Nesting in West Philly

Strangely, the thing that may have typified my commitment to living and serving in the inner city is our recent purchase of a really nice dining room table set, including hutch and buffet.

We are by no means indigent, but our old house, our spartan sensibilities, and our busy schedules have conspired to leave us with a home that is hardly full of the finer things. For crying out loud, we've lived here 11 years and still we don't have a dinner table.

Well, as of later this month, that will change. We picked something out over Fourth of July weekend, and in general have been focusing on making our house a home, whether it's thinking of curtain treatments or aspiring to more from our guest room than it just being a glorified storage closet to having something to put our china gifts in from our wedding 11 years ago.

As noted earlier, in a weird sort of way, it's a very real proclamation of our commitment to living where we're living. Tangibly, once you buy a behemoth dinner table, you don't feel as portable. And, it represents a settling in, an investment in our home location as a central hub in the life of our family. Heck, we may even have a housewarming party some 11 years late! Or at least not feel so embarrassed to invite company over and have to break out a misch-masch of tables and chairs. Come to West Philadelphia: home to the Huangs.