starting

I'm emptying the dining room. The name sounds too fancy for what it is, more the main room of the farmhouse. Dining room because the kitchen table is in there. Also a sitting room, with the couches at one end, the schoolroom during teaching times, the main room because that's where everyone enters first. Through the back door, through the entryway/laundry room, and there you are, your first look at our house. Welcome!

It's being emptied as a prep to repainting it. Same buttery yellow colour, but a fresh coat to cover the repairs and generally spruce it up. But the room, without all my pictures and decorations (decor style: "stuff I find around the farm". Kind of eclectic but I like it), looks lonely. Naked. It's missing so much of what makes it ours, what reminds me of breezy summer days like this when the windows are open, and cold wintry nights when the glow of the lights welcomes us in. Here's hoping it goes quickly so it can be itself again.

The final stages of the holes-in-the-wall saga begin. It's a mess right now but will get better.

Meanwhile, the B's are going through a situation with E's mom's health that makes all of this pale by comparison. One nice thing about the cleaning and wiping and sanding, though, my mind is not busy and so is constantly free to pray for her safety and recovery. And so I do.