Room for More: Curly and Cally

Yes, it's only been three weeks since Evania arrived, and that understandably takes a bit of adjustment...

...but since the lovely painting blitz, Matt has not had time to get anything done in the addition beyond one small piece of sheet rock in the link (about 30" by 8") one day, and another afternoon when he and Reuben were able to get out and hang the last of the sheet rock in the crawl space.

[Yes, the plan is to work only on the parts of the addition that need to be worked on in order to get Matt's mom moved in by our move-in date of Christmas 2013. Oops. Missed that one. Well, the before-the-baby-comes date then. Oh yeah. I guess we missed that one, too (see photo above!) Although sheet rock in the crawl space does not appear at first glance to be moving us toward that goal, it is in that now having all of the sheet rock hung (with one small exception in the office) means that Matt can work on cleaning out the scraps that we know we will not use. Cleaning out is an important step in preparation for grinding and staining the concrete floors - a very messy/dusty part of the work that we want done before we open up the main house to the addition and before Barb has her things moved in to her spaces upstairs.]

With Matt so limited in what he has time to do recently, partly because he's helping me a little more with things as we adjust to having a new baby, and also because he's had so much "real" work to be doing, we have been so very incredibly grateful for the work that Korey and Kelley (also known by Rinnah as "Curly and Cally" which brings a smile to our faces every time she says it!) are putting in for us. Because Matt is working so much, we have enough extra cash flow to be able to pay to have some of the work done, but more than anything, knowing that work is progressing is beneficial to my state of mind. (One of the many joys of giving birth at home is that mere hours after Evania's birth I was able to lay on one side of the window between the old and the new (with the shade down!) snuggling my newborn baby while listening to the beautiful sounds of "Curly and Cally" mudding sheet rock on the other side of the window. Let the work continue!!)

This seemingly endless waiting for this project to be done has been fertile ground for me to practice waiting. I've reflected before how it is in waiting that God gives his people the best opportunities to learn and demonstrate their trust in his control over all details of life in this world. Hindsight is so much clearer than this thing we call the future. I was made painfully aware of this as we waited (and waited and waited. And waited.) for Evania to arrive. After my water broke, it was just under one hour and 45 minutes before I was holding my baby in my arms. But two hours before her birth I was on my way home from the grocery store still doubting (seriously!) if she was ever going to come. Unlike our all-knowing not-bound-by-time God who does not see time and the passage of time the same way we do, we can not see ahead of time what is going to happen - we can guess, we can watch for signs that things are approaching, but until it actually happens we can not know.

By the Saturday before Evania was born, I was in a pretty disgruntled state of mind. I told Matt that every day that I woke up and had not had the baby I was not feeling like I was one day closer, but rather that it was becoming less and less likely that it was ever going to happen. And I was letting it have an impact on my attitude. Even worse, as Matt attempted to speak words of truth and encouragement to me, I told him I didn't want to hear it. God wisely chose to give me Easter Sunday as a day NOT to hold my newborn baby, but instead to refresh my soul and shift my perspective from myself (poor me - when will I get to hold this baby??) back to Him where it ought to be. This is, by the way, the God who raises the dead!! And holds every other little detail in his hands as well.

Including house completion dates. As hard as it is for me to get my head around this lately as I am so anxious for the work to be done enough for Matt's mom to be here because for various reasons, at least as far as my little mind can tell, this (as in NOW!) is for sure the right time.

But for some reason God has other plans. And I was reminded through our discussion around our study of Deuteronomy (of all things) yesterday morning that God can have whatever plans he wants, and he is in no way obligated to tell us why those are his plans, either now while we wait to see what they are, or after they are part of the past that we can look back on. These are his plans, and we don't need to (ever!) know the "why" as much as we may want to know.

And as much as I'd like to be able to say I'm okay with that, I'm not sure I'm quite there at the moment. ;) I have been in the past, and I know I will be, but this week it's where my battle is.

Dear God, would you give me the faith to trust that you know what you are doing and give me the ability to wait patiently and joyfully for you!!


MAY 2013: taking down the tree

JUNE 2013 #1: excavating and preparing to pour footings

JUNE 2013 #2: basement walls framed up, waterproofing on (in the mud)

JULY 2013: main level walls framed up

AUGUST 2013: upper level and roof framing, windows installed, pex and concrete in for both basement and main levels, some electrical rough-in beginning

SEPTEMBER 2013 #1: the month for blitzing on the exterior - and a month of so many wonderful friends and family sharing their time to get this job done. Starting with insulation...