A Different Kind of Building

Last week, I posted some before/after pictures on Facebook...of all the work we've done on the house this year. Some of my friends had been reading my status updates about the construction and wanted to see it for themselves, so I posted the pictures.

Pictures of the kitchen.

And the dining room.

And the living room.

And the main bathroom.

And a "stay tuned" note for pictures of the second bathroom - the one we're working on now.

A few people made comments asking what in the world we were going to do with our time after we finished our renovations. Would we be able to survive without projects?

I told Ryan that when we got married and he moved in, I had no idea that our first year of marriage would be so saturated with renovations on my house. After all, the extent of my talent was repainting a room, and I'd already done that in most of the rooms.

But Ryan pulled out hammers and screwdrivers and saws and got to the bottom of things, and I helped along the way as much as I could. Sometimes that was from behind a camera lens, and sometimes it was real help - following his directions to actually change the house and make it a home.

We took a tired kitchen and built it into a cozy room where we love to cook together. We took a mismatched dining room and turned it into an inviting space to welcome guests. We took an outdated living room and made a darling place to curl up and live. We took a crowded bathroom and made it into an organized place to get ready and do laundry. And now we're taking a dated second bathroom and kicking it up a modern notch. We did that.

Together.

A husband and a wife building a marriage through the upgrades of a house. We made a house into a home and we cemented the foundation of a marriage with every room we overhauled.

It was exhausting work. For Ryan, it was sometimes maddening, back-breaking work. But the result was beautiful. It's a home that says, "Hey, the Shaffers live here. And they're proud of this place. They've poured their heart and sweat into making it theirs." It also says, "Hey, this is the marriage the Shaffers are building. It's where they learned teamwork and strengths and weaknesses. It's where they brought the best of their respective talents and meshed them to make a home."

If all goes well {and how we pray all does go well}, we'll have the renovations finished by our first anniversary, which is in about three weeks.

Then what?

We don't know. We're not sure what God has for us in this next year. But this we DO know. We're going to continue to build our marriage. Probably {hopefully} the second year of our marriage won't be marked in the largest part by home renovations. Hopefully we can put away Ryan's tool box for a few months. Hopefully we won't have one room serving as the storage area for all the renovation supplies.

But we'll still be building. Building in a new way. In whatever way God leads. I hope it involves getting to share our home with friends - inviting them in and building relationships together as a couple - with other couples and friends and families. I hope it involves writing together, building our story on paper {and screen}.

Because I think {and I'm obviously still very new at this} that the building of a good marriage, never stops. It just takes on new forms with each season.

Thankfulness, Day 12: I remember being a teenager and having someone affirm me in some way. It was AMAZING to know I mattered as a teenager. Do you have a teen in your life {your own kids excluded} that could use a "thanks for being in my life" today?