Long Before It Does

I am still mulling over restoration.

Having lived in many an unfinished house, I am familiar with the lifestyle.
You rejoice over what is done.
You look forward to what's to come.
You bear with the mess and inconvenience.
And you work on another corner.

What is finished is worth taking pictures of and sharing. In fact, sometimes what isn't finished is worth posting. I like to record the whole process -- the horror, the demolition, and the renewal. When we ripped our rotten front porch off, I was excited. Because rot is always better gone. But it wasn't done.

We dug holes around our foundation, and yanked loose stones out of it. I took pictures of that, too. And then we formed and poured support. But we still had no porch. When the porch was done, but not painted, I was too eager to share the beauty of it to wait for paint. And because my family appreciates potential, they enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed sharing them.

Sometimes you have to look past urine-soaked shag carpet, or missing flooring. Someone with no imagination, and no sense of investment in your home may walk in and see nothing but dirt-stained plywood floors, and hideous drop ceilings. But when you look with the eyes of a renovator, you can see it sparkling long before it does.
  
"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, 
and to present you faultless 
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Savior, 
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. 
Amen." 
~Jude 1:24, 25