done enough.

Much of my children's early years were spent with some part of our home looking something like this:

Over the last five years my husband and I have s-l-o-w-l-y renovated our home.  We have done all of the inside work ourselves with the help of a dear friend who always seemed to show up during the worst of the manual labor (thank you Jim).  We have torn down walls, put up different walls, moved walls, wired electricity, pulled up subfloor, tiled, installed wood flooring, drywalled, mudded and sanded, painted, dropped windows (oops), replaced windows, replaced doors; you name it, we did it.  

It has been slow, slow work and we have learned a great deal along the way.  As I look around my house now, it's easy for me to look at all of the work still to be done.  There are doors to hang, trim to finish and still more flooring to install, but that is for the years to come.  For now we have declared our home "done enough."  It is done enough to be livable and safe for our kids, it is done enough that it feels more and more like a home again.  The truth is, we began the work as an act of love; we both love to use our hands, but construction and children don't always make for the best companions. The house is done enough, and being present for our children is also an act of love, so they are the focus of our love and attention for now.  The floors and trim can wait.

I am writing this post so that on the days I look around and feel overwhelmed by the unfinished projects surrounding us, I can see how far we've come, and I can remind myself to settle into the joy of having a home that is done enough.