Grace, More Drywall Talk, and That Thing I've Wanted For Years

It comes in many forms, but the definition is the same in all instances. Grace... Unmerited favor. Being smiled upon even when. Christians, myself included, most often only see grace in big examples, like Christ on the cross, dying for the forgiveness of our sins. It has shown up in other major ways in my life. Like when I was going to marry that guy. All my reasons and arguments were piled high, sewn together with a thin thread of sheer determination, and in one moment, it felt like God pulled the thread and everything fell apart. Or when Chris and I wanted to buy that one house, and it fell through. At the time, it feels painful, not having things work out the way you wanted them to, but looking back, you can see the mess you almost had walked into, and are oh, so thankful.

With such massive instances of grace, it is easy to overlook the smaller ones. Chris bringing coffee to me in the mornings when I wake up growly and grumpy...

Grace even shows up when you are building a house. We could have had the drywall done by now, you know. If only Chris had hired someone to do it, we would be happily working away on paint and flooring. But he didn't. He kept balking, and all the while, I was getting a little put out, wondering if I should go behind his back and hire someone myself.

Then, as you know, cold weather hit, and, as we have no HVAC in the house yet, we realized that finishing drywall in cold weather was tricky. We could heat the place room by room just long enough for the mud to dry. But then our neighbor came to us with the story of another guy that has been building a house over the past few years just like we have. The fluctuation in temperature over the seasons has caused every single joint to crack, and now he has a big mess on his hands. And so there is one more mistake grace saved us from making.

In the meantime, Chris, Terry, and I are chipping away at the un-hung stacks of drywall. Saturday, after Terry helped Chris hang the top part of the vaulted ceiling upstairs, Chris and I worked on the funky, angled pieces and got one side of it done. A few more weekends, and we should have it all knocked out.

Chris has been talking to few more finishers, wondering if we could work out a deal with someone come spring to help with the finishing. Maybe we could could hire a pro to tackle the major parts, and he would cut a break if we did the mudding of the screws and less-significant tight spots. I kind of like that idea. That would give me a good excuse to buy something I've wanted since the first time I walked onto a construction site: a pair of drywall stilts.