My Ebenezer

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We’ve made decisions on the play room, Daddy-O has even penciled in the cabinets and cubby holes on one wall. We’re ready to start painting. Here are the before pictures….next time you check in, you might want your sunglasses. It’s going to be bright!

Posted by Karen: Oh, yeah–you should go to IKEA. They have kids’ rooms set up and you can get some good ideas and things like boards, rugs, toy chests, etc. for cheap. Their things are mostly in primary colors, so if nothing else, you could get some ideas.

So, we actually did go to Ikea yesterday and that is where I confirmed that I have ADD. We walk in to the showroom and my head immediately starts hurting because my eyes cannot focus anywhere. I just keep looking around from one thing to the next. I can’t even look at something I’m otherwise interested in because something across the room catches my eye. As I make my way across the room, something else catches my eye and I move in a different direction – this happens several times until I realize I’m turning in circles.

Ikea is evil – once you’re in, it’s pretty hard to get out. We never did find the real exit but I was getting a little panicky so we used an “employees only” exit. Walking outside was like freedom. You may think I’m exaggerating here, but I’m telling you seriously thought at one point that I might have a panic attack or something. It was just too overwhelming. It was like trying to watch 10 tv shows at once while someone was steadily changing between all of the channels.

As we were nearing the illegal exit i saw a huge bin of ice trays – these were no ordinary ice trays, they were in all different shapes and sizes. For example, you could make ‘X’ shaped ice or even heart-shaped ice. This is why Ikea is evil. I almost bought heart shaped ice cube makers. Why would I ever in a million years need heart shaped ice? What made me possibly think I should buy it? It’s Ikea, I’m telling you, they are EVIL. They get you so confused when you walk in that you can’t think straight – and heart shaped ice cubes seem like the cure for what ails you.

I know what you’re thinking now. If Ikea was too much for me, How the Heck am I going to handle children?

P.S. We did realize that Ikea has a wonderful playroom for kids to stay in while parents shop. I guess when we run out of babysitters or can’t afford to pay one, we’ll go back to Ikea. (yes, mom, I am kidding. I would not leave my children with strangers in a playroom)

….but it won’t be for long. It’s just so stinkin’ amazing how God can take something so empty and fill it so completely.

My friend Christy, the decorator, was here yesterday and we started making plans for the playroom. She gave me some great ideas, one of which is to have Daddy-O build some cubbies against one of the walls. I think we’re also going to do part of a wall as a chalkboard and part as a corkboard. It should be really cute when it’s finished. The colors are going to be very bright – Orange and Blue with green and yellow accents! I want it to be a very fun room!

Those of you who already have kids – any suggestions for playrooms? Anything you wish yours had or didn’t have?

Today, I am overwhelmed with the “what do we do when we get home with them” thought. I mean, I’ve thought about going to pick up our kids – I’ve considered that it will be awkward at first and that the kids may even be afraid and very shy at first. I’ve thought about all that but I have just today begun to think about what comes next.

I mean, what do we do when we get home? I guess we should show them their rooms, depending on their age. Maybe the dogs will be a good diversion? What the heck do we do with them once we’re all back at home? WHAT DO WE DO?

WHAT DO WE DO?

Now I have visions of people coming over to see us and everyone watching Daddy-O and I to see how we’re reacting and what we’re doing. Let’s assume we figure out what to do when we get home and everyone is safe and comfortable blah blah blah. What about the next morning when we wake up, what do we do then?

TELL ME, WHAT DO WE DO?

We are putting a twin bed in the nursery – it is actually Daddy-O’s bed from when he was a kid. If you don’t believe me, we can prove it – he carved his name into the headboard when he was little or maybe he was a teenager..i don’t know. Anyway, we started sanding it down yesterday (don’t worry, we saved the carving) so we can stain it to match the baby bed.

Anyway, we were also planning to sand and stain an old dresser that we’ll use in the nursery. I went to Woodcraft this afternoon to see about getting a smaller sander to help with the “nooks and crannies” of the dresser. I walk in and the sweetest man asked if I need some help. I explained to him what we were trying to do and he told me that we should really strip the dresser instead of sanding it down – then he took me to the back and got a piece of stained wood and showed me how to do it. He had me convinced that it was the best way and then he said, “it’ll be a lot more expensive than sanding it down but…..” So I just smiled and said I guess I better stick with sanding.

He showed me some tools I could use to make it a little easier and told me that if I would bring in a drawer or something, he’d be able to help me more. He looked a little surprised to see me when Daddy-O and I walked in with the drawer at 6:53pm. Then again, since the store closes at 7, he was probably just thinking, “awww crap!” He took us to the back room again and showed us how to strip the front of the drawer and showed us how nice it would look. We decide that we’d sand the rest of it, but strip the drawers since they’d be hard to sand anyway and we’d save some money in the process.

Trust me, I have a point here. He says to us, “This is mine and I have plenty more at home…why don’t you just take this and you’ll be able to finish your project.” I was dumbfounded. This man was offering to GIVE us what we needed to strip the drawers. He even gave us the pot he used, with his brush and this other tool. The paint thinner or whatever it’s called is not cheap and he knew we were prepared to purchase it. He gave it to us. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t feel right taking this stuff he was offering us. It felt so wrong to accept his generous offer.

He insisted and we thanked him, walking out of the store a little in awe. What would prompt this man to extend such kindness and generousity to us for no reason? I still don’t get it. Maybe you’re thinking, “Cindy, it was just a little paint thinner….” but it wasn’t. It was all the tools we needed and the paint thinner. It was far above and beyond his job – in fact, we would have made a purchase had he not given everything to us. Tell me, how often do you go to a store to buy something and the salesperson gives you what you need instead?

I wonder how often I go to God intending to “buy” something. My way of “buying” might just be my own plans or just my own way of doing things. Instead of letting me “buy” what I think i want, God freely gives me more than I ever needed. God is so good. This man today displayed God’s goodness, whether he knew it or not. (yes, you can bet I’m going to tell him about it but I haven’t figured out how just yet) It’s been such a crazy mixed up week and this was a small reminder that spoke volumes to my heart. God is so good. He gives us what we need. I want to be the kind of person who leaves a lasting impression on people. A person who points people to Christ.

God gives us gifts, worth far more than a little paint thinner, for no reason. He gave us His most precious gift, His son – who died for you and for me…..for no reason other than that He loves us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” NLT

And all we have to do is accept it.
Rom 3:21-24
But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. 22 The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. 23 Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, 24 God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

If we have a girl, here’s the bedding we’ll use – i think it goes well!

Now, you’ll have to use your imagination on this one. If we have a boy, keep in mind all the dark pink will painted over with dark blue and light pink with light blue. But here’s what we’ll use:

WE ARE APPROVED!!!!

I still need to touch up the chair rail, but for the most part, the painting is finished now. I can’t wait to get the baby bed put in place and start moving the rest of the furniture in there as well. I can’t quit going in there – when I get up to do anything, I always walk by the nursery and go in and look around again. I really like it. I can’t believe there is a nursery in my house! I can’t believe that before long, there could be a child living in that nursery! Oh dear, a thought just occurred to me. When our child gets to be a toddler, he/she is going to mess up my paint job, isn’t he/she?

It seems like the whole world should stop and hold it’s breath with me as I wait to see how things go with my family….. but people all around me are going on with their daily lives. I don’t understand how this is possible. Why isn’t the rest of the world hurting with us? I’m sure the person who most wants things to go on as normal is my dad – he’s had all us girls fussing over him and mom for a whole week now and he’s bound to be sick of it. Ha ha ha

Life does go on and even I got something done today.

The painting of the nursery is finished! Woo-Hoo! I know what you’re thinking, “where are the pictures?” I’ve decided to wait until tomorrow, after we get the chair rail up to take and post pictures…..so you’ll just have to wait. We painted the chair rails this afternoon so they should be ready by tomorrow…..and it’s going to look fabulous. I’m getting very excited to put all the furniture in place to see what it finally looks like.

Even more exciting, our home study worker called this past week and although she ticked me off, she did tell me that we’ll be presented to the committee this Monday, which means technically we could start getting calls as early as the last week in July. Our paper work will still have to go to the state for licensing but if they were to find a match for us, they could expedite that. So, I’ll let you know when we get the call to say whether or not we are approved. And tomorrow, I’ll post pictures of the nursery.

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer (Rock of Help), saying, This marks the place where GOD helped us."

1 Samuel 7:12 The Message

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