Lessons from bowels of my kitchen rennovation

No truer words were ever spoken over me.

This cute little sign now hangs in my new kitchen. You've been waiting for this, so thank you for your patience. I don't need to give you a play by play of my recent kitchen renovation project but you can know that I'm still licking my self-made wounds over this little project.

The main thing is our kitchen is still standing, it's complete, and we are all alive.  Here are a few things I learned while living in transition and a big mess:

1.  Change requires a lot of time.  Every waking moment.
2.  It requires energy.  Every ounce of you have.
3.  It requires hard work.  Every drop of blood, sweat and even a few tears.
4.  It requires team work.  Everyone doing what they can to work together.
5.  It requires you to show up.  Bring your winning attitude and check your ego at the door.

Unless, you are financially stable enough to afford someone else's labor, you can kiss about 6 weeks of your time, that you will never get back, good-bye when you say that you want to change a few things in your kitchen.  A few more lessons:

1.  Say good-bye to clean.
2.  Say hello to sea tickle blue on your fingernails.
3.  Tuck your regular to-do list away for a rainy day.  
4.  Say good-bye to your friends and Friday nights.
5.  Learn the international symbol for "I can't breathe".  Repeat, breathe deep.

That sinking feeling when seeing your stove like this, good-bye all clean spaces.

Unless, you are a saint, or can do perfect and do things right the first time, remember there will be some frustrations along the way that will cause you to run outside your house and scream a little.  Here are some good things to remember in the middle of a mess:

1.  Remember the end result will be worth it.
2.  Remind yourself who you are doing it for.
3.  Forget the words that are spoken at the end of a moving drill bit.
4.  Clean a little space everyday, even if it's just your coffeemaker.
5.  Practice kindness and bite your tongue.

Making changes can be hard, especially when you encounter some unexpected bumps along the way.  Things usually don't work out like you had planned or expected.  But a good attitude helps win over the worst flub-ups.  Mistakes can always be covered up or corrected if you just refocus and get some rest.

Ta-Da!  My like-new place to steam my broccoli and make my coffee!

One thing remains, change is hard but worth it.  There were days I didn't know what to do but cry.  But in and through all of the changes to my new kitchen, I rose above the challenge of what was ahead of me and just did the next thing.  It was hard work, and seemed intense, but I had too much invested in it to give up on it.  

Perseverance, patience and endurance pays off.  I now have a clean kitchen and am proud of the work that was accomplished.  Our family worked together as a team, and had much patience with each other.  We did the next thing and did it with kindness.  We worked together for a common goal of a now clean, uncluttered, tidy, shiny and like-new space.

We made some small adjustments along the way to accommodate the few problems we had but we rose above the challenges and just kept the momentum going, working forward instead of letting ourselves get overwhelmed.

We had a vision, a dream, a goal worth pursuing and we did it!  High fives everyone!  Why is this so important to me?

1.  It's my place in this house, everyone woman can testify that the kitchen is her space.
2.  I end my day with a shiny sink, smiling good night and sweet dreams.  
3.  Each day begins clean.  I want clean to remain.  
4.  I worked hard toward a goal and lived through it to now enjoy it.
5.  I not only survived a kitchen re-model, now I'm writing stories to share, all from my new kitchen.

(Bonus - No one was killed in the process.  I know that was a little dramatic but sometimes in the heat of the battle, you have to remember who's idea it was to start such havoc in the first place.)

As we make changes, we grow.  As we work towards a goal, we change.  We adapt, we get better at what our hands touch.  We learn, we stretch, we do hard things, we do new things.  We chose to overcome the hurdles and just work through them.

We choose victory and the end result is always worth it.  Results take work and determination.  Results take practice.  

Special emphasis on the large print.

Practice.  Over and over, day by day, with time you will get to your goals too.  Whether it be 10 lbs, 10 blogs, 10 books, 10 miles, whatever personal goals are haunting you on repeat right now, just bite your tongue and practice doing them.  You won't be sorry if you honestly show up with your winning attitude and check your ego at the door.   

Choose to overcome.  Rise above what's telling you can't succeed.  Practice.

It's what I prayed for

Colossians 3:12  "Therefore, as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

I admitted to my friend that I prayed for more patience.  Her response was "Why did you do that?" and then laughed.  She knew already knew my answer.  I am uncovering what godly patience looks like.

It looks like the belly of an undone kitchen, being renovated into something new.  My heart is in the middle of God's patient renovation, He is constructing new patience within me.

The picture above is not my home, but a stripped-down view of what is happening in my life right now.  I am smack dab in the middle of a mess.  A 24-hour, continual mess of a kitchen renovation.  Most days it seems there is no end in sight.  Other days there is a slight glimmer of hope.

One thing is for sure.  I feel displaced.  Like most women, even if you don't like to cook, your kitchen is your space.  Your domain, your place of wellness and where you are at home.  When you are taken out of it, you feel disoriented like there is no clean space in any inch of your house.

Ask anyone of us, she will tell you.

It's kind of a dismal picture actually.  And here I am admitting to you, this little momma in her corner of the country, that I am learning some godly patience.  I don't like God's lessons in this messy middle of His patience.

I am leaning into His everlasting patience with me though.

Living life outside our comfort zones never is comfortable.  It's never convenient and certainly isn't easy.  When you pray for more of God, He doesn't just hand it to you on a clean lacy laden silver platter.  No, He gives it abundantly to you in ways where you can learn more of Him in the circumstances that are around you.

I prayed to learn godly patience as God gives it.  God has given me a extreme lesson in exhibiting godly patience in the life opportunities around me.  One slow stroke of the paint brush, one slow turn of a new screw, one slow plank of a new floor.  One slow patient process.

I have to trust His patient process.

The lessons in this are a slow progression towards Him.  And if my "dreamy-redesign-on-a-dime" kitchen never gets done, may I always know the extent of His true patience with me, so that, I may exhibit His patience in the most loving way.

Appreciate your comfortable places, you never know when God will bring a new lesson to construct or renovate in you.  

The Real of Duck Dynasty

The Real Men of Duck Dynasty

If you keep up with me on Twitter or Facebook you have seen a lot of posts about Duck Dynasty.  It's a reality TV show about a rags to riches family who have made it big in the duck hunting industry with a patented duck call.  I like this show for now.


It's not because they are rich or that they have, as Brent McCoy would say, awesome beards.  It's not because they are entrepreneurs and benevolent.  It's because they are real.  And they are living out their Christian life in public.  I know they are getting paid for it.  But have you seen how Miss Kay loves from her kitchen?  Phil, the drake of the family, is very traditional and holds relationships high.  This family is the real deal.    


God has really been speaking to me in this area of my life and I feel like it's time to get real with you.


No...I am not going to grow an awesome beard.  That would be inappropriate and ungodly as a lady.  Confession:  I don't like to expose my fragility to you.  That is an awkward place for me.


My inadequacies remind me that I don't have it all together.  That I am not perfect, even though I strive to be.  I have realized that I can't be.   It's impossible.  Too often as Christians we like to have all the answers.  Let me tell you...I don't.  I have tucked my pristine red super hero cape away in it's clean white box for now.  I don't need to know all the answers nor will I ever know them.    


My honesty exposes some ugly things in my heart and that is something I  don't want you to see.  I care about God's opinion the most, and guess what...He already knows about the ugliness.  I understand that he can handle our honest prayers.  He knows our thoughts before we think them.  He knows the dusty places in our hearts and the cobwebs in our brains.  He knows the evil things we think when we fly off the handle and react inappropriately.  He knows.


So in my being real, in my gut-level honesty, please don't step on my heart.  that is what I fear from you.  My purpose is not to say that I am better than you or have figured all this faith stuff out.  No, I just want to take you along on this movement of God in my life.  I am trusting God as He has already called me in spite of my created weaknesses. He made my heart broken.  He knows it breaks easily so I can trust Him for each and every piece, for all of them, as they fall.  And I now understand that in my brokenness, that is where He shines the most.  This is His Grace in my best.    

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ~ Corinthians 12:9