Home Addition

How much can you fit in an eleven-foot-square room?  Quite a lot!

Though God created me without a desire for marriage, living in a close-knit household is a fundamental way that He provides spiritual, emotional, and practical stability to my life.  My family has selflessly allotted to me a bedroom of my own as well as free access to the common areas of the house, and I have learned through experience that my bedroom (which I lock when I leave) is the best place to keep almost all of my belongings.  Items available for everyone’s use are likely to be lost or damaged, and our steady stream of guests naturally assumes that everything in sight falls into that category.

For example, to care for my clothes, not only is my hamper in my bedroom, but also my laundry detergent, stain remover, clothespins, iron, and ironing board.  To meet my dietary needs, my room holds my ample stash of snacks and specialty cooking ingredients, together with my cookbooks, blender, juicer, slow cooker, popcorn popper, lidded containers, pitcher, thermos, water bottles, bowl, mug, measuring cups, knife, peeler, potholders, aprons, washcloths, scrubbers, and dishwashing liquid.  Though duplicates of some of these items are in our kitchen, having my own reduces the frustrations involved in discovering that what I need is in use, dirty, damaged, or lost.

For sewing, I have three machines, supplies, fabric, and notions, in addition to rubber stamping and papercrafting materials.  For exercise, I have a mat, weights, and swimming gear.  For music, I have my concert grand harp with its cover and dolly, viola, music stand, and extra strings.  My room also contains my stockpile of medications; gifts and wrapping supplies; extra blankets, linens, and pillows; shelves full of books and CD’s; suitcases and travel supplies; a desk, chair, and filing cabinet; computers, phones, and other electronics; and fifteen boxes of literature and other supplies for ministry projects.

This is besides the clothing, shoes, accessories, and mementos that one normally keeps in a bedroom.  And it’s all packed together with a full-size bed into an eleven-foot-square space that has with no closet or built-in storage.  You can imagine how challenging it is to keep my room beautiful, organized, and functional for work, rest, exercise, and conversations!

I almost forgot to mention my bathroom supplies.  My towel, washcloth, soaps, toothbrush, toothpaste, and other toiletries stay in my room, as well as all the products, including broom and dustpan, that I use to clean the bathroom I share with the children of the household.  I tote these supplies with me in and out of the bathroom.  This inconvenience and my higher sanitary standards than my bathroom-mates have evoked dreams of eventually having my own bathroom, but I’m not about to trade the joy of family life for the perks of living in my own home.

On April 6 of this year, that dream made its way into my prayers, phrased in my journal as, “One day before I die, a bigger bedroom and my own bathroom without leaving Bony and Fânia” (the couple I live with).  During worship that Sunday, I began to wonder whether our concrete home could be renovated, since the family had expressed an intention to extend our living room, and our existing hall bathroom with its plumbing is adjacent to my room.  I arrived home to find Boniface relaxing outside, so I ventured to ask him whether annexing a bathroom and storage room to my space would ever be possible.  He followed me to my exterior wall and concluded that the planned addition could be expanded to provide me with these rooms, with a new porch outside the boys’ window filling in the gap between the living room expansion and my new areas.

Since Boniface isn’t one to waste time, construction has already begun!  For the past week, workers have been preparing the foundation and erecting metal for pillars.  On Saturday, Boniface took me shopping for bathroom and lighting fixtures and tile.  Armed with a tape measure, I’m trying not to stress about all the measurements I need to define for doors and shelves and other layout considerations.  We’ve already discovered that both the length and the width of the addition differ by 6 inches from Boniface’s instructions to the stonemason, a predictable start to the patience-building complexities of employing locals for which I braced myself since requesting the project.

Please pray that I will indeed grow in patience and faith in the Lord as I navigate this adventure.  Instead of accumulating a list of disappointments as aspects of the construction proceed differently than I’d planned, may I fix my hope on Him who loved me before the foundation of the world, who works all things together for my good, and who will one day receive me into His eternal dwelling place in heaven.  May the new private bathroom and extra storage space meet His exact specifications and facilitate my service to Him by adding comfortable convenience to this wonderful place I’m blessed to call home.  Thank you for upholding me, and this project, in prayer.