God bless Grandma

Most of you know we have been in the home stretch of finishing the house up to get it on the market. It is officially on the market now. You can have a look at it at 4160botanical.com - she is still editing the text, but the pictures are done. The day we finally listed it I was pretty sure I would have a nervous break down before the sun set...and it had only just risen when I realized this. It has been a pretty stressful few weeks. To be honest, I never had much empathy for people who had prayer requests about house remodel issues. I always thought to myself that house remodelling isn't a "real" trial. We choose to do these things...and honestly, in some senses it is a luxury. There are plenty of people living in H.U.D. housing or under bridges or in mud huts in other countries that would love the opportunity to remodel. Most of the time we are remodeling to improve something that is already quite livable as it is, but we want it better. Not neccessarily anything wrong with that - just not sure that the stress that insues is really one of the greater trials of life...though thankfully God uses it still to santify us.

That being said - the stresses that have surrounded this rehab have certainly been some of the greater trials of our life so far. Yes, we (somewhat) knowingly took on this project of our own free will. We could have found a place that didn't need rehabbing. But we loved living in the city, found this for a great deal and thought of our work on it as a contribution to the neighborhood. We don't regret it. (I have not always been able to say that.) One of the best lessons we have learned is the blessing of weakness. Mike and I (have thought we) are pretty self-sufficient people. We have been more needy in the past 3+ years than ever. We have needed everything - family, friends, prayer, money, skill, patience, energy, understanding, advice, forgiveness, humility, repentance, help, grace from others, each other, and God. It is so much easier to live from a posture of weakness than one of self-sufficiency - I promise.

Our parents have been great. They have helped with projects. They have helped with kids. They have floated us loans. They have sent us gifts cards to Qdoba!! They have prayed for us and supported us and not once ever said or implied "I told you so." My dad is a residential contractor and not terribly fond of old rehabs. If anyone had a sense that we were in over our heads it would have been him. (Thankfully none of our parents saw the pictures of the house in the condition it was in when we bought it.) They never made us feel stupid or naive. We are so thankful to the Lord for giving us such great parents. Mike's mom came last week during the big crunch. The house would not be on the market tonight if she had not been here. Thank you, again. Thank you to all of you. We love you very much.