Finished!

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 1:2

Hooray!  I have a new kitchen!  The installation started a week ago when they finished pulling out the old cabinets, sink and dishwasher.  I took the day off work, thinking the new cabinets would be in place by the end of the day, but they weren’t finished.  The cabinets and drawers were together, but the doors and drawer fronts were not complete.  The installer sensed my disappointment and said with a smile, “You can put your things away in the cabinets, but not the drawers.  I will need to take them out to put the fronts on, but the doors can be installed even if the cabinets are full.”    He laughed when he saw the joy on my face.  Finally, I could start unpacking the boxes that filled the living room!  It took trial and error to figure out where things would fit best.  The food pantry is fabulous.  I am so excited about having a place to put food that I can reach and see everything.   I bought some dividers and some racks to keep things organized.  My fiestaware dishes look bright and happy behind the glass doors.     By midnight that night, I had shelf lining down, the cabinets sorted out and boxes loaded in my car to return to work.   A place for everything and everything in its place!  The next day, I took the afternoon off work and waited for the doors and drawers to be installed.  Then, I finished out the unpacking. And I even have two drawers with nothing in them!!!  Whoo Hoo!   Of course, the waiting was not yet over. The countertop had to be measured after the cabinets were installed and required a week to make.   While we waited, husband put the new microwave in place.  Today, one week later, the countertop is on, my new sink and faucet in place, the new dishwasher and garbage disposal installed.  I love my maple cabinets and my “tarragon” countertop.  While the tarragon color is a bit bluer than I thought it was based on the sample, it is very pretty and looks sleek and clean.   I love my new flowered rugs, too.   My pictures of the Guatemalan children haven’t arrived yet (by the way, I chose Panini (yellow), Monica with Shawl and Five Chajul girls), we need to paint in the area where the cabinets were changed out and we are still deciding what to do about our purple kitchen table, it looks like a whole new room.   Really, a whole new house.  Until you step onto the concrete slab of the living/dining room.   But, all in good time.  Tonight is for enjoying my new kitchen.  It’s not the way I wanted to get a kitchen remodel.  Certainly it took more time and money than we were prepared to give right now.  But, it feels like a gift.  That’s what grace is all about.  An undeserved gift.  Like forgiveness, salvation and God’s love.  And that is an even bigger reason to celebrate.