More than A "Christmas Wish" Part II

Note: This is the before picture.

Some might see this year’s sentimental Christmas gift from my parents as extravagant, over the top, or even unnecessary ~ and you might be right on some levels but it is so much more than all of these things. I will agree you to some extent yet I see it as so much more and the meaning behind the gift is deeper than it being handmade. To this daddy’s girl, it is a priceless treasure and overwhelms me with thanksgiving and love. Don’t get me wrong, I thank God for my parents on a daily basis yet when they do things like this, it is just humbling and amazing to me. 

A snip-it about my parents and why these special Christmas gifts the past few years mean so much. In 1994 my younger sister, Heidi M Allen, disappeared…kidnapped from the convenience store she worked at to pay her way through college. In addition to my sister, the kidnappers stole our communities security and on some levels, faith and hope for the tomorrows yet to be.

“This is what happened to our family in 94’
My sister went to work and was found no more.
Mom and Dad lost more than their child,
Security, trust, and fear were riled.”
Lisa M Buske, When the Waves Subside: There is  Hope

As children, my parents teamed together to create, design, build, and finish various projects for Heidi and I, our friends, and family. They used their gifts to develop items to last a life time, those priceless treasures that no amount of money could replace if they were lost or damaged. I still have one of the first book shelves my father made me, nestled in our bathroom to keep things organized and easy to access. In the living room is a little bookend shelf that holds my morning devotionals and journals on the end table. Each special and designed, built, and finished by my parents’ hands. 

Of course to receive these beautiful, heartfelt, and special gifts isn’t the best part. On so many occasions instead of telling us “Don’t touch” or “Stay in the other room I’m working”, Mom and Dad invited us to help them so we could learn and one day do the same for our kiddos. I would like to tell you I have my parents’ eye or talent to work with wood, painting, and building but this is not my area. (Not that there hasn’t been time and effort put in, lol) So my lack of mastery makes their gifts all the more special to me: first, because each always starts with the love in their heart and second, I know how difficult and tedious much of it is.

So this brings me to this year’s sentimental and amazing gift of love from my parents. Within our living room is a section of wall that we always said was wasted space. Due to the entry from the front room, you can’t put any large furniture there without it sticking out into the walkway. There aren’t any outlets on the wall so you can’t make it a reading nook or set a narrow table and lamp there either. For the past couple decades we’ve tried different things in this area, none of which really worked, until a few years ago.

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A friend of my parents passed away and when we helped to clean out her home, she had oodles (and I mean oodles) of books and the shelves to store them on. In addition to accumulating more books, we were blessed to inherit many of the shelves too. At first we didn’t know where to put them but then as I looked at the void of a space in the living room, the light bulb came on. Within a week, the mismatched shelves were put against the wall, the stacked ones screwed to the wall, and the books “inherited” and stored throughout the house were organized on this new “unit”. I loved it. Not only was wasted space utilized, the books were all in one area.

Fast forward to this summer, as my father puttered on a project at our house he mentioned possibly building a shelving unit to replace the hodgepodge of shelves I had. My response, “Dad, I don’t need it. These work fine.” He laughed at me and said, “I didn’t ask if you needed it.” The conversation continued for a bit and then I thought it was dropped. Not so much. 

For Christmas this year, Mom and Dad put their creative juices together to design, build, wood burn, stencil, paint, and finish the most amazing work of art and expression of love I’ve seen. Each time I pass by it, my heart overflows with love and thanksgiving, how did I get so lucky!?

But we all know luck has nothing to do with it, God blessed me with the amazing parents I have and this is just one more thing to be thankful for on a daily basis.

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Would you like to see this masterpiece?
If so, stop by the blog tomorrow to see the transformation and learn more to the story behind each design and creative attribute of the shelving unit.
Thanks again Mom and Dad!

I believe I just heard my parents call me a Brat! tee hee

Is there a gift of love you were given in this
lifetime that stands out more than others?