Coveting... and Laundry

Back at our old church in MD I remember hearing at message by one of our pastors where he shared a helpful parenting strategy when at the mall with his kids.  He would prepare his kids for the many unhelpful things they would see by telling them to turn off their "I wanters."  Love, love that!  And I've used it since then... mostly for myself!

We recently had some work done on our basement and the whole process has reminded me of how prone my heart is to wander as I battle with discontentment.  I find my "I wanter" is often ON even when I am surrounded by abundant blessings.

Can you relate?

This was our basement laundry area BEFORE anything was done:

Yep.  And that is where I went to do my laundry for 3 years.  (Do notice the new washer, though, my Pops got me around Christmas!)  But, truly, at least I HAD a place to do laundry in my own home that I had at my disposal ANYTIME I needed it.  While I didn't like that the walls were covered in mold, the concrete floor was often damp and the kids couldn't come down making me make multiple trips to deal with what happens when Mommy was not upstairs, it was still a functional laundry room.  More than I deserved.

Enter my man - again!  Yep.  He made up his mind to get some work done in our basement to make it a bit easier for me.  His grand plan: add a full bathroom and make a real laundry room with walls and hook up our 2nd washer (the old one the new washer replaced) so I could do more in less time.  Well, if you're anything like me, you couldn't see any of THAT happening in THAT space.

Well, though we went over our anticipated budget, this is what happened.  We had our laundry area moved to the space you come to just as you enter the basement.  Lots of plumbing work.  Lots of de-molding work.  Lots of waterproofing work.

After that, Pops called in some other guys to turn it into "a room."

Did you see the light from the new windows?!?!  What a difference!  And we decided to go with walls that don't go all the way up so as to make it still very "open" and not cut off all the light to the rest of the basement.  Plus, once the play/lounge area is created I can still keep an eye on things while doing laundry!

Next came the floor and ceiling!!!!

And some paint...

And to finish it off...

Oh- and so what that our 2nd washer decided to "die" upon completion of this project!  I suppose we'll find another $50 one from Craigslist one of these days!  Hey, it lasted us 3 years!  Not bad for $50!

Thank You, Lord, for helping me see that I often sin in discontentment and allow the desires of this world overpower what You are calling me to and what You have graciously given me.  I trust Your grace will help me fight this area of sin and truly be joyful as I recall Your kindness to me.  May I not shake my fist at You when I have laundry to do... especially when I do it in such luxury!