What Love Looks Like (Exhibit A)

Before:

After:

Can you see the difference?  (Click on the images to see them larger)

Just in case you need a closer view to be sure:

Before:

After:

You see, at Thanksgiving we took some photos out in the front of DH's parent's yard after church, while MIL was in the house getting lunch on the table.  MIL knew we were taking some, and had FIL take some with their camera.  When we were done and went into the house, MIL immediately downloaded the photos so she could see them.  And then she lamented the sad state of the fence behind us, and I think was a little bummed that the paint-worn and peeling fence would be so prominent in the photos.  (They have a large property to care for, but take excellent care of it--this part of the yard is not used as much, so the fence had thus far escaped their attention, to MIL's chagrin.)

This photo pose of "Opa" and the kids I had set up as a surprise, and so MIL had not seen it.  I had planned on enlarging it and framing it for a Christmas gift, but knew--after hearing her comments about the fence--that I would have to get creative with the image to make it gift-worthy.

It took me a week of sitting in front of the computer whenever I had a chance, trying out two different "photoshop" programs, trying different methods of "painting," and finally just re-coloring pixel by pixel at 800% resolution in small patches at a time.  As you can imagine, my mouse arm got really tired--but my Obsessive Compulsive urges were well gratified, and overall it was fun! Best of all, I was really pleased with the results, so it was all worth it!

I framed one of DH's sister and her family too, in a matching frame, and I think MIL liked them:

(Remember these frames?  If you like them, they are still available, still at a great price!  If you sign up for the company emails, you can wait to order when there are free shipping deals, like I did.)

The results were so good that MIL did not notice anything about the fence when she opened it, even if I asked her if anything looked different.  So, yes, I did tell her I had "painted" the fence.  I wanted her to realize that I had known she cared, and had gone to the effort to make it more what would make her happy.  I wanted her to feel my thought and love, esp. since she keeps saying love is "doing."  I hope she felt it!

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My dear Readers!  I thought it might be really fun to share stories of What Love Looks Like with one another.  So, if you have a Christmas WLLL story to share, please feel free to blog about it and then leave the link here in the comments, or just leave your story here in the comments.  : )

P.S.  If you had any trouble loading these pics, please let me know--new program, larger files, want to make sure no one has trouble with them!