face. :)

unfortunately, the last part of the dream that i remember was not pleasant at all..i won't go into details because it disturbs me, but it involved one of my sisters becoming angry about the tree house, and trying to throw herself down the stairs. :/

what impresses me most about this odd little collection of dreamlets is that, aside from the last part, i remember feeling very peaceful and happy. normally, i guess i have feelings in my dreams, but i don't always feel so vividly. the other thing that is very interesting to me is the trunk cottage. i kind of consider myself to be a bit of a vagabond..not to the extent that i would be if money was no object and hannah didn't like her school so much..but a wanderer and explorer in spirit if not in flesh. though i have often daydreamed about having a little farm or cabin somewhere, it's never been one of the pressing urges guiding my life. i kind of like the idea of being able to pick up and go. i guess i could be happy either way..but have always felt kind of drawn to the idea of moving around and seeing "the world"...... but i am jabbering here.
the thing about the dream is that i had a house. and i was super excited about it. i think there's some obvious symbolism in the house being made of a huge tree that literally had roots. also about my father preparing a place for me that exceeded anything i could have dreamed up on my own.
when i was thinking back about this dream during the day, it brought to mind when Jesus said,
"in my Father's house are many dwellings, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2
i've always loved this passage of scripture when Jesus told the disciples that He was leaving, but only for a little while, so that He could get a place ready for us...♥.."and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am , you may be also." John 14:3