May 3, 2016

Greetings My Friend We know spring is here by the budding of the trees, the greening of the grass and the warm sunshine inviting us to be outside. I know the signs of our house becoming a home instead of a renovation pile of boards, stuff lining up every usable space. For a few weeks now our front porch is seeing less ladders, tools and huge amounts of "stuff." I knew Junior widened the porch but until the stuff left the porch I had not seen the amount of space we truly have. As Junior left to get his wound cleaned from his thumb amputation this morning I remarked that we will have several areas to sit on the front porch and the rockers and chairs we have picked up will look nice let up around the porch. I am excited to move the flower pots along the length of the porch this year instead of piled at one end like we did last summer because he was widening it. This porch is now an outdoor room waiting to be decorated and made to be an invitation to people to come sit for a spell. With the kitchen in a semi finished state and now the porch it seems like our home has doubled in size. I have been refurbishing a wardrobe on the porch waiting until evening after the heat of the day and the pollen of the morning to work on it. Once more Junior and I are eating at the table a pleasure we have not had for 6 years and it is wonderful. I was excited, anxious and finally I have resigned myself to the long renovation time and now I am seeing the end in sight. When we started this process I felt we would be done in 2-3 years. I am grateful for the longer than expected length of renovation because we have lived in our home which means what we would have wanted when we started has had time to gel and given us more time to see how we will truly need the space set up in each room. I would say we have another 3 or more years to finish up all of the renovating. We have a master bedroom to do with a bathroom attached to it and to expand our TV room. Once Junior is done on the porch, doing a few things in the kitchen he has a back porch he is going to work on, hopefully finish by winter and then he will head back in to finish the kitchen. He often works 2 or 3 different areas at a time. A lot of the bouncing around is because his back needs a break. Waiting on God's timing seems to be a lesson I am working through right now. When I learn to give in and wait I find that God's timing is perfect. For me I see the slow process has been a chance for me to regroup and to begin learning to live in a body that is disabled. I have learned to be content to stay home more instead of being a busy bee type of woman. I have gotten my asthma under control, I am using the walker these days and as I push myself to take advantage of the aids for walking I am returning to a level of energy I have not seen in a while. I am able to keep up with the housework, to be in the kitchen cooking and baking more and attacking a huge decopauge project like the wardrobe. God has been with me teaching me, guiding me and Junior has been offering me a gift of a home. Life could not be sweeter. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude to Jesus first and to Junior 2nd. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Jane