The Good, The Bad, and the Just Plain Ugly

 As of this last Tuesday, our family is living admits a complete kitchen and living room remodel. We're talking floor to ceiling here, folks! Jeremy and I have been dreaming about doing this since the day we moved in for a long, long time but our 60 year old fixer-upper of a house always seemed to lead us another direction. Stucco, windows, carpet, bathrooms, playroom, landscaping; we've done it all!  And we just couldn't see putting another penny into this house, especially when our intentions have always been to move once we get close to outgrowing it {Now, we're redefining what "outgrow" really means to us!}. But out of all the things we did consider about our plans to one day move, becoming attached to the house wasn't one of them. So here we are, seven years later. Two college degrees, later. Job promotions and major career changes, later. Three babies brought home from the hospital, later. Life, later. We are attached to our little house with the pistachio green garage door. God is good and we are happy. And Lord willing, we hope to stay here and enjoy it a while more.

Cue remodel.

Our kitchen is not half bad cosmetically. The owners before us put in new tile. And a few years ago, we did sort of a topical remodel, refinishing the cabinets ourselves and having new Formica counter tops put in. We even replaced all of the appliances and cut an opening into the living room. And like I said, it's not half bad. BUT{!}, just like it is almost always the case, appearance has little to do with function! Thus enters our problem. Not a lot in our kitchen WORKS.  

And it is seriously gnaws at my sanity.

And my organization.

Okay, maybe the organization part is all on me. But I can't help but feel like that which is lovely begets what is lovely.

And this isn't exactly begetting anything lovely, now is it?!

So we talked, and planned, and called, and now we have moved forward. Forward with the words, "floor to ceiling" that have so causally graced my lips up until late Monday night. You know, back when my kitchen looked like this:

 And less like this:

 And though I vowed to wage war and win against groaning and complaining during this time of mess and inconvience, I feel it's strong pull. The urge to complain, the urge to be put out, the urge to stress. And it pulls hard. Even now as I type, I am trying  make quiet that whisper in my ear; the one that is so trying to make me second guess our decision just a little bit. The one that causes the mind to wonder if moving would have really have been that bad. The one that says you can't take another second of the drywall dust in your coffee cup or the diaper pail in the bedroom closet.

But then I come across this picture from our kitchen...

Wallpaper {circa 1958}that reminds me of the lickable wallpaper in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. And I laugh out loud and think about our family's Friday night movie nights. And how, just a few weeks ago, Jer and I snuggled our boys in our living room and shared our love for Wonka with them. And how we all enjoyed it. And that it happened here. In this house with a hole in the ceiling that opens to the sky.

And I'm humbed. Humbled because I'm reminded that this old house, this little family, this coffee cup with the dust in it and the movie in the DVD player on Friday nights. All of this. THIS in addition to the great salvation that is Christ Jesus?! It's all grace! Grace from a God who loves us and gives in abundance. I deserve none of this, yet He gives. 

All's grace and I'm thankful and the voice that whispers is finally quieted.

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