My wife and I have been working on a backyard project for the last year or more. We are slowly putting in a tiered patio, a pergola, plants, a fire pit, lights, camera, action… Well, maybe not the camera and action, but the rest of it has helped our backyard retreat slowly take shape.

The seating around the fire pit is going to be pews from the building our ministry bought a year and a half ago. They were in pretty ratty shape, but we decided to refurbish them and put them in as bench seating. Over the past week or so, my wife has been diligently stripping the old lacquer and stain so that we could put on new lacquer and stain. It’s a process. Like my recovery, the steps need to take place in the proper order. This weekend we finally got to the final part of the process. All of the stripping, sanding, and staining was done so it was time to apply the spar urethane. It takes time and a certain amount of technique to get the urethane to go on smoothly. If you don’t use enough you get thin spots. If you use too much you get drips. If you go too fast you get brush strokes and bubbles. It’s a process…

So your MoM sets himself to work on getting it right. Brush, brush, brush. Then smell fumes all night because we needed to keep the pew away from bugs and dust outside. Then wait for it to dry…And finally, give it a “feel test”. I needed to know if I put the urethane on smoothly. For the most part I did, but there were a few spots where I got going too fast and you could feel bumps and ridges. I needed to do some sanding before I could put on the final coat. So sand I did. Which left it smooth like a baby. Sometimes were have to knock down the ridges and high spots in order to…

–Rise Up!!