I’m sitting here listening to rain on the roof. It’s a pleasant sound mingling with the tune of my son’s guitar downstairs. I like it here, in this cozy place, when family is near. A month from today we will all be together as our two oldest sons return from California for Christmas. I can hardly wait!
I sure hope the house is back to rights long before then. I spent yesterday vacuuming up drywall dust, cleaning furniture, and draping sheets over everything that has to stay in the room, for lack of anywhere else to put it. Randy still has more spackling and sanding to do, but he’s almost done. Most of what’s left is in my little cubbyhole office, and we are in debate over whether to fix something in the ceiling that I say looks fine, just paint it. He says it could look better. In this, he is the greater perfectionist. In fact, if you were to visit and looked closely, you would be able to tell who painted what. Well, at least some of the time.
On Saturday, I spent the day first editing Sarai, then I primed the wood on the stairs for paint. Took a break to edit more, then painted the banister, stairs, and railings. I listened to two sermons from Mosaic by Erwin McManus (he’s teaching on 1 John) and learned so much! It’s also nice to share the same worship experience with our California boys. When those two podcasts ended, I put on Pandora Radio and listened to Christmas music. But by the end of the night, I think I’d inhaled too many paint fumes because I didn’t feel so good and my eye was hurting. (I saw the eye doctor for it Monday and it should be fine with the drops he’s given me.)
By the time dinner rolled around, Ryan picked it up for us and we enjoyed P.F. Changs carryout with Ryan and Carissa and then laughed hysterically over a three-round game of Euchre. Randy and me vs. Ryan and Carissa. (Age won.) I’ll let you figure out which age. 🙂
I love laughing with my family. Solomon said that laughter is good medicine, and I can think of no better kind. Sometimes the silliest things can turn giggles into hysterical joy. I love that! My family knows how to make me laugh.
I have to wonder if such laughter isn’t a little taste of heaven. Jesus endured the cross for the joy of having us with Him someday. When I think of joy and laughter in that place, it’s like thinking of color and taste and sound and how vibrant it all will be. Can you imagine hearing color? Or tasting sight? Or seeing sound?
I remember one of our stops in Israel there was this huge tree where a chorus of birds had come to nest. They were all singing different tunes, yet they were not out of sync and they did not clash. I can only imagine how it will sound one day when we all sing the songs of our heart to our Lord – different melodies, different words, all meshed together perfectly. Like laughter. Pure joy.
Part of me needs to laugh right now, because if you saw our house…I don’t even want to think about how Thanksgiving is next week, I have not started Christmas shopping…but…the walls are almost ready for paint, Sarai just needs me to finish an out-loud read-through, and I’ll have part of our new carpet by next Monday! Plenty of time to fix Thanksgiving dinner, and two weeks left before they come back to finish the job. Piece of cake.
Living and laughing one day at a time~
