July 28 – “The Yellow Room”

Tonight we were invited to supper by Jachin and Micah.  They called and even gave us the time to be there.  It meant we had to cut short our afternoon ambitious project.  We attacked the Yellow Room.    The Yellow Room used to be Josh's, but we are working hard not to call anything by its "pre-Ike" name.  We had the whole room full of boxes of stuff.  It had Christmas decorations from Mom's house and Nathan's and ours as well as the new stuff we got from Josh's church in Arlington.  It had boxes with the stuff we saved from the top shelves of all the rooms of the house.  There were books and trophies and blankets and crochet stuff.  There were boxes with things Chris washed and packed the first week we were back.  It sounds like a lot, and it feels like a lot now.  But in the grand scheme of things, it's really not so much.    Our plan was to get everything out of the room so we could sweep the floor and set up a bed.  That much we accomplished.  Well, the bed got set up outside.  And I'm not sure if it's going to be able to hold weight.  The legs are cracked right near where the side rails slide in.  I haven't showed that to Chris yet.  She also wants to set up a twin bed from the bunks we had.  It looks to me like part of the side framework is stuck into the footboard.  We'll have to go out to friend's house (read here "storage garage") and get the side rails to see.    Boxes are still scattered all over the house.  Mom is trying to watch the Astros, and she has to dodge boxes to see anything.  Chris is emptying some out and repacking it into plastic tubs.  We'll probably have to buy ten or twelve more to get rid of all the cardboard.   We got all but one "future tub" of Christmas decorations stored in the attic.  Chris has a plan to redo the sewing/storeroom so it will hold more of what she doesn't want to put in the attic.    Tomorrow we need to get some nails with heads on them so we can hang pictures.  We also need to get painter's putty, oil based primer, and some kind of paint for the outside of the house.  That means Chris has to decide on a color.  I think blue is about to win, though.  Friday and Saturday we plan to replace the rotten wood, wash the walls down, and begin preparing for a team of painters to come down from Arlington the next weekend.  That means caulking and puttying needs to be done.  I figure they can scrape and sand one day and paint the next.  Then we can finish what they don't.  Tomorrow the guy is coming to build the little tower for the chimney.  The tile guys can't come until next week.  The chimney lady is ready to go.  Today Chris said she wants to be able to wake up and say "Today I just have to do laundry."  I understand.  Not the laundry part so much.  But the just one thing at a time part.  That will be nice.   Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."   Father, I know that's about worry.  But can it also be about one thing at a time?  Give us "one thing at a time" days again soon.  Amen.