1 of 1

Hey Dad,

Every muscle in my body is sore. My arms are stiff, my toes ache, and even the tips of my fingers feel swollen. For the last eight or nine days, my wife and kids and I have been working like dogs trying to turn our junk-infested garage into a productive Familyman Ministries office/warehouse.

It took a whole day just to get all the old stuff out of the garage, and every day since then, we've been dry-walling, painting, and cleaning up. Actually, I should've sold tickets just to watch our little circus of construction performers.

"Hurry, hurry, step right up to see the Amazing Wilsons. They paint, they spill, all while their dad yells at them."

Talk about tense times. My sons, Ben (14) and Sam (12), and I hung drywall on the 10' ceiling perched atop a makeshift scaffold. They held it in place while I pushed against the drywall with my stocking-capped head until I'd sunk several screws deep into the studs. It was scary, but they swayed and giggled as I fumbled for the screws in my tool belt.

We finally got it all hung, and yesterday Ben and I tackled the messiest job in the world. It seemed simple in theory, texturize a ceiling. Besides, I assumed I didn't need to do a super job smoothing out the ceiling since we were going to spray stuff all over it.

Well, we rented the machine and managed to spray plaster and Styrofoam all over us, the floor, and every single item still in the garage … and even got some on the ceiling. By the way, it doesn't cover up uneven drywall.

But hey, we're almost done, and it looks—okay. I could've hired someone who knew what they were doing, and it probably would've been done in half the time and not cost all that much, but my family would've missed out on working as a team.

Years from now, I know Ben and Sam will point to the ceiling and say, "We hung that." Ben will laugh when he recalls the time dad sprayed "ceiling stuff" all over him, and Kat (10) will remember her first real painting job.

That, my fellow dad, is worth sore fingertips and an imperfect ceiling.

So, if you're thinking of a little family construction project, let me encourage you to get the whole family involved. It won't turn out perfect, but the time spent together working on it makes up for it.

You 'da Dad,

© 2007 Todd Wilson. Used by permission.

 1 of 1

share this page

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter (All fields required)    RSS Feed   RSS Help