A Father's Day weekend....according to us

Ken and I spent the entire weekend working on the house.  Or at least one part of the house....Ken's Camera Room.  He has been in the process of preparing the room by painting the walls and ceiling.  We had cleaned out the closet and decided exactly what he was going to have in the room, we just needed to actually do it.  So this weekend we actually completed this project.  We started with the flooring.  Ken and I decided on carpet tiles.

The project was actually quicker and easier than I expected.  We love the finished project.  From there we moved on to furniture.  Now IKEA stuff is usually not so bad to assemble.   But as we were almost in the home stretch of desk assembly, we noticed that the top of the desk had a dimple right in the middle.  So, a second trip to IKEA was required.  So, needless to say, it was a long day and a late night last night.  Today we had to hang the wall cabinet that we had previously purchased. We made a couple of trips to the store to actually get all of the screws, anchors, etc that were necessary to complete this process.  This morning we purchased a desk chair, which was the last thing assembled, just a few minutes ago.  Here is the finished project.....

Ken is very pleased with the room and that is the most important thing. I am so thankful that Ken is willing to take on all of these projects and complete them.    The next project is my scrapbook room.  I have already selected the paint, but we have lots of cleaning to do before we can even think about painting.  Seems like there will be many weekends ahead filled with projects!

All day today, I could think about was how very similar Ken is to my dad.  I can't list the number of times that my dad spent weekend, after weekend doing some project or other around the house.  It seemed that no project was outside of what my dad could accomplish.  There was never a time without a project at Lake Maud.   And when I was thinking about my dad, I was remembering when he put central air conditioning into our house in 1969.  And he did it all by himself.  Yes, he never met a project that he didn't love.  My dad has been dead since 1985.  But on a day like today, I wish that he could see our finished project.  My dad really loved Ken.  I know that he felt that Ken was a kindred spirit.  I remember that at my wedding, dad told me that he was sure that I had picked a good one.  He was right.  So, on this Father's day, I am celebrating who my dad was, and who Ken is and also the great fathers my grandchildren have.   

Yes, this was perfect way to celebrate this "hallmark" holiday.  Amid the really hard work, I remembered all that my dad sowed into my birth family.  And then I also saw that same spirit at work in Ken.  Even when not everything was "perfect" in my family growing up, Jesus is reminding me to see from His perspective. When I do that, I remember my hardworking dad.  And I feel very thankful for my hardworking husband.   And just like my last blog, there are so many things that we just seem to overlook. Today I also took a bit of time to do some yard work.  I pulled a bunch of weeds and then planted some flowers.  So now our house has a "pop" of color!  It's funny that looking at those flowers, I don't remember all of the weeds.  And that is just about what happens when we see from Jesus' perspective.  The weeds are gone and we are able to see the flowers in our life.  I highly recommend it!  

Jesus, thank you for my father and his hard work.  Thank you for the reminder to see the bright and good things.  Holy Spirit, help us to keep our eyes focused on your working in our lives.  Jesus, you have an amazing plan for each of us that begins with our birth families.  Help us to appreciate the heritage that you designed for us.   Pour out your blessings on all fathers.  Amen

It's been a "crafty" day today........

Today I spent the better part of the day making some special things for my grandchildren.  The end result is that I have several sore fingers and a good sized blister on my pinkie finger from my scissors. However I did actually complete my presents and I am quite proud of them.  This is not the usual way that I spend a day, but quite honestly, I loved it.  That reminded me of this ornament.  I still have several of this set of ornaments that I actually made in 1973 when Ken and I were engaged.  I cut the felt, sewed them together, sewed on the sequins and stuffed them.  This bell has been one of my favorites always.  Hard to believe that these are 40 years old. 

Over the past years of my adult life I have made more than my fair share of crafty projects.  Most had something to do with the children I was working with.  Like the year I decided it would be a good idea to spray paint white poster board stars with silver and gold..... That would be the year that I spray painted my kitchen curtains!  Yeah, that didn't work out so well.  However, those stars looked amazing in the Sunday school Christmas program.  I still have one of those stars in my ornament box.  I decided NOT to hang it on the tree this year.  I have cut out more advent candles from felt than I can count.  And more felt holly pieces as well.  Many years I recruited my mom to help me cut out and assemble various projects when she was here visiting over Thanksgiving.  She actually started to expect this and even said it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving unless we had some kind of craft project to cut and/or assemble. 

My scrapbooking has sort of filled the void left by my lack of children's programs over the last 5 or so years.  And while this does require some of the same skills and thought process, it really is not the same.  I have been happy to be back in the crafting mode since I started working with preschoolers again.  Just last week, while attending that fancy women's dinner, I glanced down at my hands and noticed that I had blue paint under my fingernails.  And it made me smile! 

So this year I am celebrating "craftiness" and paper and glue and glitter and scissors and paint and color crayons and markers.  And most of all, I am celebrating the wonderful feeling that comes from creating a hand made gift for someone you love.  You just might want to try it! 

Jesus, thank you for reminding me about the things that are really important.  Holy Spirit, thank you for the joy and freedom and laughter of children.  Thank you for my job and the wonder of working again with little children.  Holy Spirit, bring us all back to the basic of gift giving.  Help us all to look for ways to create and bring joy to others with our own hands.  Jesus, thank you for loving the little children and blessing them.  Amen