Now THAT'S Better!

 Finished and reset.

And while my husband was applying the protective finish,

I asked him to add it to this puppy

which had set outside and lost its original painting.

I simply sprayed it and added two black spots to the eye sockets.

I'll find a place for him outside.

He already HAS a place in my heart!

Renewed

A recent photo from our tiny patio

(pretty as it is)

resulted in a project....

 and so my hard-working husband did the "grunt work"

to clean off and replace a bolt on this bench...

Dad, 93-years-old, sanded it down to prepare for finish.
It takes a village!
Stay tuned for the completed project.

Words Are Inadequate

"Installed the (kitchen) fan," 

she wrote on her journal page.

Then she realized the words didn't begin to capture

the experience--

the dismantling of the old;

the unpacking of the new;

spreading out the instructions

ready for reading;

the tools;

the ladder;

the patient assembler;

the helpful hands of elderly father;

the assembly of parts;

connecting of wires;

steps to the breaker box in the garage;

the return to flip on the switch...

And lights!

And the cool breeze of the fan! 

Yes.

Words ARE inadequate to express or explain much of ANYthing,

she concluded.

Safeguards

In between showers today, the men in our household

created and installed some grab bars made of galvanized steel piping materials.

I'm thankful to have these in place 

to make access to our back yard safer for all.

As I thought about these (and other) safeguards

we're introducing to our environment as we age,

I was reminded that there are Biblical safeguards in place

for our spiritual well-being.

This one, for instance:

Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. 

I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.  

(Philippians 3:1, NLT)

I'm thankful for spiritual safeguards, too!
And so I choose to   
"embrace a joyful heart, not because of what your eyes see, 
but because of what your heart knows: 
God is good, He is for you, and He will not fail you".  (Susie Larson)

Four Generations

 Sharing house with four generations of men the past 48 hours

has been another* rare and wonderful experience!

*see St. Louis in a previous post.

 The latest teenager in our grandchild menagerie 

came with our son to celebrate with us a few days.

 The celebration included making a wooden project with my husband,

 games on floor and tabletops,

 a meal at Paradise Buffet

and great conversations.

I'm SO thankful for ALL these men,

their dedication to family and each other

and to our Lord Jesus.

For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation. (Psalm 100:5)

Process

Hubby and I headed out to spend some free time on Friday.

The only specific objective I had was to visit a thrift store or two

in search of fabric to cover this old stoll.

To my happy surprise, I found this remnant for $.99!

Gary went to work this morning.

The process is complete and the project finished

to my delight and satisfaction.

Right now, I myself am a project

of far greater significance than a stool!

My Heavenly Father is in charge of THIS one,

and I'm sure that one day - when the process is complete -

I will be uber-delighted and satisfied with the result.

For I am confident of this, that He who began a good work in you 

will continue to perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6

In Every Change...

This afternoon I thumbed through our hymn book to select songs 

for the ♪Singspiration♪ I'll be leading at church this evening.

I sang through the verses of Be Still, My Soul

and jotted down the page number for reference tonight.

These words stood out to me:

 Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

 There's no denying the changes that surround me--

at home, in my family, in our church, in our country.

How reassuring to know that "in every change, He faithful will remain".

Speaking of changes....

My husband is changing the old door that had been propped up in our shed.

He has removed the inside panel,

sanded down the exterior for a good painting,

and purchased a mirror to place in the opening.

I'm expecting a "joyful end" to this project and have a place in mind for it already!

Minutes after posting this, I changed my mind.
No paint.  Dark stain instead.
(It will match a few dark wood pieces housed in the same room.)

Project, Preparation, Purpose

 

 It's messy.

 It's ugly.

 It's disruptive

and inconvenient.

Progress seems slow,

and it gets expensive.

But there is a reason and purpose for it.

We are preparing a place for my father to come and live comfortably with us! 

I can hardly wait for the project to be finished!

And meanwhile, I often think about Jesus' words in John 14:2-3:

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, 

would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, 

I will come back and take you to be with me 

that you also may be where I am.

Jesus, too, has a "project"!  He's "preparing a place for me"!  

His purpose is that one day I can be where He is.

I can hardly wait.

Baby Steps

"Baby steps" some would call them...

While big projects mount up and circumstances tend to feel overwhelming to me,

my husband by example shows me the importance of taking those "baby steps".

So this morning, after he sawed out the shape of the missing blade

for this weathered whirligig,

I took out the paint box and prepared to take a "baby step".

This exercise convinces me of the importance of  "baby steps" 

and encourages me to take many, many more!

A Beautiful Mind

I don't know why, but this photo of a project my husband has been working on makes me think of the movie, ,"A Beautiful Mind".  It's been a long time since I saw it, but it was the first thing that came to my mind.

Some research has concluded that “Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insight".  And Albert Einstein once said, "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” 

I am always amazed and thankful for what emerges from this particular disorderly environment.  Somehow, it makes my own clutter seem less formidable. 
In all fairness, I should add that it doesn't always look this way.
At least once a month (or maybe at the end of a project) it returns to its more organized state. 
***
Returning to this post the next morning, I see something else altogether!
I see how God's people stand out against the chaotic background of a world gone wild!


Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights
 in a world full of crooked and perverse people.  (Philippians 2:15)

Now THIS is the reminder I'll carry with me today.

Could/Should/Want To

Yesterday I read Brenda's post, "Are you living life on purpose?"  Several of her "purposes" run parallel to my own.  I commented: 

I identify with most of your personal purposes....need to pay attention to #3. Blogging & some intense Bible study fill my day. I have neglected my song-writing and COULD/SHOULD/WANT TO get back to it. I also want to figure out how to spend more time serving others & connecting intentionally with friends. My responsibilities to my aging parents take a lot of my time and emotional energy, but I want to steward what I have left better in this area...There. I've said it.

 

This morning I reviewed my comment and see that I've made excuses.  I've even sabotaged myself by piling stuff on my piano and all over potential work surfaces.  This morning I WILL be spending time with my parents, but by day's end, this surface will be cleared (or at least organized)!  And tomorrow, I'll be spending time with a friend making pickles in her kitchen.  Friday morning will find friends gathered around my kitchen table enjoying coffee and coffee cake while we make plans for our fall Bible study. 

...song-writing, intentional relationships, serving others, better stewardship of my energies...
COULD/SHOULD/WANT TO

Next time you visit me here, I plan to be able to say "DONE"!

By the way, have YOU ever sabotaged your own best intentions?

The Great Completer

If you remembered The Big Reveal  or Waiting in the Wings 

 these  photos might interest you...

 There's nothing so satisfying as projects completed.

 In the case of the refurbished fence sections,

 it seems that with their addition EVERYTHING close to them looks better!

My husband is the great (human) completer.

I admire the way he sticks with a project until it is finished.

He reminds me of my Heavenly Father, and with the Apostle Paul I can say,

I am certain that God, who began the good work within (me),

 will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

(Philippians 1:6)

I admit that I'm quite a "project"....a work in progress.
I'm a strong starter but tend to lose my enthusiasm for completing things somehow...
That's only ONE of many things The Great Completer is working on in me.
Oh, how I'm looking forward to being "finished"!

Are you a better starter or finisher?
What's the most recent project (large or small) that YOU'VE  finished? 

The Big Reveal

 Yesterday my sister called and alerted us to a pile of wood being trashed in their addition.

My husband checked it out while returning from an appointment.

He came home with the trunk of his car open - and full!

Among the "treasures"--four sections of picket fence.

After some repair, I went to work and got one section painted

 before the mosquitoes put a stop to my efforts.
(Are the mosquitoes pestering YOU?)

We propped the painted section up in front of these windows. 

 It doesn't look half bad there,

but this is only a temporary placement--

much like our place in this world (which is NOT our "home") is only a temporary placement!

As surely as I can't wait to see the end result when these reclaimed treasures are placed

in the spot I envision them in,

I can't wait for the Big Reveal waiting for me--and all who
through faith in Jesus are children of God and will one day

"be like Him"...

I John 3:2-3 reads:  "Dear friends, now we are children of God, 

and what we WILL be has not yet been made known.  

But we know that when Christ appears we shall be like him,

for we shall see him as he is.  

All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Anything to Forget

I'll post ANYTHING to forget the last one I posted! 

For instance...

 I'd like to sell this jar of marbles.  $5. 00 would take it.

 My husband cleaned up this brass umbrella/walking stick holder for me this week.

 After enjoying Elizabeth and her German Garden,  I ordered these two by the same author.

 They came in this week and I'm currently reading the top one.

 This morning I lopped off the flowering heads of our Lamb's Ear.  It gets straggly fast!

 THIS is a project my husband finished this week - a garage sale purchase from last Saturday.

I'm THRILLED with how it came out.

We have no big plans for the holiday weekend.
We're not big griller-outers,
don't have a lake cottage (yet),
but DO look forward to Youth Sunday at our church,
sharing dinner with my parents afterward,
and a visit and desserts with some cousins I haven't seen for a long time
who will be dropping by later that afternoon...
How about you? 

 Our only business is to love and delight ourselves in God.
(Brother Lawrence)

Coloring My Worlds

After several weeks of admiring Janie Fox's style via her blog (and her daughters' blogs), I decided to introduce some color to my world - externally.

"BUSY hands are HAPPY hands," I told myself.  And both my internal and exterior worlds could use some brightening....

So I appealed to my husband, who sanded the marred surface of this handy little roll-top, primed it, and painted it.

Here's what I learned about projects and about life from this experience.








DREAM.
DECIDE.
DARE go outside my comfort zone.
DEVELOP a plan.
DELEGATE to capable people whenever possible.
DO with what you have (in this case, leftover paint from another project).
DIVE in.
DELIGHT in the finished product. 

Admittedly, it was a bold move.  I wanted a color with the same intensity as the blue in the lamp, and I decided to pull out the green of the leaves in the painting and in the pillow's butterfly wings before I remembered we had this leftover paint.  The action has spawned satisfaction and rekindled my enthusiasm - internally and externally! I expect I'll be generating some more projects soon (after our tax papers are sealed and in the mail box).

I also learned that old paint has its issues AND that there is beauty in imperfection-- one of Janie Fox's revelations in her 4th Edition of "What I Know for Sure,