January 5 - "Interior design"

Chris is on a roll.  She's figuring out where to put pictures on the wall in the hall.  That means getting some more frames to replace the ones that drowned in the flood.  She pulled out the pictures and evacuated with them, so they are safe.  Won't be long and we'll have the three boys' graduation pictures back up.    She also cleaned out the big bedroom closet so she could start work on our bedroom.  I even cleaned out the smaller closet in there.  Of course, there wasn't all that much in there, so it took me all of ten minutes.  We are going to finally turn over to Salvation Army the blue jeans that I wore after Hurricane Ike.  They were given to us by some friends in Arlington, and were too big, but they sure were perfect at the time.  I just rolled up the pant legs and cinched up my belt and waded in on the stench and debris.  Wow.  Not what I intended to think about today.  But thanks yet again to the Winkle Family.    Right now we have five newspaper rectangles hanging over our bed.  I asked Chris if she was providing late night reading material.  Actually it's just a decorator's technique for deciding where to place some old framed doilies made by our Moms and Grandmothers and beyond.  She also wants to get a braided rug for in there.  I knew a rug was in her sights, but I thought it was for the den.  It was.  This is another one.  The one in the den is on hold until we decide what furniture to get for in there.  What we have now are the couches and chair that were donated to us after Ike.  We greatly appreciate them, and they have served well.  Chris is just ready to get something that really goes with the house.    She was mentally moving furniture last night.  That's one of the many things I appreciate about my wife.  She can see things in her head.  That means I don't have to help her actually move those couches and chairs and tables and dressers six or eight times until she is satisfied.  I think she even has a spot for an old cedar wardrobe that was Mom's.  But that's at my brother's house right now.    My biggest problem with all this decorating stuff is that I really have no eye for it.  Sometimes I really have no preference one way or the other when she asks what I think.  But over the course of our 35+ years together I have learned that "I don't care" is never an acceptable answer.  Sometimes "I have no preference" will work.  Mostly though, she wants to hear a choice one way or the other.  And sometimes she even goes with the one I pick.   Isaiah 65:17-18 says, "Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.  The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy."   Father, thank you for the touch of creativity you have put into Chris.  It reminds me of you.  Amen.