Wrangler Dani

Two weekends ago, a small army of our friends came over to help us rip out our old kitchen. It was extremely dusty and disgusting and I might be a little bit of a Clean Kitchen Fanatic after that experience.

Last weekend, my parents came up and helped us install the new cabinets. (By “us” I mean Adam and my dad worked really long hours and my mom and I ran errands, made food and offered suspect advice). These new cabinets are a dream and a blessing. We’ve worked so long to have this house, and now to make it our own, even in small ways, feels so gratifying and pinch-me-is-this-really-my-life blessed. No, we aren’t tearing out walls or adding islands, no, we aren’t hiring a professional to handle it and make it perfect, yes we have a small budget and a lot of items on the to-do list – but such limitations make this experience even better.

Because we are committed DIYers, and that makes us, by necessity, DITers (Do It Together). Because we just can’t do it all on our own – despite Adam’s obvious hunky-ness, he needs another dude to help lift things, we need older and wiser heads to give us advice, we need the love of friends and family as we attempt to make these updates with wise stewardship and grace.

DIT humbles us. We can’t always do everything “our way”, sometimes we have to listen when we’d rather speak, and sometimes we have to work late when we’d rather give it up and go to bed. I think that both approaches – DIY and DIT – are vital to making our happy home.

Because we have to stay true to our callings, our family values and God’s truth, and sometimes that can be a lonely path – the DIY of life. But DIT gives us opportunities to share and be shared with, to welcome others into our messy, complicated lives and to love people despite imperfections, idiosyncrasies and stubbornness. Sometimes DIT gives us glimpses of beauty that we never would have seen otherwise – sacrificial love, unique gifts and even a good belly-laugh that we could not have experienced on our own.

We must be good stewards of our time and treasure, so we will keep DIYing everything we can. We will lean on, embrace and cherish our community, so we will keep welcoming others into DIT.

So who wants to join in? Let’s Do It Together.