Lean In and Trust

Twelve years ago, I bought a table and four chairs at a thrift store. The table was painted black, and the chairs were mismatched, but I thought it looked nice compared to what we had. We had it all of a few days before the black paint started peeling off.

When we would have company, we would peel the paint off as we were lingering around the table after enjoying the meal. It became a fun activity. Who could pull off the biggest amount of paint in one pull?

Eventually, a good chunk of the black paint was off, and we could see the dark wood that was hidden underneath had many flaws. So, I decided to be crafty and sand it down and paint it for myself.

I went on Pinterest and searched many ideas before deciding on a robin’s egg blue with creamy white stencil pattern on top. It turned out really nice! I was very surprised honestly. My husband will tell you that the downside of a nice-looking table was I then felt I needed to have white chairs to match, so that was the next purchase. I purchased four chairs for our family of four.

A few months later, I found two nice white chairs on a rummage site and purchased those, so we could have visitors, and the table would still match.

Our foster care journey started shortly after. Those two chairs were filled with two lovely young ladies who fit perfectly around our table.

Joel built a leaf to add to the table for when family or friends would visit. We never did get that leaf painted, so we always had a tablecloth on hand.

I don’t remember exactly when, but we realized that we would need a much bigger table if we were going to open our home to kids and families and friends. We found a drop-leaf table at an antique store, and it was a dream come true for me. We could easily fit 10 people around the table. We just needed to buy chairs.

I never thought we would need this table to be used at max capacity at every meal, but here we are. We have all 10 chairs being used at mealtime.

I love that when God gives me a dream, He makes it come true. It wasn’t ever my goal to get rid of my crafted table I spent so much time on. But with the passion to add to our family, came the dream for a bigger table. And it is perfect.