Doing the Work

Devona 0 Comments

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[b] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  

As many of you know, we’re moving to San Francisco. In about a month. And we’re selling our house. Our house which had some cosmetic repairs which needed to be done. Cosmetic repairs are often the ones which go ignored, because apart from looks they don’t really detract from living well in your home.

Well, they do detract from selling your home. And so even though we had none of these projects on our To Do list before Rob accepted his new job at Twilio they suddenly became the most imperative jobs on it. Highest on that list was freshening up the paint on the following surfaces:

  • Master bedroom
  • Kid’s bedrooms
  • Stairwell and hallway
  • Living room
  • Dining room
  • Half bath
  • Front Porch
  • House exterior
  • Trim of windows- exterior
  • Back deck (the largest deck in West Akron)
  • Garage
Did I mention we started this endeavor 4 weeks before we list our home? And we’re not hiring anyone to paint…

While I was outside last Monday, painting the second coat on the front porch, my mind began to wander to the what ifs. What if we don’t have enough time? What if we discover some major problem and have to pay a ton to fix it? What if I let my kids spend an entire summer watching Avatar the Last Air Bender? What if no one buys my house?

As I was encouraging myself to consider the sparrows (Oh, Jesus, your comfort is what I needed) and not worry about the TV watching kids and how many more days I of work I still have to do, it dawned on me that this is a moment of faith being shown by works. I may be struggling to keep my mind on the now, and struggling to believe that God knows this will work out, but I do have faith that He will work it out somehow. I’m painting my porch for the next home owner, because I believe that the next home owner is coming. God will deliver.

If I sat on my duff and didn’t even put a sign in my yard, that shows that ultimate in lack of faith. I am not preparing for the answer to my prayers. Without work, my faith is dead.

So that’s my selling the house parable. And I have no choice but to believe that it will sell. I can’t make it sell by willpower or any other force. All I can do is paint it, and set aside any control I think I have over it. I have to have faith that it will work out.

Summer Boredom

Devona 0 Comments

We’re getting used to being bored again. The first week out of school we all cried and begged to sit in front of the TV. I let them watch more than I’d like, and I argued with them more than I’d like. But school has a way of getting everyone used to being told what to do next. So when faced with 12 hours of free time, it’s intimidating.

After we returned from camping I determined that we would not just sit in front of a screen all day. What a lame way to spend the summer. But, the weather decided to rain all over us so we couldn’t really go outside either.

Now what?

Well, Olivia had the wonderful idea of making a cardboard maze for our pet hermit crabs. So we cut and taped and glued for about an hour. Then we dropped Rapunzel and Turquoise into the maze and rewarded them with glittery stickers and raisins.

Today we worked on our chicken coop together. The girls held wood in place while I worked the screw driver. I have been using scrap wood from the garage and the basement to build it. I’m trying to keep my costs down. I found two old pantry cabinets in the basement crawl space and they work perfectly for the front of the coop. One of them even had smoothly turning hinges! It was meant to be!

The little jobs have been good for reminding us how to balance our boredom and busyness. And so today when the rain rolled in I didn’t feel bad putting My Neighbor Totoro on for the girls to wait out the storm.

Barefoot-in-the-kitchen

Devona 0 Comments

Way back at Christmas time Rob’s dad gave us their hand-me-down canoe which they kept at the Grandparents’ house in Virginia. We finally picked it up and drove it home to our garage over Spring Break.

On an angsty day in the late spring I complained that I never get to do anything fun, not even take out our own canoe because I’m always home doing the day to day stuff. So I named the canoe Barefoot-in-the-kitchen, and got a babysitter for the day and Rob’s sister Molly and I took Barefoot-in-the-kitchen out for a ride down the Cuyahoga River. We had a leisurely day out exploring the strip of wilderness which runs between Kent and Waterworks Park. There were deer with their fawns, herons, geese and goslings and groundhogs. There was quiet and peace, and moderate adventure. It was completely worth the trouble of loading Barefoot up and taking it  back down.

I hadn’t had the chance to take the kids out yet, so I brought it to an end of the year picnic with some Redeemer families. The river was flooded over the banks so it wasn’t safe to take the kids out, but I just couldn’t resist. We pulled it over to a section of the parking lot which flooded and canoed around the puddle instead. It wasn’t exactly an adventure, but at least I knew all my kids, even Cressida were sea ready. They followed the rules and stayed in their seats.

So when we left to go on our annual Mom/kid-only camping trip with our friends the Penns (Colleen from Clever Nesting), I brought Barefoot with us. We spent three days in Hocking Hills State Park. On the second day we took Barefoot out on Lake Logan. Two moms and 5 kids.

This guy saw us unloading Barefoot and said, “Where are your men?” I chuckled, “Our men travel for a living so we have fun without them.” The man chuckled back and said, “Ah, revenge.” It’s not exactly revenge… more like not giving up and being boring just because it’s hard. When you’re a kid, challenging adventures are worth doing because a lot of the things you have to do are already challenging, you might as well put up with more challenges so you can have some fun. Once you become a grown-up you know how to avoid the challenges and walk the easier route. There’s so much to do, you don’t always have time for the challenge. But I’m finding that the stuff my kids enjoy doing as a family the most are the things that take the most effort and patience on my part. Also, I’d rather be out on Barefoot-in-the-kitchen than be at home, barefoot, in the kitchen.

The challenge is worth it.

And then when we come home and spend the whole next day on the couch playing Minecraft, I don’t feel so guilty.