Each project has been unique as I spend hours doodling plans in the margins of my notes. Time flies as I scroll Pinterest and binge HGTV for inspiration and big ideas. My dad and I spend hours rummaging through piles of soon to be reclaimed lumber from the Habitat Restore, our family's farm, or the dumpster conveniently placed behind our house to find just the right orphaned piece of wood or pallet for the project. Our pieces are one of a kind for sure.
Do not be fooled, we are far from professionals. However what we lack in proper training and equipment we make up for in creativity and style points. I even sported a pencil behind my ear to Home Depot (taking the running total of trips of the current project up to 3). It's the little things our amateur eyes can't foresee that often sends us back to the store for screws, or finish, or a new saw blade. I have begun to carry a tape measure in my bag as we randomly stumble across similar pieces, such as a prayer bench at church. We measure twice and cut once, and sometimes it fits and sometimes it doesn't.
It's been a humble learning experience as a city raised daughter learns from her farm boy Dad. Apart from the craftsman skills I've been learning a lot from my heavenly father as well. I am reminded of the book, The Three Trees, you know where each tree has lived a life with dreams and ambitions only to be cut down and worked into something less grand than their expectations. The feeding trough, fishing boat, and straight pieces of lumber are eventually used as a part of a greater story, the one of Christ.
How true it is about us too. We too are being reclaimed, sometimes distressed, often sanded down but continually being made into something new to be used as a part of God's story. My Dad and I are doing more than just daddy daughter projects (although it makes a good title for an HGTV series) the stories we are building is time well spent.
