Fair Wages! Fair Hours!

Yesterday was funny.  We were going to have the pastor and his family over for dinner as a gesture to them in their final month here, but in order to do so, it meant a complete overhaul on the house!  The weekend had left us with piles of dishes and laundry because of the lack of water.  Now that the water was back on, we had to go to town on the seemingly endless amount of washing ahead of us.....

Everyone had had fair warning and they knew that a good part of their day would be prepping for our guests.  Christmas holidays were on for the little kids so I wasn't so worried about school.  The only thing was, the rest of the house had also somehow gotten neglected in our busyness.  Toys had been dumped everywhere it seemed.  And, in our house, once one bin of toys gets dumped, what's another bin?  Someone will clean it up, won't they?!  Uh no.

So the list of things to do seemed endless.  Around noon, we were making good progress, but there was still lots to do.  Lucky for them, I'm a nice mom, and I let them stop and have lunch!  But, after our very short lunch break, I called them all back and said, "C'mon guys!  There's more to do!  I can't do this on my own!  Please help me!"

At first I got the classic, "I'm still eating lunch!"  or "Awwww.....!"  But the the one comment that had me on the floor laughing was when my 18 year old started walking around the house saying, "Fair wages!  Fair hours!  Fair wages!  Fair hours!"  She was on strike!  If I hadn't called in the taser gun, she would have made picket signs and started a revolution!  (Ok, Ok, I didn't use the taser....this time....) Fortunately, her little rebellion didn't last long, but I'm pretty sure she considered moving out that day.  We did finally get the house more or less put back together, but I'm telling you, ten people can make a lot of mess....

A couple of weeks ago, I went into the storage room and pulled out a whole bunch of antique window frames.  That was when I started hanging them up in our family room.  I loved how it looked.  I knew there were more, so I went back again on the weekend and decided I would hang the others.  Every single wall or blank space in my house now has something from the barn on it.  I even started hanging wine crates, barrel staves,...you name it, it's on our walls.  I still am amazed how it's all slowly coming together without a single dollar spent.  Talk about unlimited decor budget - zero!  It's made me so happy and has covered up our unfinished, trimless walls that were once so bare.  It has taken our eyes off the exposed nails and has instead drawn our eyes to things of beauty, which really would have just been thrown away if I hadn't grabbed them!  This may be a small thing, but once again, I thank God for how He knew I wanted to make my home cozy and quaint.   All moms are like little mommy birds, longing for a nest that they want to be in, especially stay-at-home moms who are surrounded by the same views day after day.  They want their nest to be comfortable, but also pleasant to look at.  I think God has placed that in us, to appreciate things of beauty.  Yet our renovations are on pause right now because of RM's very busy work schedule, so I may not have finished walls for some time.  These small touches I've been able to add to our home have made such a difference and will certainly help me in my levels of patience as I wait for RM to get to finishing things off.  Will I have to take it all down only to hang it all up again later?  Yes, but who cares? Does God really care about a mom in a farmhouse that wants to decorate?  I think He does.  I actually think this was a really unique way that He showed His personal love for me and helped me to stay happy, positive and content.  It also showed my kids that with a little creativity and thinking out of the box you can make your home a home.