What A Week.

We started on July 1 tearing up our kitchen in order to remodel. For eight days we worked tirelessly on this kitchen. ("We" being Dan and brothers, et al. My work being entirely different in nature than demolition- but work none the less). The following Saturday came and ended up being a terrible day for me. Looking back, it was most likely just the stress of the kitchen. But, my, it was strange how it exemplified itself through lots of tears and generalized depression. Ugh. Glad that day was over. Dan was equally stressed (without the crying, of course :), so Sunday we slowed down and was a much better day. Overall, the kitchen is coming along, slowly but surely, and I'm okay with that. It's a struggle for my go-at-it nature to take it slow, but no way do I want to go back to that Saturday again. So it's kind of nice to work with Dan, little by little, and see what we can get done.

THEN, enter God's plan. HA! He so has a sense of humor. Just when I get accustomed to the idea of slowing down, he really slows things down. Like along the lines of a terrible, unexpected wind storm. That knocks out our power for three. whole. days. OH, and over the weekend, Dan discovered the clamp to his exhaust broke, so he ordered the part online...and it's still not here. So he's been taking the van to work every day. So I've really been a stay-at-home mom.

BUT, I already have my kitchen set up in the back yard. It wasn't too much more of a stretch to just not have power. Tuesday was in the mid 90s, and I thought we were going to die. But really, I had a tent for shade, and the kids ended up playing all day on the tree that fell on the swing set. It was their tree house, and they were playing Little House on the Prairie. And loving it!!! I just worked slow and steady at washing kitchen things under the tent, to dry in the sun, and put away in the new cabinets. A little of my own Little House going on there.

Our neighbors were so generous in letting us plug our frig into their generator. It truly was the difference between a peaceful and wretched three days.

My biggest problem was wanting to do something...other than what I could do. I didn't really want to sort and clean kitchen stuff too much. I didn't want to move fallen branches. I didn't want to clean...inside the house or out. I wanted to paint. I wanted to move forward with this kitchen. All this other stuff seemed like a waste of time. I could be making some major painting headway, since I couldn't do things like cooking and laundry. Ah, but as I said, God was trying to help me learn. I'm not in charge. I don't always have the best ideas. There will be time for all those things.

So here, at week's end, I'm hoping we can make a dent in the kitchen tomorrow. Although I have so many other more interesting sounding things I'd like to do, most involving not being home, I know we have to buckle down and get some of that painting done. Ultimately, I would like to see this kitchen finished!

Oh, on Wed. night, Dan noticed the van had a screw in the front tire, so he temporarily fixed it. But for a minute, were were afraid of having no vehicle for the week! Sheesh!

I will eventually post nice pictures of how the kitchen is coming along. I didn't mean for this to be an all out complaining post. I guess I just want to remember just how bad this week was, when life seems to be going bad. But how, overall, Dan and I really pulled on each other's strength, and got through it, I think, better than we began.

I forgot- I guess I just wanted to mention how it made me smile, and persevere more when I realized that all things that happened this week, I believe, were directly from God. I mean, a lot of times, when problems arise, I look to see why. Almost find fault. Most often we are at fault. We should've taken care of this or that weeks ago. We should've worked harder, or seen this coming. I guess for me, it was very humbling to see that there was nothing we could've done better this week. We couldn't prevent the wind storm, or the exhaust clamp breaking, or the screw in the tire, or even not being able to paint! I just kept thinking "This is all God." But not in a disdainful way!!! Praised be to God! He is good, all the time. I guess I want to think about this week when I things in life do get tough, and remember that God sends us what we can handle, at the exact time, all for His reason. Blessed be God.