Family Dresser

The old-new-dresser!

I painted our dresser a few weeks ago, the start of Paintegeddon, 2013.  I like painting. Although, I only like painting.  Not the prep.  Not the clean up.  Just the painting :)  There's something so nice about taking a dingy old object and making it fresh, new.  I think we all want a little more of that in our lives.  But in this case, it was a little odd, because this is the third time I've painted this dresser.  And it didn't even start out mine, it was my parents, part of their bedroom set when they first got married.  I painted it when I was pretty much still a kid, white, with little flower knobs, the dresser, not me.  I remember sitting in the garage and feeling pretty proud of myself.  Little did I know that years later I would paint that dresser again, for my first child! And now I am painting it again, for my third child.  A friend gave us his daughter's old dresser to use for Evelyn-it's bigger to hold the millions of leggings she has because she insists on wearing a dress every day, so we could use her dresser for the baby.  And since my goal for February was to create an area for a child who I may not meet for another year, the best way to start seemed to be creating an area for him, a place we would bring him home to.

Baby's sub room, 2nd day of Paintegeddon.

Our room has a little sub room, that we have planned on turning into a space for the baby. Since he will be pretty young when we bring him back, and likely have attachment issues, we want him to sleep in our room for a while.  But, because I am me :) I can't not have a space that is his own.  So, we had to order a crib.  We had to order bedding.  We had to paint the dresser. We had to put out little toys and books for him.  And oh yeah, we had to paint our bedroom three different colors and 80 gabillion coats of paint, because little boys who are being adopted will go back to their birth countries, horrified, if their mothers used only two colors and 78 gabillion coats of paint!

Our room, first coat.

Mid Paintegeddon

But, I love it.  I smiled while painting the dresser, thinking that his little clothes will go in those drawers.  I smiled-on the first coat of paint-thinking how fun it was to create a little area for him, that he is unique and this is a way I can show love, even though he is on the other side of the world.  And I really smiled when the painting was done and I set out his little books and the horse from Kazakhstan.  Little tasks, that don't even have to be done, but I like doing them.  There's plenty of tasks that I have to do, but they are nowhere near as enjoyable-these are personal.  Part of me is nervous about having the social worker come this week, and I have a lot more of those not so enjoyable tasks to complete before our visit (although Bard has me beat since he redid a huge patch of sheet rock in our front room!) But part of me is excited.  Excited to show someone how anxious we are to have our little one join us, how much we want to prepare for him coming home to our family.  And, honestly, it might sound crazy, but anyone who is involved in this process with us takes on a deeper role. They become the nurse who helps me hear my child's heart beat, the Dr who checks the baby's growth and gives me a due date.  They are part of a huge team of people who are bringing my family together.  Interesting fact about Kazakhstan, the team of people caring for my son (who has likely been born although of course we are not sure on the timing) right now, are likely very loving and bonded with him.  Unlike orphanage care in SOME countries, Kazakhstan has a reputation of having wonderful caregivers in their orphanages, many of whom grow very connected to their children.

And that's why the dresser was so interesting for me to paint.  It started as being just my parents' dresser.  Then went to their child, then to their first grand child, now to their last grand child, a little boy from Kazakhstan.   It's not even that old, but what a history! Although, I can't paint it again or the drawers won't open, so we're done :)  I love the idea of something of mine becoming something of his. That's family, shared connections.  And that's the real reason I painted our bedroom too.  So it could become his.  When you have children, you mistakenly think that you are adding them to your family.  Nope.  As you share yourself, you change, becoming something new.  I can't wait to see what our new family will be!

Finished!  Our wedding painting that inspired the colors!