Homes with Heart: Turning Living Spaces Into Loving Places

by Ruth Frost

Overview

So much of our world today is crying out for welcome, refuge, and belonging. Homes with Heart is both inspiration and guide for people to create home in the world: first, through their own living spaces; second, within families of choice; and third, through supportive communities. While author Ruth Frost includes elements of home design, she also delves deeply into making home in the world through the power of love in community and offers practical tools to help people overcome obstacles associated with home living, such as homes obstructed by clutter, homes associated with traumatic events, or homes that need to support families in transition.
Sharing both from Frost's own life experience and that of others including children, refugees, trauma survivors, and home hospice patients Homes with Heart extends well beyond "bricks and mortar"; it deals with who we are and how we live in the world within and beyond the walls that shelter us, inspiring laughter and tears in equal measure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647421199
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	07/30/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Ruth Frost inspires people to create homes that tell their stories. Living in San Francisco during the twin epidemics of AIDS and homelessness, she worked closely with people disenfranchised from home and family. Her church community became a refuge of welcome, safety, and belonging, key characteristics of home. Ruth helped develop a grassroots national advocacy movement for the rights and visibility of LGBTQ people in the wider Lutheran Church. In recognition of her work, she received "A Leading Voice" award from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, Berkeley, CA. She is also a stained glass artisan who has created lamps and windows for homes and churches. After leaving parish ministry for hospice chaplaincy, Ruth settled into the quieter side of soul care, accompanying patients as they prepared to leave home to "go home" and helping them record their life stories and celebrate the love they would leave behind. Now retired and living in Minneapolis, Ruth enjoys time with family as well as leading workshops and retreats on creating "Homes with Heart" and "Families of the Heart."

Table of Contents

Poem: Where Is Home? 1

Preface: The Search for Home 3

Part 1 Coming Home to Ourselves

1 Welcome, Refuge, and Belonging 9

2 Coming Home to Myself 15

3 Creating Home Together 23

4 Leaving Home to Follow a Dream 27

Part 2 Finding Home Within Community

5 Celebration and Prosecution 33

6 Hospitality in the Era of AIDS 41

7 Getting to Know Our Homeless Neighbors 47

8 Family Ties within Community 53

9 Two Moms, Two Dads, and One Baby 59

10 Embracing Transitions Together 67

11 Wedding Bells and Other Miracles 71

Part 3 Making Living Spaces Loving Places

12 Homing with Children 81

13 Mapping and Blessing Our Homes 91

14 The Power of Ritual in Homing 97

15 Honoring a Home Legacy 107

16 Healing Painful Associations with Home 115

17 Overcoming Clutter with Sacred Giving 121

18 Using Symbols to Hold Memories 129

19 Homes Occupied by Work and Electronics 133

20 Creating Decor That Tells Your Story 139

Part 4 Forming and Supporting Families

21 Choosing Families of the Heart 147

22 Becoming Family 153

23 Animal Companions as Family 161

24 Protecting Intimacy in Partnerships 165

25 Crossing Life Thresholds 171

26 Tipping Points for Change 179

27 Families Seeking Refuge 185

28 Opening Home and Heart 191

Part 5 Going Home: Stories from Hospice

29 Held in Blessing from Birth to Death 203

30 Lessons in Living from the Dying 209

31 Meeting Heart to Heart When Memory Fades 217

32 Cultivating a Vibrant Spiritual Life 223

33 Marked by Love 231

34 Brian's Journey Home 235

35 Homeless to Homecoming 239

Afterword 245

Notes 247

Acknowledgments 253

About the Author 255

Reading Group Guide 257

Editorial Reviews

Homes with Heart: Turning Living Spaces into Loving Places offers us inspiring roadmaps to find our own true homes, no matter our circumstances. Ruth Frost paints a picture of what home can be, changing over time and responding to the needs of the larger community—from birth to death. I find myself saying, ‘You’ve got to read it because of this and this and this,’ but it’s hard to pick just a few examples. Frost ranges widely and invites her readers to do the same as they continue their own process of ‘homing.’”
—Jan Johnson, former publisher of Conari Press

From the Publisher