Christmas

So I fell off posting in December. It's always a crazy busy month for me because of dealing with Christmas gifts. God showed up in so many ways for us last month. One of the biggest blessings was around the middle of the month. All three kids were sick, but especially Jack. Our pediatrician copay is $5, and I had figured out that we were going to have exactly that much available in the bank to cover it. Then a preauthorized payment came in a day early. I got enough money in the bank to cover it before it processed out, but because they knew about it before I made the deposit, they still charged $70 in fees, which put us $65 overdrawn. Not only did this take the copay money, but it meant that if we couldn't get enough to cover the shortage within a few days they would charge us another fee on top of it. I asked my Facebook friends to please lift us up for an unspoken prayer request, and I called the bank as soon as customer service opened. I explained the situation, and the agent was very nice and agreed to refund half the fee ($70), which was great, but it still left us $30 short and needing money for the doctor. I asked if a manager might be able to refund the rest, and he seemed doubtful, but agreed to get one on the line. Let me just tell you, that lady was an angel. She listened to this stressed out teary mama, and not only did she waive the other $35, but she went back on the account and waived every fee she could find, putting our account at a positive $110. I had gone to drop off some work for Morgan at school since she was home sick and made the call from the parking lot there. I sat in my car and cried over how above and beyond good to us God is. So I got to take all three kids to the doctor instead of just Jack, which turned out to be a very good thing since they all three had strep. 

The whole month God pulled us through bit by bit. I had 8 or 10 craft orders throughout the month that covered gas and groceries day by day. 

Grant and Kelly had their baby boy on the 9th of December, and I got to be in the room for it taking pictures, which is such a special thing for me. This is the third niece or nephew I've had the privilege of seeing born, and it's the best thing ever!

Christmas was very nice. Nick bought me a couple of pieces for my Willow Tree Nativity, a couple of pretty bras, and some makeup. I got him some duck decoys, a duck call, a few stocking stuffers, and I made him 4 custom t shirts, which were a big hit. The kids got pretty much everything they wanted, and life was good all around. 

Right now we are in a very hard place financially again, but I know God shines brightest in those situations, and I can't wait to see what He does to meet our needs again. 

Busy life

So four months have gone by. I'm sorry I've not been updating. I just haven't been able to find the wherewithal to sit down and post. But a lot of things have been happening. 

First of all, the house I mentioned back in February. We didn't get it. We kept working toward getting ours ready to market, and the Realtor called us periodically to find out how close to listing we were. Finally he called in April to tell us the homeowners expected an offer from a particular buyer any day. This would be their very first offer after over a year on the market, so we expected them to take it, which we hated, but we just weren't ready. Then the other offer got delayed. 

Finally the Realtor called and asked me what it was that was keeping us from submitting a contingency offer. I explained that we still had a few things left to do, which we were working to come up with the money for, and we knew a contingency offer would be time sensitive. We didn't want to waste part of that time with our house not yet for sale. He said he felt like they would be open to a lengthier contingency time frame than normal since no other offer had come in, so I told him we would talk about it and pray about it. We finally decided to go for it, and we submitted an offer several thousand dollars below the asking price, with the expectation that they would counter. 

And of course the other offer came in the same day. But they asked the Realtor to come back to both us and the other buyers and ask us to submit our very best offers. So we gave them an offer for the very most we were willing to spend. The next day the Realtor told us he was very sorry, but they had chosen the other buyers. So I was very sad and upset for about an hour.

Then Nick found a very new listing online for a house in close to the same price range with even more room than the one we had just lost. It was For Sale By Owner, so we called the number listed and asked for a showing. We went to see it the next day, and we fell completely in love. Like head over heels. 

It was definitely a project home, as the owners had purchased it to completely renovate and then run out of money after running into some nasty surprises. But they had fixed most of the big things, like a new roof, a new ($20,000) HVAC system with all new trunk lines, new plumbing, a completely renovated kitchen with granite counter tops, all new cabinets, and all new higher end appliances, tile flooring in the kitchen and living room, and new carpeting upstairs.  The husband is in the military, and they bought the home based on the information that he was going to be deployed to Afghanistan. They were going to used his deployment salary to pay for the renovations. They went ahead and started the major renovations using credit with plans to pay it off when his salary came in. Then his deployment got cancelled. By this time they were tens of thousands of dollars in debt with the renovations, so they decided to cut their losses and sell. 

It had everything we wanted and even things we hadn't  been looking for, like a pool and a tennis court (yes, a tennis court). And there was a ginormous craft space with a kitchenette attached to it. Okay, it was a mother-in-law suite, but it would make a dream craft room. And there was a huge detached garage tall enough for Nick to install a car lift in, which has long been on his list of someday dreams. The bedrooms were massive, and there was tons of natural light throughout the whole house.

We loved it so much that, after praying about it, we made an offer that same day. At first they didn't accept it because we weren't on the market yet with our home, but our Realtor talked them into a 90 day contingency contract, and the race was on! Our families came together to help, and we were market ready in 2 weeks. It actually took a few days for the listing to go live because we were waiting on the photographer to come take listing photos, but once it did, we blew up with showings. Like 5 in the first few days. And they just kept coming. We've had 45 showings at this point. But no offers. And our contract ran out last Monday. 

We talked to the homeowners, and they were willing to renew on basically the same terms for another 6 weeks or so. But we wanted to go by and see the home again before we signed a new contract, especially since they did not want to work with our Realtor since they didn't want to have to pay him a seller's commission. As we've only contracted with him to sell our house, not find us another, that was fine with us. But we wanted to take my parents with us to see the house, especially since my mom would be handling all the paperwork on our end if we weren't going to use our Realtor. They really didn't like the house at all, which was disappointing to us, but all they could see was the work left to do. 

It's mostly just finishing work at this point, like laying tile that has already been purchased and would come with the house, putting up trim and hanging doors that are also already there, and installing toilets that are sitting there in the boxes. But there are a couple of major projects too, the most urgent of which would be putting together the completely gutted master bathroom (no small expense). The in ground pool needs a bit of cosmetic work, and we don't know if all the pipes are sound. The upstairs hallway and the stairs need  carpet, and there are several places in the home that need drywall or ceilings installed. We were actually pretty disappointed that they hadn't finished anything since we had first seen it three months prior, but the  wife is very pregnant and the husband is frequently gone with his job, and I guess they figured they had a buyer and didn't need to do anything else.

We could do all the work ourselves with the exception of the pool, but after more prayer and talking, we opted not to renew the contract. We haven't completely ruled the house out by any means, but we feel like God was telling us not to sign anything else until our house sells. Maybe since they have to start marketing it again they will finish up a few projects, and if it doesn't sell soon, maybe they will come down on the price. Or maybe it's not the house for us after all and it will sell to someone else before ours sells. We're still just waiting and praying.

So that's what's happening on the real estate front. The good news is that my house has been pretty much spotless for 3 months straight. The laundry is always all done and the sink is always clean. I've never been such an awesome housekeeper in my life. Wherever we end up, I definitely want to continue the habit, even if I have to be the meanest mom in the world to make it happen. Jack and Daisy are both actually great at keeping things neat now. It's Morgan I have to stay on top of.

Of course now that the house is all clean I am literally perfect (ha!), so there's no reason at all for Nick to bring up anything discipline related. Except of course for the fact that I still desperately need it in my life, but whatevs. I've asked him several times if he's decided not to do it any more, and he always says no, it's just not something we've done "lately". We're coming up on 11 months now since the last punishment spanking, and 9 months since the last spanking at all, which was my wonderful birthday spanking last year. I'm halfway convinced that he really is done with it but just doesn't want to have the conversation so he keeps putting me off. That's probably not a fair assessment, but I'm on my period and not inclined to be reasonable.

We did finally get that night alone on our 17th anniversary last month. It was kind of a mixed bag. The time we had together was wonderful, but the timing was bad. Nick had to work that day, then get up early and go back to work the next day. Plus I was on my period then too, which kind of put a damper on things. We went downtown and had a fabulous sushi dinner, but our plans to explore the downtown area on foot together afterwards got rained out with a vengeance. 

Nick took this last week off, and my mom tried to give us another go at a romantic night alone. That went swimmingly until about 2:30 in the morning when she finally gave up trying to pacify a little boy who badly missed his mom and I had to go get him. But we had been about to go to bed anyway, to sleep since we'd had some crazy good sex on the back deck earlier, rather daring for us these days. :) 

So what else? Nick ended up not getting to join us at church camp this year because they wouldn't give him the time off. which was a huge disappointment. He did drive up every night for the evening meal and service, but it wasn't the same without him. Since he wasn't going to be there all week, I had just planned to drive up daily myself. This was the first year we incorporated a craft time into every day, and I was in charge of it, so I did have to be there for that, but I was afraid it might be hard to manage both little kids in that environment by myself all week. But Nick didn't want me to make the drive every day, both because of the gas expense and because it's kind of a long and sketchy drive road-wise, so he had me stay. Kelly and her two little ones, Logan and Adison ended up staying with me most of the week though, so we traded off sitting so the other could get a shower when we needed to. At 9 months apart, Jack and Logan are best buddies as well as first cousins, so it was good for them to have each other to play with, and Daisy couldn't get enough of 13 month old Adison.

Nick missing camp did mean that he still had that week of vacation, which is why he was able to take it off last week. Vacation Bible School was going on at our church all week, and I wish it had been some other week. It went great and the kids loved all the crafts, but Nick wasn't thinking about it being that week when he requested off, so it wasn't quite the break he was hoping for. But he still got some fishing time in, and it was nice for him to at least not have to show up at work. And we did have that one very nice partial night alone. :)

We're most likely not going to get to go to Texas this year, which makes me very sad. We've been every year since Kate and Will got married with the exception of the year we all went to Sea Island to vacation together. It would have to be in the next 3 weeks or so if we were able to go, and the money is just not there this year. We did get to see Kate and the kids for a week though a few weeks ago when she came in to stay, so it's not like we're going a couple of years between visits. Maybe if the house sells by then we can try to go when the kids are out of school for fall break.

Speaking of school, in 20 days I'll have both a high schooler and a kindergartner, (Sob!) We had Daisy in a one on one preschool program one day a week last school year with Morgan's retired preschool teacher who now teaches like this in her home. Daisy missed the age cutoff for kindergarten by 5 days last year, so she'll be one of the oldest in her class, and we didn't want her to fall behind. She did really great with the in home teaching, and she's reading pretty well and a whiz at math. She'll do great in school, but I'm sad to see her growing up so fast! So far it's looking like she'll be in the elementary school near our current house, which I don't love. Morgan attended there in 5th grade, and the teachers were all very nice, but the school is only rated a 3 out of 10. We didn't put in for any sort of transfer request for her, because we thought we'd be moved by now, and the house we were trying to buy is zoned for the top rated elementary school in our county. 

Morgan on the other hand will be going to the school we want her to attend. We did request a transfer for her, because the other house (well, both other houses actually) were zoned for a school we didn't want her to attend. We were actually surprised to be approved for the transfer, because we were told they're notoriously hard to get, but we sure prayed hard about it, and God answered. I have to trust that He has a plan for Daisy being where she is. When they had kindergarten round up a few months ago we went ahead and pre-registered her at the nearby school because we didn't have permission to go anywhere else, and she really liked what she saw, so I'm sure it will be fine. She'll be close to home, and it will probably just be for one year anyway.

So I think that's all the news that's news. Hope you guys are all doing well!

Preparing

I know it's been too long since I've posted here. But I'm still kicking. Life has been busy but wonderful. Christmas was a precious time as always. I got some fun things, but the biggest was a Dyson DC59 Animal with a Home and Car Cordless Tool Kit from Will and Kate. I know it's not exactly a wild and crazy gift, but I was super excited - it's the first decent vacuum cleaner I've ever owned! And it was completely unexpected. Kate has one that she loves and uses constantly, and I've used it at her house. I was thinking it was a Shark and that it also was a steam cleaner, and a few months ago when we were looking for something to buy to use on our laminate flooring I called and asked her what kind she had. She told me it was a Dyson and that it was just for vacuuming, so I pretty much forgot about it since A) Dyson's are crazy expensive and B) we were looking for a steam mop. Anyway, we found a Shark steam mop at Lowe's that we've loved, and we put an actual vacuum on the back burner since our only carpet was in our bedroom and on the stairs. The carpet in both places was pretty sad, and we had a little Shark hand vac, so we decided to just stick with that for now.

BUT, now we have new carpet!! We're smack in the middle of (well hopefully not the middle of, hopefully more toward the end of) getting our house on the market. Last month we found a house that we really, really love. It's already on the market, but it's been sitting there for 11 months now with no offers. In fact, we looked at the listing last year, but at the time they wanted $30,000 more than their current asking price, and it was beyond what we could even consider. But they've come down to within our price range, and their realtor (who will also be our realtor when we list) told us when he toured the house with us that they are not firm even on the lower price, so they may be willing to come down some more. 

One point against it for some buyers is that it is located directly across from the entrance to a rifle range, which scares a lot of people who don't know much about it. But the shooting area for the range is far, far away on the property on the other side of the street and facing away from the house. And it's also 3 driveways down from our community soccer and football fields, which should tell you something about the safety of it. I think the biggest reason they've not had any offers is because of their more or less horrific decorating style. The big dark poofy drapes, excessive floral and gilt, and terrifying 80's furniture is pretty off-putting, but that's their stuff - we're only worried about the house beneath it. And the house itself is awesome. The only cosmetic stuff we would have to change would be switching out a few chandeliers for ceiling fans, replacing the blood red shower surround and matching vanity, and adding a dishwasher. Everything else is perfect, including the fact that it has a ginormous garage for Nick, a huge playroom for Jack and Daisy, a separate room for each kid, 3 bathrooms, generous closet spaces, a massive master bedroom, a laundry room, tons of play area outside, nice landscaping, and........a craft room!!! Can you hear the angels singing? 

It's about 2 1/2 times the size of our current home, but it's well insulated and also has a wood stove to help with heating, and the utility bills are actually pretty comparable to ours here. Property taxes are also about the same. The owners built the house 43 years ago and raised their family there, and you can tell that it's been lovingly maintained. They're retired now and are building themselves a little cabin in the country, so they're anxious to sell. And I LOVE the fact that the soccer fields are just a few yards down the road. Morgan played soccer for a couple of years, and Jack and Daisy will likely do the same. And there's a greenway for walking with a playground at the end of it, as well as a dog park along the way. When Morgan had practices Nick and I would walk with the littles and sometimes the dog, and I really enjoyed it.

Now I know, this house is far from being ours. Especially since we're not even to market yet with our house. But we're close to listing, and as soon as we do we plan to put down a contingency offer. We've already gotten pre-approved for the loan, and our realtor seems to think our house will be pretty desirable in our area. And when it comes down to it, if it's not the house God has for us, it just means He has something better.

But, we do feel led to go ahead and get ours listed, so toward that, we've: put down new linoleum in both bathrooms, given almost everything a fresh coat of paint, had new carpet put down in all three bedrooms, the hallway, and on the stairs, done lots of patching and sanding and painting on random wall dings, put up a nice new light fixture in the bathroom downstairs, begun painting our kitchen cabinets white (oh my gosh I love them, why didn't we do this years ago?), and rented a storage unit, which currently holds about 50% of our belongings. We've still got to finish the cabinets, paint the ceilings, paint the kitchen, lay the linoleum in the kitchen (which is in our garage waiting on us to finish the ceiling paint), clean out the garage, clear out some brush and stuff at the side of the house, and hire someone to paint the back of the house. Right now we're in the middle of an ice storm, so the outside stuff is off limits for the moment, but we're working hard to get the rest done.

And guys, I've been doing so much better with keeping stuff clean! Granted the kitchen is in chaos right now, but that's because it's under construction. But the bedrooms and bathrooms always look nice. And the living room is more or less always within 15 minutes of being clean, now that all the furniture from the rest of the house that was moved there during carpet installation has been moved back.

So what else has been happening other than house stuff? Well, Nick and I had an unexpected and totally awesome date night Dec 30. We took the kids up to visit with my parents one afternoon, and they offered to keep all three and sent us out the door! We had gift cards for The Chop House  as well as for a movie, so we enjoyed an amazing dinner and went to see The Mockingjay Part One, and even squeezed in a quick trip to Tuesday Morning in between! 

We got our income tax return, which is mostly gone now, but we were able to use it to pay some bills, pay my parents back for some money they had let us borrow last year, rent the storage unit for a few months, and do some repairs on Nick's truck. The bills we paid will especially be helpful as they would have all been due on his next check this Friday. Please be in prayer for us, because he used a couple of sick days to deal with removing our old carpet and flooring and then being here while the new carpet went in, which would have been fine, but then his place of business has been closed for the last two days because of the ice storm, so his paycheck will be taking a huge hit, and we still have a number of other bills to pay. But we are just trusting God and praying - He always shows up!

Oh, something kind of funny (in retrospect) happened last month. Nick and I had made arrangements for someone to watch all three of our kids overnight. His dad and stepmom were taking Morgan and Jack, and my parents were taking Daisy. This is not common. In fact, other than that night, it has never happened. That was Jack's first (and so far only) sleepover. And prior to his birth, the only time Daisy had been away from us overnight was when I was in the hospital during my pregnancy with Jack. That means that Nick and I had not had a whole night alone in over 5 years.

Now we didn't have any big romantic plans. We just needed the kids out from under foot while we (he) installed the linoleum in the bathrooms and painted. But still, we were looking forward to the night, blasting our music from the 90's and painting in our underwear if we wanted, and who knew where the night might lead?

That night our church youth group went ice skating, and Morgan, her bestie Allie, and Allie's boyfriend were all going. I was to pick them up afterwards, then drop them all off where they were supposed to be. Now normally, Allie rides the bus home with Morgan on Friday and we drop her off at home Sunday night after church. I joke that we have custody of her on weekends, although really her parents are a bit presumptive about leaving her with us. It kind of gives us an extra mouth to feed almost half the week since they never send her any money to eat on, and I never get a call from her mom asking if it's okay for her to stay.  But normally it's fine. Truly. She's not a problem, and we're her only access to church since her parents don't attend anywhere. If it was a major issue, I would have a talk with her parents, but generally it's not a problem and she's welcome in our home.

But a few days before, Morgan had gotten grounded, and she had told Allie that she wouldn't be able to stay over that weekend, although she was still welcome to attend the youth event and church services with us. Allie was fine with this and understood, but apparently her mom assumed she would still be staying with us for the weekend. So after the ice skating, I picked the 3 kids up and dropped off first Allie's boyfriend, then Morgan, saving Allie for last because she lives just down the road from our neighborhood. 

On the way home, she had tried to call her mom multiple times to tell her she was on her way, but couldn't get an answer. I had mentioned several times while the kids were in the car that Nick and I were going to be alone overnight for the first time in over 5 years, and there was never any question that she would be going home. But when we got to her house, it was locked up tight as a drum, all the lights out. Allie doesn't have a key to the house, nor does she know the alarm code, and her parents turn off their phones when they go to bed (which it turns out is before 10:30 PM). After dozens of call and texts to both parents and 20 minutes or so of standing in the freezing cold while multiple doorbell rings as well as increasingly aggressive knocks on the door went completely unanswered, Allie even tried knocking on her brother's window to no avail. It was 24°F out there, people. Even had I been willing to leave her there to fend for herself if it had been warm (I wasn't), there was no way I could even think about driving off in any circumstances with it so cold. So I sent her to the car to warm up while I tried one more time to wake someone inside. I called Nick and told him what was going on so that he would be prepared (ie. not painting in his underwear when we got there), and drove her home with me.

Bless her heart, she stayed up most of the night cleaning and organizing Morgan's room while we worked (her idea, not ours!). I think she felt pretty bad about the whole thing, although of course I couldn't be mad at her. Her mom on the other hand, I was pretty put out with. Even if she had been supposed to spend the night with us (which she hadn't), what if there had been an emergency? What if she'd been in a car wreck or been injured ice skating? In my book it's pretty inexcusable to make it so that your kid can't reach you in an emergency, especially when you've not verified where they're going to be overnight! We got a text from her mom about 5:30 the next morning full of apologies, but of course by then it was too late.

It would be just our luck though that we worked so hard to get overnight care for all three of our kids and ended up having someone else's lol. The good news is that Jack did well overnight at his grandparents' house, and they expressed a willingness to keep him again sometime. So maybe we'll eventually get that night alone after all.

DD has been more or less MIA around here. In the last 2 years there have been 10 serious spankings. The last discipline of any sort was over 5 months ago. Not that I'm keeping some kind of tally, but I do post about it here every time it happens, and it's a little sad for me to look back and realize just how sparse it's been. I think it just leaves me feeling a little...untended. I know that right now we are extremely busy, and the DD dynamic is always the first thing to go. Or maybe not the dynamic, per se, because he's still the guy in charge, but it feels more like it's staying that way because I want it to rather than because he's enforcing it. And I guess that's really the way it should be. And it's not that I actually want a spanking. As long as it's been, I do still remember just how much they hurt. I think I just miss knowing that the boundaries are real and that they are solid and hurt to run into. Bah, this is stupid. I know it's a pot best left unstirred, and besides, all our "stirrers" are in storage. I think it's just the fact that I'm generally pretty well behaved and it's not something that's ever really discussed, or at least if I bring it up he just kind of nods in acknowledgement and basically refuses to contribute anything else to the conversation. It kind of makes the whole thing feel like a figment of my imagination. But I suppose 10 years into it there's not a whole lot about it we need to discuss. Meh. I won't be bringing it up.

What else? Daisy's stomach has been bothering her again, so I guess we will try seeing her doctor again. Tons of tests and visits last go round didn't turn anything up, but she's with a new pediatrician now, so maybe they can get to the bottom of it. Jack took a flying leap off Daisy's bed and smashed his poor little nose into Morgan's bed last week. It bled forEVER, and he had a bit of a bruise, but he doesn't seem to have broken it, and the bruise has more or less disappeared. 

Jack turned three last month (me sobbing quietly into a pile of tiny little baby clothes). We didn't have resources to do a party this year, but my parents gave us the money to take the 5 of us to Chuck E Cheese's, and it was the greatest experience of his young life. :)

Hmm, I think those are the highlights. Anyway, I'm off to do more housework!

An Answer

So. We didn't get the house. Which is a disappointment, but also not. Because I know that, however sad I am about not getting in this house, God has something else, something inevitably better, in mind for us. This morning the guy called me and told me that he had misfigured (by quite a bit it seems), and our payments would be about $200 a month more than the absolute most, stretching-it-maybe-even-more-than-we-should payment we could afford. And he still really wanted to sell it to us (but not badly enough to lower the price apparently lol), but I had to tell him that we just have to walk away at that payment amount. In a way, it's almost a relief that it was so far out of reach, because if it was like $50 too much, then we would have been really tempted to still buy, even if it put us in a precarious place financially. So anyway, it seems that's God's answer on this, and we're just going to continue to trust in His timing and provision. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Staying Afloat

Guys, this month, and thus this year - it's been HARD. I mean crazy stressful! Let me see, a few of the high(low)lights:

A couple of weeks ago, when pretty much the whole country was frozen, our pipes burst and pretty much flooded the garage. Our washer and dryer are out there, and we have an old playpen out there where I try to keep all the laundry waiting to be washed. Unfortunately, the day before, Morgan and Daisy decided to "clean" Jack's room, and I don't even want to talk about why there were so many clothes on the floor in there, but they took every single piece of clothing, including some of Jack's new stuff from Christmas that had been knocked down from where I had it stacked until I could clear drawer space, and threw it all out into the garage on the floor in front of the washer and dryer. (I know my sentences are too long. I'm seeking help for it.)

So all of that stuff was soaked in extremely frigid water, and I had no idea how to stop the leak. Morgan and I started hauling all the wet laundry into the bathtub downstairs, and since Nick was at work an hour away, I called my dad. He came immediately and went into the scary crawl space under the house and turned the water off. By this time Nick was on his way to Wednesday night church, so my dad had me call him to come home instead. He came on home, and between the four of us (me, Nick, Dad, and Morgan) we got the pipes repaired (Nick and Dad) and all the laundry up and the water shop-vacced out of the garage (me and Morgan). That was the 8th. 

The 11th Daisy's best friend was having a birthday party, so I whipped up a few hair bows for a birthday gift, and we headed out the door to Chuck E. Cheese. It had warmed up drastically by then, so I was wearing flip flops (which I kind of live in) when I stepped out onto our wet front porch. My feet shot out from under me, and the right one jammed up under the bottom of the porch railing. I nearly passed out, but I kept it together, and once I could breathe and manage to stand, I went inside to change so that we could leave.

My foot was actively throbbing all day, and by the end of the night I was concerned that I might have broken the...top...of it (whatever that's called). I don't have health insurance, but I do have several nurse friends who convinced me via Facebook that I really needed to get it x-rayed. The kids were all in bed by then, so someone needed to stay with them. I called my mom to see if she would come sit with them so Nick could drive me in case they gave me something that would prevent me from driving myself home. Instead my dad came down and drove me across town to the hospital. James works there as a surgical tech, and he smoothed the process for me a bit, getting me fast tracked, bringing me a pillow and something to drink, etc. X-rays revealed that it was just badly bruised and swollen, which was good news except for the fact that I could have just stayed home and avoided the ER bill. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Both the little kids had been sick all weekend, so my dad and I took them both to the pediatrician on the following Monday (the 13th). Can you tell my dad is my hero? He went to 3 different doctor's visits with me this month. This was a horrible visit, both kids feeling terribly bad and violently opposed to any sort of examination. It turned out that they both had double ear infections.

Daisy had gotten her referral to a GI doctor the previous week and seen her on Friday, the day before the birthday party. It was really more of a consult, and the doctor set up an appointment for a lower intestine barium scan the following Friday. She also sent me home with a little plastic vial and instructions to collect a stool sample. This was not something I was looking forward to, but we do what we have to for our kids, right? Unfortunately she was not producing anything to uh, sample. I stalked this kid for 5 days. Finally, this past Wednesday, she yelled at me to let me know she was ready. While I was "collecting" and pretending I was in a happier place, Jack managed to get hold of not just my Macbook, but a cup of tea that I didn't even know was in the room (it was Daisy's).

Morgan came home from school just then to find him sitting on a soaked couch, splashing away in the puddle that surrounded my laptop. The lid on it was closed, so she grabbed it and yelled to me to tell me what happened. I was a little tied up, so I made sure she had gotten it away from him and finished what I was doing. When I got in there it really didn't look like anything had gotten inside it, so I set it aside while I cleaned up the tea. It was a couple of hours before I had a chance to mess with it, and when I tried to turn it on, nothing happened. Opening up the case revealed that tea had definitely gotten inside. That was really just the end of my rope. That day I had dealt with sick kids (Jack had thrown up - on me - more than once), collecting poop, piles of laundry, and fighting siblings. Plus I was supposed to meet a photography client in two days with a CD of her pictures (which I needed my Mac for), and an Etsy client wanted a custom pillow cover (which I also needed my Mac for). To make things worse Nick and I were snapping at each other, because he'd had a crappy day too (not as crappy as mine I daresay). I took it to the computer repair place I use and it's the logic board - $900 to repair.

This past Friday I took Daisy in for her barium test. She had to drink this awful chalky liquid, but she did pretty well. When I woke up that morning my right eye was kind of red and crusty. This is what it looked like then:

Two days later I was in all kinds of agony, and it looked like this:

Sorry the second one looks kind of insane. I was trying to get it as open as I could because I was texting it to my cousin, who is a nurse practitioner and was kind enough to call me in a prescription for some antibiotics. I was finally able to put my contacts back in today.

Today I got thrown up on twice (once yesterday and several times earlier in the week). Yeah, it's been a little rough.

BUT, there have been good things too. Some of them really good. I got a call one day last week from our water company telling me someone had paid our bill for us anonymously. It didn't take too much investigating to figure out it was my parents. :)

James showed up Tuesday and handed me $50 to help offset the cost off all the co-pays and prescriptions.

I called my mom Thursday morning to ask if she could stay with the kids so I could take my computer to the repair shop to see if it could be saved. She showed up a couple of hours later with a relatively inexpensive but brand new and fully functional HP laptop, all for me, courtesy of her and my dad. I was able to use it to fill my Etsy order and get it to the customer on time. They've also bought both food and medicine several times for my little family this week.

The computer repair place said my hard drive is still good, and they can move all my data over for $89. I'll pick it up this Friday and most of that cost will be covered by the CD order.

My photography client was incredibly cool about the whole situation and didn't mind waiting another week for her CD. I still had all of her raw files on my camera as a backup, so I hadn't lost them either way, but I would have had to re-edit all of them, and with the pinkeye I couldn't stand to look at a computer screen for more than a few minutes.

We were able to fix the pipes for less than $1 since my dad had a couple of pipe pieces that fit, and all we had to buy were a couple of copper joints. And we got all the wet laundry washed before it mildewed.

Daisy's lower intestine scan came back clear, and her stomachaches have become fewer and farther apart, so now we're just waiting on her next doctor visit.

So there have definitely been blessings too.

That said, I'm wound a little tight these days, and I'm feeling a little unmoored relationship-wise. We've been a bit in survival mode around here, and my very contagious pinkeye has just been the latest thing to keep us from getting close. The truth is, I miss my husband, and I miss very much feeling the comforting bounds of his authority. The day after my last post he apologized and told me that he'd known what I needed but hadn't felt like dealing with it. I can't say that that didn't hurt a little, but he was trying to stay afloat himself. I guess I've just been doing and taking care of so much at home myself lately that I'm missing a reminder that he's in charge and I actually don't have all the responsibility myself.

He's going to be staying home from work tomorrow because he's gotten sick himself in the last few days, so I don't think there will be any sort of discipline forthcoming, but I will be glad for the time with him, even though I hate that he's not feeling well.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Thank you all for all your thoughts and prayers!

A super long dear diary post all about the last month.

I've been trying to get here to post for a few days now, and I'm finally getting a moment to sit down and do it. This post will probably be long and filled with details on gifts, so feel free to skip if it doesn't interest you. But I try to get all this stuff down because it serves as a record of our lives for me. :)

December is always busy for me, and this year was no different. I had a couple of different sewing jobs - five different winter skirts with matching hair bows, and a hem on a formal dress for the same customer. It was for a girl I graduated high school with. She has a 13 year old daughter who's pretty severely autistic, and the formal was for a special needs pageant (which she won in two categories I'm pleased to report). The skirts were because, at her physical age, it's hard to find clothes in her size that are appropriate to her developmental age. She's very much into things that most 5 year old girls are interested in, so it was fun to watch her reaction when I delivered the skirts made from material she chose. She was thrilled with them all, and her mom was equally happy.

I also had a couple of photo shoots, one for Brandon and Melanie's new baby boy, and one for a customer I've done several previous shoots for. And I had several Etsy orders too, including one on the 21st that had to be made from scratch and received on the other side of the country by Christmas Eve. 

And of course there were all the Christmas gifts to be made. Probably the most time consuming were the Christmas stockings I made for nearly everyone in our families, and well as Brandon, Melanie, and their new baby. My mom helped with cutting out the pieces since it's hard to spread fabric out to cut with a toddler running around, but I did the sewing, as well as hand painting the names on all of them. I think they turned out fabulous, and everyone loved them. 

Besides the 26 stockings, I also made: 5 shirts (2 applique and 3 stenciled), 5 stuffed whales, 9 corn bags (flannel pouches filled with cracked corn - stick them in the microwave and they make wonderful heat/therapy packs), 7 pairs of earrings, 10 necklaces, 12 wine glass charms, 2 zipper pouches, 1 skirt, 7 scarves, 2 blankets (one for new baby Liam and one for Morgan), 1 bracelet, 24 stamped note cards, a taggie security blankie, a bunch of baby bows/headbands, peanut brittle, candied pecans, 2 paracord bracelets, 4 paracord key fobs, 20 or so wax and cotton fire starters, and 2 pillows. I also ordered 9 personalized photo calendars for the guys and Nick's grandmother, and I think I almost worked harder on them than on the stockings. But they were a huge hit, and I will be doing them every year if I'm able. It will be easier next year, because I already have all the dates saved and can just update with new photos.

Nick and I never do much for each other in the gift category at Christmas just due to time/money constraints. But he did get me a $40 gift card to Joann's (yahoo!), and I got him a sweatshirt, made him a calendar and one of the paracord keyrings, and tracked down Youtube videos of all the songs on an album he wanted, then converted the audio tracks to mp3s for him. 

With my gift card I was able to order a jewelry tool I've had my eye on forever (can't wait till it gets here!) and buy some fabric and other sewing goodies. I made myself two awesome infinity scarves out of some of the material, and I've gotten multiple compliments on both of them. :)

Our Christmas celebrations went as follows: my cousin's house for my extended family on the 21st, my parents' house on the 23rd, Nick's aunt's house for his extended family on the 24th, our house Christmas morning, then his dad and stepmom's house after we were done at our house. 

From us the kids got:

Morgan - a blanket, 2 necklaces, 3 pairs of earrings, a scarf, a corn bag (she and Daisy sleep with them literally every night), a pillow, a Loom Bands set (found on Amazon for about $4 a few months ago!), and several shirts from Aeropostale that my mom bought on Cyber Monday for a great deal and gave to me to give her. Mom also made her a couple of pillows and a set of curtains for her room and sent them to our house for her to open.

Daisy - a skirt, a scarf, a necklace, a corn bag, a toy camera, a stuffed whale, a Foofa shirt (that turned out embarrassingly lame I think, but she loved it anyway), a like new Butterfly's doll that I found at the Goodwill for $1 (total score - they sell these dolls at Cracker Barrel for $20. She wanted one for months before we finally got her one back in August while we were on vacation), two Disney Baby Princess dolls (found for a great price at Aldi of all places), and a toy vacuum cleaner that was actually a hand-me-down from my cousin's little boy.

Jack - a whole bunch of toys handed down from my cousin. She did this for us last year also, going through all her son's toys right before Christmas to get rid of the ones he wasn't playing with and passing them on to us to help fill out Jack's gift list. I also got him a Plex beanie baby, and made him a matching Plex shirt. The beanie baby was a sort of hit, but he went nuts over the shirt, which cracked me up. He's worn it several times since Christmas, and every time he's tried to help put it on and proudly pointed at the applique on the front for anyone who would look. :) He also got a toy camera like Daisy did.

In other places, the kids got lots of clothes and shoes mostly, although my mom did get them all some non-clothing stuff. Morgan got about 6 scarves, which she loved, and Will and Kate sent her just a crazy amount of gorgeous name brand pieces. They also sent shoes and clothes for Daisy and Jack, every single item perfect as always. Nick's dad is also in the process of making a very nice set of bunk beds for Morgan's room. He's a very accomplished carpenter, and they look great so far. Morgan's big Christmas wish was a room makeover, thus the pillows and curtains and blankets. The bed is her grandparents' contribution. They kids also got small gift cards to Walmart (Jack), Old Navy (Morgan), Chick-Fil-A (all three), and Carmike Cinemas (all three). We took them to eat and see Frozen on New Year's Eve, which was very cute.

I couldn't tell you everything Nick got, although I know there were jeans and shirts and socks and a jump box (to jump off a dead car battery), a couple of pocket knives, and a basket full of edible goodies made by Kelly. Also a gift card to Bass Pro Outlet.

I got: from my parents - boots, a shirt, a purse, a recipe organizer, 2 books (one sewing and one on organizing for dummies lol), a pair of scissors, a hair barrette/bun maker thing, pajamas, and a sweater; from Nick's parents - makeup powder, eye liner, lip liner, lip gloss, socks, and an electric can opener; from Kelly and Grant - a ribbon organizer basket with two cute spools of ribbon, a pair of earrings, a gorgeous ornament wreath, and some hair bands; from James - a $25 gift card to Hobby Lobby (the most magical place on earth!); from Robert and Faith - a $25 steakhouse gift certificate (for me and Nick together); and from his cousin who drew my name - a Mary Kay mini Satin Hands set and a $25 gift card to Hobby Lobby (can you tell she knows me?). We also together got a huge bag of meat (steaks, burgers, etc - possibly weird, but so awesome) from my aunt, a huge box of Christmas cookies from my cousin, and a big basket of goodies like bread and hams and blocks of cheese and hot cocoa and chocolates and crackers, etc. from my parents. 

Let me tell you, if you're ever stumped for what to get someone for Christmas, a big basket of hearty snacks for the next day is hard to beat. My mom and dad did this last year too, and it's so awesome when you wake up the next day, with no energy to cook and no money left to eat out, to be able to have something quick and easy and filling to munch on! And if you shop sales and coupon, it doesn't have to be expensive, either!

The biggest Christmas blessing came a few days later from Kate and Will. We're always just crazy tight by the end of the year, and this year was the worst it's ever been. I knew that we would need about $1000 more than Nick's last check of the year was likely to be to just pay the bills, let alone buy gas and groceries. And the check after that (the one coming this Friday) would be particularly short due to the way the holidays fell this year, so we would need to supplement that one by several hundred dollars as well. 

When there's a holiday at most jobs it means full pay for a day off, or maybe even a bonus. At his job they get 8 hours pay, which sounds quite fair, except he works on commission, and being at a car dealership, they get paid for the number of hours an order is supposed to take (which sets the price for a service that the customer pays), not the number it actually takes. Which means that if they are quite good at their job (which Nick is), then an 8 hour ticket might only take them an hour or two of actual labor. This means that on an average day they might clock 12-15 hours in the time they're there, so an 8 hour pay day is actually a loss. Normally it works out that Christmas is on one paycheck and New Year's is on another, but this year they both fell within the same pay period, so his upcoming check will have two short days on it.

A few weeks ago I got particularly down and stressed about our finances. I was praying and searching for God's voice on it, and getting very frustrated with myself for not having more faith. I called Robert and asked him if he could come and talk with me about it. One advantage to having my brother as my pastor. :) So he came by, frozen Coke in hand for me since his wife is a sweetheart and suggested it.  Since my mom had stopped by when he showed up and he knew I wouldn't feel comfortable talking in front of her, he asked if she would watch the kids while I ran to Wal-Mart with him. Then we left, and had a lovely talk and some prayer, and he bought me a strainer I was idly admiring at Walmart and picked up my tab at the post office when I went to mail an order out. I felt much better when he dropped me back off. 

We still had no real prospects in sight, but I felt more at peace and sure that God had a plan. Kate had texted me and let me know that their gift for us was in the mail and to keep an eye out for it. It had not arrived by Christmas, but a few days later it came - a check for $2,000! It was enough to pay our bills, including a few to help out on the upcoming payday, as well as buy gas and groceries. We didn't really do anything out of the ordinary with it, other than to buy a new lunch box for Morgan and a few bottles of deeply discounted lotion for me, and take the family out to eat once. Nick and I also got to go out to eat once by ourselves, our fourth date night of the year. :)

At this point we're back to broke, but the bills are paid, there's a little gas left in the car, and we have food in the house. :) And I know that God is still continuing to provide, as He always does!

A few weeks ago I was in a very minor car accident. More of a hit and run, actually. I was on my way to Wednesday night church and somebody swerved into my lane and clipped my driver's side mirror. It's frustrating, because our insurance will only pay after a $200 deductible which is likely higher than we can replace the mirror for, but it could have been so incredibly much worse that I can't complain too bad. No one was hurt, and nothing but the mirror was damaged at all (although it's pretty much toast).

Daisy and Jack have both been battling some intestinal issues lately. Jack has had a number of vomiting episodes, although they have come with no attending symptoms, and almost always after he's been laughing really hard or crying a lot. So I'm thinking he maybe is triggering them with the laughing/crying. Daisy on the other hand is a little more worrisome. 

A few months ago the kids' insurance plan changed networks to one that their longtime pediatrician won't accept. We picked out a new pediatrician (the same one Faith and Robert use and love), but she was not accepting new patients until the new year. Back in September Daisy had a stomachache that went on all day, along with a fever. That was before the insurance change, but it was a Sunday, so the ped's office was closed, and she was in so much pain that she was actually asking to go to the doctor, so I took her to the ER. 

They ended up doing an xray, telling me she was, er, backed up, and giving her an enema. That seemed to do the trick for a day or two, but soon she was in pain again, so I took her to the pediatrician. They just told me to give her laxatives and sent us home. Unfortunately that didn't do anything for her. By the time it became a serious issue again, we were between peds, so back to the ER we went, for the exact same outcome.

Fast forward to a few days before the end of the year, and she was crying in pain again, and vomiting this time. So I took her back to the ER again. This time the xray showed no blockage, so they gave her something for the vomiting and told us to see her pediatrician for a referral to a GI specialist. She has an appointment this Tuesday to go in and get that referral, so please be in prayer that we will be referred to a good one that takes her insurance, and that it will be something easily fixed and not serious. I'm worried that maybe she's developed a food allergy or intolerance, which we've been blessed enough to have never dealt with before, so I'm hoping it's not that, although that would certainly be preferable to something more serious.

Also of note, Jack turned two on the 2nd. Waaah! My tiny baby is growing up on me! We had cake and ice cream at my parents' house, and he went nuts over all the hand me down toys from my cousin that I saved for his birthday. He's definitely his father's son. He's nuts about anything with wheels, and he can figure out anything mechanical in a flash. He got a little tool kit for Christmas with a toy drill and plastic screws, and he was drilling the screws down into the hole with no help whatsoever. The day Robert came over and Mom kept the kids, she turned her back for a minute and caught him on the kitchen table trying to run a piece of fabric through my sewing machine, which he had managed to turn on and start. :) She about had a heart attack!

The other day Nick and I had a small talk about DD. I started to feel really hurt and frustrated and unimportant because he's backed off on a couple of spankings lately, and we didn't really have any acknowledgment of our 10 year DD anniversary on New Year's Eve. But I recognized that I was letting myself spiral, and after some prayer and reasonable conversation with myself I brought it up at a good time and we had a civil conversation about it. He's agreed to try to be more consistent, as well as to help me with some other things like staying on top of going to the gym. 

Anyway, as promised, this was a super long dear diary post all about the last month, and I'm a bit past my bedtime, so I'm off to bed. Good night all!

Prayer requests and possible punishments...

Hello, everyone. Not a whole lot to report, mostly just checking in. I'm working on the skirts an old classmate ordered, and I'm trying to clean house and plan Christmas gifts. The house kind of got put on the backburner while I was sewing,  and I thought I was going to get a spanking. It's possible that might still happen, although Nick hadn't decided last time he mentioned it. I'm quite sure I deserve it, but mostly I just wish he'd tell me one way or the other so my brain can move on. 

I've got some serious financial needs this week for several bills, in the next couple of days actually, and I would really appreciate you praying with me for God's timely provision. 

Nick and I do have a date night Saturday night for his company Christmas party, and I'm really looking forward to that! Anyway, that's what's shakin' around our house these days. What's up with you guys?

Busy November

I've not gotten to post as much as I wanted to this month - it's just been so busy! But God has still been showering us with blessings!

Nick had some side work fixing Robert and Faith's car, which really helped us out.  And the day before payday, when we were in need of some basics, he sold a couple of used tires on Craigslist for $40. I also had three photo shoots this month, although one was Faith's maternity shoot, which I didn't charge her for, and the other was Melanie's, which I only made $40 on. But the last one was Melanie's mother-in-law's class reunion, and I made a little over $250 on it, which was a big help. I also got an Etsy order yesterday, and tonight I'm supposed to go out to an old classmate's house to measure her daughter for some skirts.

This season is going to be a busy one for us, or me anyway. Right now I'm taking a break from editing the reunion pictures. I have to finish those, then make about 60 CDs, package and address them, then mail them out to the different attendees.

Then I've got to make my Etsy order, and I've got to make some things for my partner in the handmade gift exchange I'm participating in again. I've also got to finish collecting info and pictures for 8 photo calendars for Christmas gifts, put those together, and order them.

I have some other financial needs this week. God knows what they are, and I would as always appreciate your prayers that He brings in the money I need.

Robert and Faith's baby is still not here, but God has really worked some miracles with his growth in the last few weeks. Faith goes in to the hospital at 5:00 tomorrow afternoon to start Cervidil (sp?), which is supposed to encourage her body to go into labor. Of her water hasn't broken on its own by midnight they will induce her, and the baby should be here Thursday. Please also be in prayer for a safe and easy delivery and a healthy baby! I've got to think of a name for him on here! :)

I've been working on Christmas gifts a bit. I mad Jack a Plex shirt since he's a huge fan of Yo Gabba Gabba. It's not perfect, but I think he will love it. I also got him a matching Plex beanie doll. I made Morgan a pillow for her soon to be redone bedroom. That's what she's getting for Christmas from just about everyone, including curtains and bedding and some new clothes storage from my parents, various accessories from me and Nick, and a new set of made-by-Papaw bunk beds from Nick's parents. I also ordered her a Rainbow Loom and extra bands that I found for a crazy good deal online. Daisy wants an Easy Bake oven with her whole heart, so that's what my parents got her, and I'm going to be packaging up some DIY mixes for her to use in it.

I've got various other gifts in the works, including handmade stockings for all the various siblings and parents and children. I think I'm looking at 35 in all. Fortunately they're a pretty quick and easy sew - I just need the space and kid free time to cut out all the  pattern pieces.

I'm loving all the Elf on the Shelf ideas on Pinterest. I've always wanted to do it with the kids, but the set is something like $35, so it will have to wait till another year.

Anyway, I'm off to bed at a relatively reasonable hour tonight. Good night, all!

Happy November!

Happy November, party people! We're in the month of Thanksgiving, and around here that means ratcheting up the gratitude! God is so good, all the time, but oftentimes I'm a spoiled brat who focuses on my stress and forgets what I've been blessed with. I spent a little while earlier looking back on Novembers past here on the blog, and while I've not always done a daily post, it's still humbling to see how relentlessly God had blessed and cared for us over the years. So without further ado, a few recent gifts:

We had some really big bills this week. Like Nick's average paycheck would have left us several hundred dollars short, even utilizing every available option available to us. What he brought home instead was several hundred dollars more than usual. It was just a crazy busy pay period, and while we're still stretching to cover gas and groceries, it is so incredibly much better than it could have been. The thing is, I didn't even realize until after I saw his pay stub just how many things we had to take care of this week, so God was providing before we even knew we had the need!

Next Saturday I have a photo shoot, which will bring in a little bit of money.

Nick and I really enjoyed our haunted hike date night about a week ago. It wasn't the sort of thing with people jumping out at you. Rather it was a hike along a very old trail with the park ranger telling us stories about the real families who once lived there and the reported hauntings in their history. What was really neat is that after talking to my mom it looks like the families in question are likely some of my ancestors, as my great grandmother's maiden name was the same as one family, she married someone with the same name as the second family, and she was from that area.

Faith got to put in her notice at her job today, which is directly related to another recent blessing. It has always been her and Robert's desire and conviction for her to be a stay at home mom when their baby comes (in about 4 weeks!). Unfortunately Robert was only on a part time salary as our pastor, and he just didn't make enough to support the three of them on only his income. But they've been steadily praying about it along with the rest of the family, and a couple of weeks ago, with absolutely no suggestion or input from him, her, or anyone from either family, the church voted to increase his pay by several hundred dollars a week as well as add a weekly fuel allowance for him. It was actually more than the number they'd been praying about, and it allowed Faith to go in today and put in her notice.

Tomorrow is also Faith's baby shower, and I'm very excited to be a part of it.

We had a fun and safe Halloween - Morgan, after endless angst, settled on being a black cat, the sum total of which included black pants, a black tank top, and a headband I whipped up some cat ears for out of scrap leather at the last minute. Daisy had been set on going as a "girl ghost", but I didn't have a spare white sheet to cut up. And about a week ago I made a last minute decision to go to a Trunk or Treat at our YMCA and had to come up with some quick and easy costumes. Morgan went as a One Direction fan (guys, she's obsessed!), Jack went as a farmer (long sleeve shirt, overalls, and camo ball cap), and Daisy went as a baby, in fuzzy footed pjs. She was supposed to have a pacifier too, but I couldn't find one at the time. Anyway, she went as a baby on Halloween, and we stepped it up a bit that night with a pacifier and bottle. Jack went as a cowboy in some cute cowboy costume pjs I found for $5 at Walmart earlier in the day.

Wednesday I was really sick, some sort of stomach virus, which didn't feel like much of a blessing, but I was certainly grateful that my parents were able to stop by and stay for a few hours and watch the kids while I suffered through it. They also brought by a few groceries, which is always a help.

Walgreens.com (not an affilate link) is also running a free photo collage deal through tomorrow with code BOOCOLLAGE, which I plan on taking advantage of.

And I've lost 15 pounds so far, so yay!

Anyway, those are just a few sweet things that have come into my life lately. Hope you guys will play along and take note of your own blessings - I promise it will make every day better!

Sunny Days and Blessings

How have you guys been? Our scholarship application for the Y finally got looked at. Unfortunately they didn't approve us for the level of scholarship we were hoping, but they did give us a little off each month, which was good. What was great was that my dad decided to have my mom go ahead and pay for 6 whole months for us, including Nick! 

I mentioned that Nick has a membership to a little gym near his work that only costs us $15 a month. We're going to keep that for now, mainly because he goes on his lunch break to work out, and the closest Y to his work is too far away to make that an option. But he's gone to the Y with me a number of times already, and he really likes it. Yesterday evening we took the kids to the pool there, which we all really enjoyed.

Other than Sunday and today, I've not missed a day. Today I missed because Morgan had a soccer game this morning during the time I usually go (they won 6-0!), and afterwards we went and got lunch, then took the kids hiking on a trail in a state park near us. We did about 3 miles, which is a little more than I would have probably done at the Y, so I still got my exercise in, and we really needed a family day together. It was gorgeous weather, and other than the $5 or so worth of gas we used, it was completely free!

Monday Morgan and I have our fitness evaluations so that we can get in the system for a routine, and Nick's evaluation is a week after that. I've been trying to make healthier choices at home as well. The biggest thing I have to conquer is cutting out sweet tea. Here in the South it's truly a staple, and I generally make a pitcher every day. Besides being just plain cheap to make, every last one of us really loves it, but I know it will do us all good to cut it out. My main problem is that well, I hate plain water! Nick says nobody can hate water because it doesn't taste like anything, but that's just not true! I have to have some sort of flavor, or I just don't like to drink it. I've bought a couple of different sugar free, calorie free "water add-ins", but I've not really been happy with the taste of those either, so we'll have to see. I'd really prefer something with no calories, so I don't really want to go the Gatorade route. I guess maybe it will just have to be something I acquire a taste for.

God has really been blessing us lately. Money is crazy tight, but He's been providing day by day. Nick was able to sell some scrap metal today, which gave us enough extra gas money to drive us to the hiking trail as well as get lunch. And I got a small mending job from a lady at church that will yield a few dollars. And at the end of the month I'll be shooting a wedding for a couple at church, which will really help with bills. I won't make as much as I would if I were doing it for anyone else, but I was just glad they committed to hiring me because they're really on a budget, and even the discounted rate I quoted was kind of a stretch for them.

I'd really appreciate your prayers for the upcoming week. I've got a couple of bills that are due before Nick gets paid again, one of which is our water bill. I know God has it in His power to send the money for both, and I'm praying He does just that!

Vacation

You guys, we had SUCH a great vacation! 

The original plan was to leave early Friday morning and take turns driving straight through to Texas. It's easily 15+ hours of driving, with the inevitable stops for meals and potty breaks, but we'd done it before. Then it turned out that we wouldn't be able to leave as early as we'd hoped. Morgan started 7th grade yesterday, and she had to have a couple of immunizations before she could start. I'd tried several different offices of the pediatric practice we use, but the only appointment available before we left was at 8:45 Friday morning. 

So I got all of my and the kids stuff packed, along with the snacks for the road, and once Nick threw his stuff together late Thursday night I loaded it all up in the car. Nick usually packs the car, but I was anxious to get on the road ASAP, and I knew he was tired and would have a few things to do while I had Morgan at the doctor, so I went ahead and loaded up, and I did a great job if I do say so myself!

Early Friday morning I loaded Morgan and Jack up and headed to the doctor while Nick and Daisy took off the trash and straightened up a few last things around the house. Morgan and I hit Chick-Fil-A for breakfast for us all on the way home, and I walked in the door ready to leave. When I got home Nick was on the phone with Kate. It turned out that she and Will had decided to meet us halfway in New Orleans to spend the weekend. They had already made hotel reservations for us. 

We got to the hotel at about 10:15, where they valeted our car for us. This is something Kate had told us would be happening, but we got a little lost getting to the hotel, spotted it about 5 seconds before we had to turn in, and were completely unprepared for the flock of valets that descended on us as soon as Nick stopped the car. They were incredibly polite and helpful, but it was a little embarrassing to open the back hatch to get out the luggage. Morgan had spent the whole trip in the back by the bags and had shifted stuff around looking for things over the course of the drive, not to mention scattered various snack wrappers about, so we felt a little like the Beverly Hillbillies when various bags and debris tumbled out, lol. 

The first fun surprise came when they took us up to our room. Will and Kate had booked us a double room, but the hotel had somehow messed up and didn't have the reservation. They had Kate and Will's and Grant and Kelly's, but not ours. So to make up for it, they put us in the penthouse suite! It was on the 30th floor of the JW Marriott, and it had an AMAZING view of New Orleans! It was far and away the nicest hotel accommodations we've ever had, even nicer than the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, although the cottage we stayed in last year at Sea Island probably had it beat (check out photos 7 and 8 of the link up there to see an example of our suite). But it was a two story suite, with a ginormous master bathroom (it even had a bidet, which tickled Morgan and Daisy lol), a gorgeous master bedroom, and equally gorgeous double bedroom with it's own very nice bathroom, and an area with a game table. That was just the upstairs. Downstairs was a living room, dining room, coffee bar area, desk area, and another bathroom. The suite even had a doorbell! Here are a few strategically blurred photos, but they were taken late at night with my phone, so please excuse the quality:

When we got there Will told us to just order room service on him for dinner since it was so late. Dinner was delicious, and we headed to bed since we had to get up early for a delicious breakfast and the swamp tour Will had booked for all of us! That was a blast, something we really enjoyed. It was a company in Slidell, and a very nice man took us out on a boat through the swamp. We got to hold a snake (er, everybody else got to hold a snake - I wanted no part of that!), and we got to see and feed tons of alligators! What was so funny was that they feed them marshmallows! Who would have thought?

Anyway, after the swamp tour, we headed back to New Orleans, where we freshened up, then Will took us all to lunch at Huck Finn's, where we all tried fried alligator. Not bad, but awfully chewy. After lunch we went to the New Orleans Aquarium, which was honestly kind of a let down. We've got a couple of aquariums in our state that are much nicer, and the huge crowds of people we had to fight through didn't help matters much. But it was Shark Week, and we got to see an IMAX 3D movie about them, so that was neat. And Nick got to add to his collection of souvenir golf balls. :)

After the aquarium we went back to the hotel and napped for a little while, then Kate watched all three of our kids while Nick and I went out to dinner with Grant, Kelly, and Logan to a little barbecue restaurant called The Joint.

Quick funny story about that huge tub up there: It had whirlpool jets, and after Nick and the kids went to sleep I decided I was going to soak for a bit. The control for the jets was up high on the wall to keep it out of the reach of children. So I ran hot water, sitting in it until it came up above the level of the jets, per the instruction. Then I got out to turn on the jets. Obviously when you get out of a tub the water level goes down, so getting out dropped it just below the top line of jets, but no big deal, I was going to just turn it on and hop back in real quick, right? So I set the automatic timer for 10 minutes and hit start. Well, for some reason, (probably Maddox and Daisy when they were taking their bath earlier), all of the jets were pointed UP, so as soon as they came on they shot hot water all over the bathroom! So, in a panic, I jump back in to get the water level back above the jets. And I can't get the jets to point back down, I'm staring at all this puddled water everywhere, not at all relaxed, and the water must have been too hot, because I start getting kind of weak and lightheaded. But I can't get back out till the timer stops, because if I do it will spray water everywhere for the rest of the time. Finally, I decide to risk it, and I jump out again, and the water goes everywhere, but the timer lets me turn it to zero, so I got it stopped. But I spent the next little while using almost all of our towels to mop up the bathroom. So much for a relaxing soak in the jacuzzi!

The next morning we had another terrific breakfast at the hotel, then Kate, Will, and Maddox had to leave. Kate's daughter Kit had spent the previous week out of state with her father and grandparents, and they had to pick her up at the airport. The rest of us checked out a few hours later and spent the afternoon visiting the French Market. That was okay, although the kids were hot and tired, and Jack had a completely out of character meltdown. Nothing would calm him down until we happened upon a fresh fruit vendor and got him some watermelon, which he loves. That did the trick, so I think he was maybe just needing water, but too hot and upset to be patient enough to drink it from his water bottle. He usually drinks from a baby bottle, but it had gone missing (we later found it in the car), so we had purchased a kid's sports bottle to fill with water, and he wasn't used to drinking from such a hard spout, so that may have been part of what was frustrating him.

After we had seen all we wanted to see of New Orleans we got on the road to Texas. It was a long drive, and we arrived a little after 1AM Monday morning. Monday we just kind of hung out at the house, and everybody played in the pool. Jack is not a big fan of being in the water, but he loved the water table they had there for him and Logan to play with. Now Maddox is four, and pretty mischievous, and we had to watch him around Jack. Not that he was malicious, but he was used to playing with bigger kids, and he could be a little rough. Anyway, I think it was either that day or the next that he pushed Jack into the pool. Kate and I were inside, but all of the other adults were out there either in or beside the pool (or none of the kids would have been out there in the first place), so Nick scooped him up just as soon as he hit the water, but it was still scary. Kelly grabbed Maddox and spanked him for it, and he got it again when Kate came out and found out what had happened, so hopefully he'll never do such a thing again!

Tuesday we went to the mall, where Kate took Morgan, Daisy, Maddox, and Kit to see the movie Turbo. We decided not to put Jack or Logan through the movie experience, so Nick, Kelly, Grant and I walked around the mall with the babies. I got Daisy a few pairs of sandals and a sweater, and Jack a couple of shirts. After the mall we headed back to the house to get ready for the Houston Astros game Will had gotten us all tickets for. It was the first time Nick, the kids and I had been to a MLB game, so it was really neat, even though we ended up leaving early because Will had to work early the next day and the little ones were getting restless.

Wednesday we went to the Houston Zoo, which was a lot of fun, but it was HOT! The kids got to feed the giraffes, which was really neat. :) That night we had dinner at Mooyah's.

The zoo kind of wore us out, so Thursday we just hung out at the house till Will got home from work, then we all went to Rudy's for barbecue. Rudy's is a Texas tradition for us, and Nick has been looking forward to it all year. :) Afterwards we stopped at Academy, and Will bought Morgan some stuff for soccer (cleats, shorts, socks).

Friday we just hung out by the pool again till Will got home, then he took us to dinner at this terrific Mexican restaurant, Pappasita's, I think it was. Afterwards we stopped by the man made lake their neighborhood is built around and did a quick photo shoot with all of the kids. Kate had bought matching outfits for Jack, Logan, and Maddox, and a coordinating dress for Daisy, and we wanted to get some shots to give the grandparents for Christmas. Then we stopped for frozen yogurt, then went back to the house.

Kelly, Grant, and Logan left early Saturday morning, but Nick and the kids and I stayed till about 1:30 that afternoon. After we said our goodbyes, we loaded up and hit the road, but I talked Nick into letting me visit both the Goodwill and Hobby Lobby before we left Houston. :) He thinks it's silly that I always want to do that on vacation, since we have both stores at home, but you get a better level of donated merchandise at the Goodwill in the rich part of Houston than you do where we live, and every Hobby Lobby has different stuff in their clearance aisle - my main interest! I got a few things at both places, and we were on our way.

The trip home went okay until we reached Louisiana. We were just a mile or two onto the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, which is 18.2 miles long, when traffic came to a standstill. At this point my parents' borrowed GPS unit was telling us we were still 10 1/2 hours from home. There was a wreck up ahead somewhere, and in 2 hours time we moved about half a mile. After about 15 minutes of us being stuck there, Jack got a piece of a fruit roll up stuck in his throat and started projectile vomiting, which seemed to go on for several minutes. I was driving (or sitting behind the wheel rather), so I couldn't do anything, but Nick was completely awesome. He made sure his airway was clear, and cleaned him up as best he could with baby wipes, even while he was still throwing up. Of course this all meant that both Jack and the car smelled super awesome for the next 12 hours, but what are you going to do?

It was seriously the slowest trip home ever. Even taking into account the traffic jam, it just seemed like we were making terrible time, despite the speed limit being 70 MPH most of the way, and us doing every bit of that. Sunday morning we rolled into Chattanooga, tired and hungry, and Nick declared that we were going to take the opportunity to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel and visit the Chattanooga Aquarium. Nick and I went to it once probably 15 years ago, and we were really impressed, so we wanted to take the kids. It was even better than I remembered. The trip really caught up with Nick about halfway through the exhibits though, so I got in the driver's seat when we finished up. I drove until I couldn't stay awake anymore, then we switched out.

By the time we got home it was 5:30 Sunday evening, about 30 hours after we left Will and Kate's house. We started unloading the car, and the heavens opened up on us. Within less than a minute it was pointless to try to stay dry, so we just gave into the rain, and by the time we were done we looked like drowned rats. Nick went and got us some pizza for dinner, and my parents stopped by after church to drop off our mail. Then we went to bed, and the next morning Nick went back to work and Morgan started school.

Just a few of the ways Kate and Will (and God through them!) blessed us on this trip:
*Paid for valet parking and awesome hotel accommodations in New Orleans
*Dinner twice in New Orleans
*Aquarium and movie in New Orleans
*Swamp tour in Slidell
*Watched the kids while Nick and I went out for dinner in New Orleans
*Had (all on their own) new pajamas for Jack and Daisy, swimmie diapers for Jack, diaper wipes, and lotion and body wash purchased specifically to treat Jack's excema waiting on us at their house.
*Purchased (without any input from us) sensitive teeth toothpaste for Daisy because Kate noticed she was showing sensitivity to cold drinks
*Purchased sandals and a dress for Daisy, and a swim suit for Morgan
*Tickets for a Houston Astros vs Boston Red Sox game
*Tickets to the Houston Zoo
*Paid for Morgan and Daisy to feed the giraffes.
*Will bought Daisy a Barbie doll and a Disney princess Play-Do castle, and some extra Play-Do
*Bought soccer cleats, socks, and shorts for Morgan
*Took us to a very nice dinner in Houston
*Stocked their house with all our favorite foods and sent us home with loads of snacks and cold drinks
*Paid for everybody's frozen yogurt
*Sent us home with some chalkboard paint and magnetic primer. Before we went on vacation, I had told Nick that I wanted to paint the bottom half of a short section of our hallway between doors with chalkboard paint. I've wanted to do this for a while, and had finally settled on the place I wanted it. When we got to Texas I noticed that the closet door in their playroom was chalkboard, and I complemented them on it and mentioned my plans for our hallway. Will immediately said that they had leftover paint that we could have, and the next day he got it out for me.
*Sent us home with an extra bottle of Rudy's barbecue sauce that they had because they knew how much Nick loves it.
*Paid to have Morgan's iPad (which they bought her) fixed. Several months ago she was getting out of the car and it slipped out of her hand. It was in its cover, but it landed face down, and the screen basically shattered. It still worked for a little while, but eventually the touch screen quit working at all, and we hadn't had the money to get it fixed. Will dropped and cracked his a couple of weeks ago, so he told her that he would take hers in with his to get it fixed. Hers was damaged badly enough that they just had to replace it (with us sending her old one back in), so they sent a new one to the house and it came today.
*Kate did almost all of our laundry all week. This was not my intention, and several times I went to the laundry room to do a load and found that she had already done it. The girl straight up loves to do laundry!
*Sent us home with a $1,000 check and several hundred dollars in cash.

That last one was really such a God thing. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Nick took out a loan from his 401K so that we could take this trip and pay off a few bills. There was a bit of a misunderstanding between us, because the amount I had mentioned us needing for bills was $1000, and he thought I had said $500. So when I paid $1000 worth of bills with it, he got pretty upset, which led to me getting upset, because I was only doing what I thought I was supposed to. Anyway, we still had enough left for the trip, but not as much as Nick thought we would have. So before we left, I prayed that God would somehow let us come home with money in our pocket. They obviously paid for a lot of stuff, but it was a lot of gas to get there, a lot of gas driving around Houston (not a small town!), not to mention meals on the road, and a few little souvenirs for the kids.

By Wednesday we were down to less than we needed to get home. That wasn't quite the panicky realization you might think, because I knew Nick would be getting paid Friday, and his vacation pay would make it a larger than normal check, so we could use that. Then Friday morning rolled around, and his check showed up in the bank - minus his vacation pay. This is maybe the 3rd or 4th time they've done this to us, and it makes me want to scream every time. Nick always does everything he's supposed to to insure that they turn his vacation in, but it never seems to help. In fact, they would have done it back in June when he took a week off for camp if he hadn't called from camp and had the guy double check that he had submitted it on his end. Worse news - they said they would make the correction on his next check - in two weeks!

As far as I know Kate didn't know any of this when she handed Nick several hundred dollars on either Friday or Saturday. She just told him that she wanted to help us out with gas since Grant, Kelly, and Logan had ridden everywhere with her and Will while Nick and I had had to drive our own car since there wasn't room for us too.

Just before we left on Saturday she handed Nick an envelope and told him to open it after we left. When we did, there was a $1,000 check signed by Will inside. Until then I had no idea how we were going to get home and still pay the bills that needed to be paid before they got around to fixing his missing vacation pay. God is so very good to us, and he has blessed us so much with family who love us so much!

Cranky Pants

A little personal information: historically, I've not had terribly long or intense monthly cycles. For years I was on Seasonale, which let me have just 4 periods a year, usually lasting 3-4 days, and sometimes I skipped even those (with my doctor's blessing). Then when we decided to start trying for Daisy (when Morgan was 5), I went off birth control entirely. That was 7 years ago, and I've not been back on it since. Around 5 years ago my Polycystic Ovary Syndrome kicked in, and my body would sometimes go 2-3 months between cycles, and when they did show up, they were short. Then I had Daisy, and it was like the pregnancy reset things, and suddenly I was super regular, and only lasting 2-3 days. 

After Jack though, I had a copper IUD put in. My doctor warned me that I might have heavier periods for a while with it. Look people, he's 18 months old (!!!) now, and my last period was TEN DAYS and really, really awful! All of this to say that I just started again, and I'm feeling all kinds of weepy and out of sorts, and I don't like it at all! I know many, many women have struggled for years with heavy flow and terrible cramps and all kinds of other things that are making Nick wish he didn't get auto-emailed my posts (stick with me, honey - I'm about to change the subject), but this is new ground for me, and I'm kind of unhappy about it! But whatever, I know this will (eventually) pass, so please excuse my whining.

Did everyone have a nice holiday weekend? Nick was off for four whole days, which was really nice. We spent the 4th at Grant and Kelly's house with the whole family (all in-state siblings and spouses, my parents and Nick's). It's done nothing but rain here for days now, so fireworks were out, but we still had fun visiting. 

My mom had her knee surgery this morning (well, I guess technically yesterday morning, since we're into Tuesday now). It was done arthroscopically, and it went well (thank you for your prayers). She had a large cartilage tear and a free floating piece, all of which had to be cut out (don't you need your knee cartilage? Will it grow back? No? Yes? I don't know.). There also turned out to be less arthritis in it than they had previously thought, so that's good news. Her doctor is optimistic that this will really improve things for her, although she's in tremendous pain post op, so please continue to pray for her pain management.

Next week is Vacation Bible School at our church. I'm in charge of the crafts this year, which I'm excited about. I usually assist my mom, but she'll be home recovering, so she turned the reins over to me. Kelly will be helping me out, along with a college girl from our church. We've got tons of stuff planned, and I'm supposed to go to Kelly's house tomorrow (today?) to help get it all organized and ready.

The week after VBS, Kate and the kids (and possibly Will? I'm not sure) are coming in for a few days. I'm excited to see them, especially since financially, our annual Texas trip is looking kind of iffy. That's certainly not to say that God can't provide. I know that He can and am praying that He does, but this is a want more than a need, and I'm trying to be prepared for the possibility that His answer may be no on this one. Either way, it will be great to spend some time with them while they're here. 

God has been providing what we need when we need it, and I know that He is good to us, all the time!

Anyway, I'm off to take my unreasonably teary and emotional self off to bed on time for once!