The door

The house we live in today has certainly changed from the house we moved into 30-plus years ago. It was old when we bought it - a total fixer-upper. We rolled up our sleeves and started the never-ending process of making the house our home.

One of the most unique features of the first floor was that there were 6 outside entrances. That's right... six! While it was comforting to know that in case of a fire we could each have our own escape route (I would carry the youngest daughter), it did present a decorating problem.

And... old wood doors, though heavy, don't seal well. It was a continual challenge keeping the cold winter wind outside where it belonged. So, we replaced the two living room doors (complete with ancient arched windows) with modern, quiet, insulated doors. A second door on the porch became a window. The laundry room door became a wall. The dining room now sports a door that actually locks with a key!

Last week, I was outside stripping paint from the old kitchen door... the last survivor of doors gone by. My plan was to make the finish smooth enough to paint it back to respectability. But as I struggled my way through layers of color, I fell in love with the mottled finish... the evidence of generations of women who spruced up the kitchen by painting that old door.

I think I'll know when the finish is just right. While I work toward that point, it's fun to review our history of five kids flying through that very door with the latest news of deer in the garden, baby goats in the barn, and chickens wandering through the neighborhood.

 

What a noisy house this used to be.

... I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of  wickedness. Psalm 84:10