Kitchen Post

A few weeks ago one of my favorite podcasts had an episode about loving your kitchen. The host had been on a two week vacation in Mexico and had observed women there working in their kitchens. She was struck by the fact that, even though some of the women had little more than a fire pit, a dirt floor, and a handful of dishes, they seemed to be working hard in their homes to provide food for their families with pride and love for their people and their kitchens. She felt challenged and convicted.

How many times have you complained about your kitchen, and the work you do there? I blush to think of my answer. 

Ok, this is an exaggeration, but somewhat true...

Her challenge to love our kitchens has resulted in hundreds of posts in her Facebook group featuring pictures of all different types of kitchens and the stories behind them. I read a lot of them, but was too embarrassed of my own kitchen to make a post. After all, I just had a baby and things are not exactly in tip-top shape around here (even less then normal!). Some of these kitchens that people shared were absolutely magazine-worthy-gorgeous. Others were RV kitchens. But the stories were more powerful than the photos, and I finally felt compelled to share mine. So here is my kitchen post:

My kitchen.

I was going to wait and take my pictures tomorrow, after my mom comes over on her weekly visit to help me catch up on housework. She’s been doing that since the new baby was born, and even off and on before then as I have been dealing with chronic pain the past eight years. But this is real life. I’ve heard some people are sad because they see all the beautiful kitchens and theirs aren’t as nice. I really love looking at your beautiful kitchens, and your not so beautiful kitchens, because they all have the same thing in common: LOVE cooks there.

We live in a 1974 Doublewide. It is old and has always been on the Oregon coast so has problems with rot. We have rodents trying to get in all the time, and sometimes succeeding. I’m so thankful for my hubby dealing with them, because rodents haunt my darkest nightmares!

I am also so thankful to be living in this old house because the rent is low and affordable. We have six children, and anybody who has six children understands how expensive it is just to feed them! If we did not have such low rent, I have no idea how we would do it on one income. Me not having to work makes homeschooling a lot more doable…So this old house is a tremendous blessing. And so is this smallish, ugly-ish, kitchen!

The biggest blessing pictured here is of course this new baby, and not pictured are his five older siblings and daddy, who works so hard to keep the food on the shelves. I’m thankful for the boxes of fresh apples from my Opa’s orchard and the box of canned bone broth I made from my buck this year, even though they are taking up floor space since I haven’t gotten around to putting them away yet. I’m thankful for my instant pot, which also hasn’t been put away yet because I just brought it back from a family dinner at my grandparent’s house. I love my Vitamix and feel so blessed to own one, especially since smoothies are a lifesaver for me and help me stay eating healthy. I’m also thankful for this armoire that a friend handed down to me, because it holds all my baking ingredients and my Trim Healthy Mama cookbooks.

My favorite thing about my kitchen is that we were able to move the washer and dryer into a little storage room and convert the laundry nook into a pantry! I home can food and buy in bulk as much as possible, so having this space is a tremendous blessing! Even if it is really disorganized right now.

Your posts have inspired me! I really would love to do some painting and put in new flooring (the positive side to having a small kitchen is that it doesn’t cost much to put a new floor in!), but not anytime soon. I am in baby season now, and everything else just goes on the back burner. Which is funny because the big front burner on my stove is broken anyway.

Life is not perfect, but seasons change things. Maybe someday I will have a “dream kitchen”. But this is the kitchen my babies will have first learned to bang pots and pans in. This is where I will have made their childhood birthday cakes. This is where they learned teamwork as they haul in and put away groceries. This is where I will have taught them to cook. And listened to them read as I wash dishes. The list goes on and on! So this little space is sacred to me.

What stories does your kitchen have behind it? What are you grateful for when it comes to your kitchen? We do a lot of hard work in this part of our house, and sometimes it's easy to focus on the flaws. I want to pass on the challenge to rejoice in your kitchen and the LOVE that gets cooked up in there.

Love,

Lee