hey god, look at my kitchen

okay. so, the long awaited for pictures of our new kitchen. i'll admit i've been reluctant to get them up, because we are not finished... we're at about 90% - so you'll definitely get the gist of whats happening in there- but not the full blown WOW factor that i typically strive for in life.
so here's the deal... we had a whole kitchen in our garage for quite some time- (countertops, cabinets, appliances, sink etc...) we were in (nicely put) "negotiations" with home depot about the installation of the cabinets. without hatin' on them to much, the short of it is we couldn't resolve - thus leaving the whole thing up to ol beebs (which was also pretty stressful for me- cause though he is very handy, i doubted his 'remodel the whole kitchen' handiness). so we nailed down the weekend- presidents day. i left our faithful old kitchenette style kitchen with the kids on friday morning and headed up to b's parents house. while i made the trek up north with a screaming son, brandon's dad was on his way down to osos for some hard core father son bonding. my weekend was fun with shell bell, lots of outside time, good food and wine, and of course- the highlight- i got to take lily to the santa cruz beach boardwalk but enough about my time away, this is about the kitchen. so b and his pops got to work friday afternoon. they demolished the kitchen down to the studs, all to find that they had to re-wire the whole kitchen and add more circuits for additional lighting, garbage disposal etc... so by saturday night it was still a totally empty kitchen. hmmm, only 2 more days till mama comes home. sunday, they scurried to get the drywall up and finish the electrical. sunday night they cut the countertop (which b routered the edge himself on) and got the base cabinets ready. monday was a mad dash, cause by monday night when i got home, we had a semi-functional kitchen. tues afternoon when b's parents were finally released, the base cabinets, the sink, the appliances and the countertop were all in action. it was amazing! even though the house was quite dusty and all our kitchen utensils, dishes and pots were in the hall closet- we were in action!
so despite my perpetual reluctance to let b undertake home projects, i am continually amazed by his aptitude and speed! but the big thanks goes out to rents- his mom for putting up with me and the kids for 72 hours straight, and to b's dad for three 15 hour days. we literally could not have done it without them!!!
so yeah, here we are a month later. much progress has been made. as you can see the upper cabinets are in, the reverse osmosis in effect (shout out to fridge water), under counter lighting, and the cabinets around the fridge in.
so whats left... the molding and base boards around the cabinets, the backsplash, paint, and the lighting. new floor tile, and a new kitchen table would be nice, but not looking to promising any time soon...
which leads me to my next point and the reason for my title...
i will never forget one of the first piper sermons i ever heard (a burned copy from a friend of a friend). i can't remember what it was called, but i do remember three pivotal lines. i was in college, so its relevance for me probably wasn't fully matured, but he was making a case for what would now be in his book, don't waste your life. he was reading an excerpt from a readers digest article that was describing the "good life" of some fifty something retirees. they had bought a 50 ft trawler, and were enjoying their golden years sailing around on their yacht, relaxing and collecting seashells. doesn't sound too bad uh? well, i will never forget the passion in his voice as he depicted what it would be like when these seniors stood before the almighty. "look at my boat god... look at my seashell collection! isn't it awesome!" can you imagine? standing before god and all you have to glory in is your boat and your shells? its pretty convicting.
although i've gone through the last 9 years since hearing this with some thought; i hadn't really experienced the weight of it until just recently. since the old well has run dry, and it looks as though we won't be able to do all we planned in the kitchen, i've found myself unhealthily frustrated. frustrated with my circumstances and my husband. i want, i want, i want. i want the glorious kitchen, and yet i have to ask myself at what cost? i'm realizing (slowly) that being dissatisfied in my kitchen is incredibly menial in the big picture.
so, in sum i'm realizing once again, that god will find every which way to bring me back to him, even if its through paperstone countertops and bosch dishwashers.
so, throw one up for us as my husband labors each evening hanging pot racks and messing with the lighting while i lay on the couch eating ice cream and watching movies. it's obvious one of us needs to get our priorities right.
in the meantime, enjoy the slide show!