The Profound Significance of Repainting

I’ve been obsessed with a kitchen project for a week now. That would be part of the reason that I haven’t updated for a long time. As you can see by the following photos, I am repainting. I’ve only included "before" and "during" pictures. We are doing a few other projects to go with the repainting, so you will have to wait for the finished product.

Along with repainting, I also cleaned out the cabinets and came up with this table full of...um...items we just don't use (some dating back many, many years with this mission). Some of it went in a garage sale box, some went in a box of things the mission may use again, and some went into the dumpster.

Excuse the mess, but isn't that how "before" pictures are supposed to look?


Yes, those are still Christmas lights, but I left them up on purpose. We can always use a bit more coziness.



Whoa. Not what I had in mind. Too bright and too shiny. I took the paint and got it lightened. Still very bright. I tried lightening it here. Still quite bright. But after 3 tries, I was sick of it. So we still have bright yellow walls, but you'll have to wait to see them until I'm good and ready to show "after" pictures. And the longer I look at the yellow now that it's done, the more I like it. (Over the painting days, it made me nauseous.)

What, you ask, is the profound significance of repainting the kitchen? I’m sure you knew there was something deeper, something more than a coat of yellow paint. Well, Kendall and I have been mulling over the decision of whether to leave when our year is up or whether to stay longer. I always said, “The second we decide we’re staying, I’m repainting the kitchen.” (Our kitchen has the feel of a cafeteria with its wide-open spaces, industrial white walls, huge formica-covered table, folding chairs, freezer, and portable dishwasher.) We haven’t made an official decision, but you may gather from the brightness of our kitchen which direction we are leaning. Okay, we’re more than leaning. It’s pretty much decided, I’m just having a hard time giving the definitive, “Yes, the decision is made.” So Kendall is patiently waiting on that affirmation from me.

I like my life here. I’m enjoying some new friendships. I love the outdoors. There are great things about being in such a small town. I’m involved in some enjoyable activities. The boys are making good friends.

But I also really miss people in Indiana. There are quite a few things I miss about Indiana. I certainly don’t miss it all, but I miss a lot of it. And what I miss, I miss a lot.

It wouldn’t be hard for me to stay here longer. But it is very hard to decide to stay. Does that make sense?

It looks like we will be extending our time here by one year. Most of the time neither Kendall nor I really see ourselves living here long-term. (I cannot believe the number of people I’ve heard say that they only meant to move up here for a short time. And then they stayed.)

And sometimes we wonder if God has something entirely different up his sleeve for us.

There is some grief that goes into this decision. But if we were to leave Red Lake this summer, our time here would, in some way, feel incomplete. (Not that I know what would make it feel complete.)

So this is not an official announcement because that’s a bit too much commitment for me, but it’s something close to an official announcement. You can take the sunny kitchen as proof.