We've got several projects going on at our house right now. They're probably not all picture worthy, but there's a lot of change going on. Scott painted the kitchen yesterday to get ready for our new appliances that will be arriving in about a week. I am so ready to get a normal sized fridge! I didn't realize that our family of 5 goes through a gallon of milk a day! Is that normal? Brooke is the biggest culprit. I guess when 2 gallons is the max that fits in the tiny fridge you notice how fast it disappears!
We have also been patching all the cracks in our walls. We recently put a steel beam in the ceiling of the garage and pumped stuff down under the garage to raise it. This was done to even out the house from the settling it has done over the years. So we had a wall to resheetrock in the garage. Scott did a great job. And we got a new light fixture installed in the entry way. A dangling light bulb was probaby a little dangerous :)
We tore out the little sitting area in our back yard that was really a big splinter. We discovered tons of pea gravel under it so we are trying to salvage the pea gravel. That requires washing the gravel and transporting it to the desired spot. Very time consuming.
Then there's the flower bed out front. It was a really a weed bed. I just don't have time to give it the attention it needs. We are planning on killing our grass soon and planting some REAL grass, so now was a good time to rip out the flower bed and get it ready for plain ole grass. The wooden ties were also rotting and a colony of red fire ants lived there. Yeah, it was time.
I am also contemplating painting our front door. I'm thinking red. It would give a little color to our drab colored house. But would that be too bold? Inside we're pretty much all shades of brown. Very neutral. Outside we are grayish blue with navy shutters and a white garage door. What do you think?
But for all these projects we have going on around the house, none of them come close to comparing to 3 other ongoing "projects" we have. They are called Addy, Luke, and Brooke. Many times we must put down the paint brush, take off the gloves, stop doing whatever we are doing because they need to be trained. It's really hard sometimes, but thank the Lord we are starting to see some progress! And the thing is, we can't take ANY credit for the progress we see. Really we are just the tools God uses. We are the hammer, the paintbrush, the shovel that God is using to change the hearts of these children so that He can use them however He desires.
Recently Addy has taken any chance she gets to "talk" as she calls it. When she says she wants to "talk" it means she wants to talk about salvation. She is sorting some things out, and although I don't think she quite understands that she is saved only by grace through faith, she is asking us a lot of great questions. Why do we always want to add works that can never be good enough?
She definitely wants to be saved and know that she is saved. We are encouraging all her questions. We get to talk about the gospel so much by request of our daughter and we praise Father for the work He is doing in her. We are so thankful that we get to see it!
Luke is showing some interest in spiritual things now. He never lets me forget to read the bible to him or pray for him. He's not asking questions like Addy, but he's listening. He no longer covers his ears and says, "I don't care"!!! One day Addy and Brooke were sick and I found Luke in his room on his bed with his eyes closed tightly, and his hands folded. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I need to pray that God will make Addy and Brooke better."
And then there is little Brooke. She responds very well to "no". She's pretty good about coming to us when we tell her to "come here". Sometimes she hesitates a little. But yesterday she was standing on the sofa, I told her to sit down, and she looked right at me and loudly said, "NO!" So here we go! Can't let that happen! Training her up in the way she should go started when she was born, and we're getting into the critical years now. We've got to remember that if we do what we are instructed to do in the Bible now when she is little, then God will do the rest and the days will be smooth, easy, and joyful when she is bigger. The training will end someday and we'll get to coach and cheer! Yay, can't wait for that!
