It's Getting to Me

I have to admit, spring's starting to get to me. On our way home from church we saw our first robin. Then this afternoon, I notice the return of the bluebirds. We have tons on our property and many of them sit right on our deck. I was able to open our patio window while cooking supper. I love having the windows open! It's suppose to be 60+ degrees here tomorrow.

I've begun to think about Felicity's stone being set at her grave (hopefully mid-May?) and being able to put flowers next to it and hang a wind chime maybe. I don't get to her grave as often as I'd like. The boys and I tried a week ago, but it was too wet to get out of the van. Hopefully with warmer weather, we can spend more time there. It may seem weird to many of you, if you're not grieving a child, to think of spending time at a grave. (A dad at a grief group I met refers to his daughter's grave as her "property" which I thought was cute.) But for a grieving parent, to visit our child's "property" is like being with him/her. While I know Felicity's soul is in Heaven, I know one day her body will be raised up (I Thess. 4:16) and so it feels right to be where her body is, since I can't be with her in Heaven.

Spring fever is starting to hit me as I'm mentally thinking of all the projects I'd like to accomplish around the house. Unfortunately, the majority of these projects are things that Paul could care less about. I'm working on him though. When I first mentioned the idea of painting, he said we'd do it before we try to sell the place, in 10 years or so. All of our walls are off-white and starting to look pretty dingy.

When I returned home from Wal-mart yesterday with paint samples in hand, he got a worried look on his face. He got even more worried once I'd walked around the house and picked the shades I liked best. After a day or so of thinking about it, he's starting to warm up to the idea and is thinking of logistics that never crossed my mind. I'm thinking of a warm beige ("shingle tan") for the entry way and up into the dining room, "springside sage" for the kitchen, and a combination of "shingle tan" and "red drama" for the living room. I picked out some colors for the other rooms, but I'd just be happy getting these areas done. We have vaulted ceilings so it's going to be quite the project, if we do undertake it. If any of you reading this have rooms you've painted in dramatic colors, I'd love to see photos. We need some ideas on how to break up the colors between the walls since one of the kitchen walls goes into the living room. Email photos to me if you'd like to share: rschwendinger at hotmail dot com.