Adios, Crazy Wallpaper!!


We have endured our ugly wallpaper 

almost 3 years now, and this week, we took action.



Down with the vine-y wallpaper!!

I normally love plants, but this stuff made me feel like vines were going to creep off the wall and grab me, like Kudzu.  Or that one vine from Harry Potter - Devil's Snare.  It grows rapidly and tries to suffocate you, unless you remember that it doesn't like light and blast it to smithereens with your magic wand.

In preparation for wallpaper removal, I carefully took down our wall decorations, including our child's hand-drawn pictures that had been scotch-taped to the walls.  When we returned in the morning, we discovered I had missed one.  Yes, the flower drawn with Crayola markers on computer paper actually blended in with the jungle flowers.  We couldn't see an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper on the wall.  That's how busy this stuff was.


Adios, crazy wallpaper!! 



Well, anywho, my wonderful in-laws helped us for four days, tearing down the wallpaper and putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls.



 and tonight, I am sitting with my wonderful hubby in a room that feels completely new!


Every muscle in my entire body hurts.  I have gained a new respect for professional painters.  Those people must be buff!

While we were fixing up the walls, I began to think about how this  

tearing down-making new process happens in life...


We put up with something that really bothers us for a long time.

It is easier live with it then work to change it, right?

That's why we endured our wallpaper for almost 3 years.

But sometimes, enough is enough!!  We take the bold step to look at the problem and really see it for what it is, and acknowledge that it really needs to change.  NOW!!

So we put on our work clothes and begin to tear it down - the stuff we hate.  It takes a lot of time and hard work.  It can be painful, slowgoing, and anything but easy.  It can involve any number of people - some working with you and some against you.

On day three of our project, I was getting tired of the paint not being finished.  My husband and been painstakingly careful to keep the paint off of the woodwork.

But it was taking so looong...so I decided to help.  I mounted a step stool and began to quickly apply paint.

Yep, within about 3 seconds, I had shlopped several gobs of paint on the woodwork.  Whew, did I get a look from my husband!!  He said not a word, but the look said it all.  I don't know how he puts up with me sometimes.

This was not my area of expertise, and my haphazard painting caused more work for him, not less.
I chuckled about our wordless tiff the rest of the afternoon.  Love that man!

So I returned to things I could do well.  That meant I manned the paint roller and covered the inside areas of each wall, avoiding all edges.  And I picked up scraps of wallpaper that littered our floor.  Sigh.  Boring, but necessary.

And then it occurred to me -

When we are trying to restore a relationship, 

we need to realize where our strengths and weaknesses are.

Then we need to plant our feet where our strengths lie and work hard right there.  


And don't forget to pray, pray, pray!  

So many times God has shown me that he can do waaaay more than I ask or think
or imagine. I just need to trust Him with my life.  

But handing over the reigns makes everything so much better!  (Note: I didn't say easier - just better.  Less stressful.  More relying on God, who is always able; less relying on our own incapabilities.)


 Hopefully, when we have worked hard and long on a relationship, we will be happy with the results.
As happy as we were when we finally finished this room!

Okay, happier - a restored relationship is much more rewarding. 

May your walls be pleasant and your relationships be sweet!


"It is truly wonderful when relatives live together in peace."  


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