A Fishy Tale

Thanks for checking out my first attempt at blogging. I put if off as long as possible! I look forward to sharing about my family, ministry, homeschooling, and the joys of being a wife and mom, as well as my relationship with Christ. I'd love your feedback!

Most of you know how much my hubby loves to fish and loves stories about the fish he's caught or that others have. This story is a very different kind of fish tale.

It started a few months ago when we discovered our kids had suddenly started a "fish fund." Apparantely they thought this would allow them to buy a fish and a bowl. Of course, after some parental intervention, a few trips to the local pet store and much time thinking about all the reasons we did not need a fish, it was decided we would actually go pretty big on the fish tank, enabling us to have a vast assortment of the cuddly little pets! Our only obstacle was the location we chose for this planned investment...our window seat located halfway up our stairs, which did not have an electrical outlet anywhere near it.

So, my sweet hubby, being the handy man that he is (this is not at all sarcastic...he really does do a lot...though he has no college degree in "handy") decided that "electrician" was just a fancy word for "men with lots of tools" and that he was perfectly capable of installing this outlet himself.

With directions printed out from the internet, he and our six-year-old son as his side kick, set out last Friday to do this quick install so we could move on to other family time activites. In his defense, we made the decision when we built our house to have spray foam insulation put in rather than traditional insulation. A great idea for saving on energy costs (and it truly has!) but not such a great idea when wanting to run electrical wire through the walls. Please keep in mind, the idea was to use an existing outlet located in a storage closet under the stairs, directly below where we wanted the new outlet. A simple plan....make a hole, drop down the wire, do all the "electrical" stuff, close it all up, done!

Although I did not take notes minute by minute, here's basically how Friday looked:

2:00 pm - Print directions from the internet...a great education source!

2:10 pm - Allow six year old to knock whole in wall

2:30 pm - Start trying to poke hole through insulation; realize insulation is very hard!

3:00 pm - Make a couple of phone calls to other "handy men who are not electricians either" for advice

3:30 pm - Allow six year old to knock second hole in wall

4:00 pm - Success at last....I am summoned to the garage to see that a complete passage has finally been made...why do I have a pit in my stomach??

4:30 pm - Begin trying to drill a pathway through the second hole in the wall

5:00 pm - This time I'm summoned outside to the front porch...please not the siding....

5:00 - 7:30 pm - Work tirelessy to finally create a passageway for the electrical cord and complete installing the outlet. Yes, I now had two large holes in my wall, three smaller holes in the garage and one through the front of my house, but I have a beautiful, shiny new outlet where maybe one day soon, a lovely fish tank, possibly even with fish in it, will be sitting!

Last Friday afternoon was a long day of work for my husband. I know he worked very hard and yes, maybe even saved us some money. I do really appreciate all his work...it was however very humorous to see something start so simple and turn into so much more.

Here's the spiritual connection I found through this: How many times do we go "poking" around for all the anwers in life, when all we needed to do was go straight to the source....the place where we can always be energized and ready for all life throws at us. I hope today you will take time to plug into God's word! Don't waste time on all the other "stuff" that gets tossed your way. It's a waste of time and all you'll get in the end are more holes in your life that don't lead to anything good.