When it rains, it pours...

Quite literally for us. Sunday morning we were both up around two and discovered that we had water in our basement. This has happened before, just a minor drain back up. But this wasn't minor. The laundry room had about three inches of standing water, the computer section was soaked, the jungle gym room, soaked, furnace room, soaked, bottom of the stairs and two corners of the main room, soaked. I'm not proud to say this, but I had a mini breakdown. Dustin, like the dear, sweet, solid husband that he is, tried to calm me down. He tried telling me that Jesus is all that matters, I wasn't having it. No, I acted like a three year old throwing a temper tantrum. He finally just grabbed me in a bear hug and let me cry it out. Like I said, not pretty. I'm ashamed of my reaction now, but it was the final straw. I had a partially finished upstairs, a hole in my ceiling, everything so disorganized, a dishwasher and disposal that didn't work, and now my carpet in the basement was ruined.

A friend who does carpets graciously came over twice on monday to tell us what to do. Basically, throw out the carpet. When he was our huge dumpster in the driveway he thought I was super prepared for getting rid of the carpet. I informed him I had wanted to keep my carpet and the dumpster was for my walls and upstairs carpet. There is always a silver lining, and the one for this is that we already had the dumpster, and that I now have a couch in my upstairs and lots of places to sit because all the furniture is now up there.

I wish I could put pictures up, but our computer is disconnected, so they will have to wait. The good news is that all of our electronics are fine, the carpet is now in the dumpster thanks to my husbands hard work this morning. Ugg... stink, stink, stink.... we thought about salvaging it, but it was too stinky. Now we are thinking of just painting the basement and putting down some huge area rugs, just in case. My mom perked up at that because now the girls could rollerskate in the basement. :-) we did that all the time as girls in ours. Besides that, both my mom and one of my sisters tell me that carpet has tons of chemicals in it that you don't want to breathe in, probably good with my lung being what it is. :-)

Anyway, that is an update. I have to say, Monday morning I sat down in the midst of all my mess, opened my Bible randomly (something I don't do often, but had no idea where to start.) to Ps. 23:1. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." The commentary said, as long as you have the Lord, you don't lack anything. That was what I needed in my chaos. Tears started to flow, and my oldest comes up to me and just gave me hugs. It made me realize that everything that really matters was ok, and we would get through this..... This too shall pass....

You have to laugh...

This morning I read Hab. 3:17-18. The general gist is that "disappointment is inevitable, but discouragement is a choice." Only God could know how much I needed to read that in His Word. I now know that we will not have enough wood... actually ok by me. I've come to grips with it.  We had a college student graciously volunteer to come help us. Unfortunately he was unaware of the hole in our floor due to where the stairs will be put. It was covered by the floor paper and he went seat first through our ceiling in the basement. I will post a picture later. I wanted to cry, but it could have been so much worse. He didn't fall all the way through and the gas line didn't break. One more thing to fix, but on the bright side the floor looks better and better. One of the knot holes looks like the head of duck. Just a random fact. I'll post pictures later, but it looks like beautiful hickory, not at all like birch, good thing I like it, cause it isn't what I thought I'd be getting. Does that surprise you at all by this point? Not really. I'm just waiting to go pick up my couch and finding out that it is pea green. :-) So, I'm choosing not to be discourage, but to rejoice that we have this great house that keeps us warm and dry in the current torrential rainstorm. :-)

The saga continues...

This morning my prayer is that we have enough wood to finish our floor. Lumber Liquidators was misleading on their utility grade. They said to get 10% extra, but I think we needed more like 30% extra. :-) I LOVE my floor, the part that is done, but I'm not sure the second 1/2 is going to get finished today. 

On the bright side our neighbor lent us his expert advice and also a lot of his tools. We had the basics that we needed, but he gave us the things that make it a lot easier. Nice. I'm hoping he comes today and finishes our steps. The two things I'm looking forward to the most with having this over is stairs and soft chairs and couches to sit on. I miss them SO much!

Doing this project makes me wonder how people survive in conditions like this and much much worse everyday of their lives. I still have running water, a comfy bed, heat if I need it. I can take a shower, cook on a stove (though that may be gone today:-) and on and on.... I keep reminding myself of this as I get discouraged. And I also remind myself that this is just remodeling. It invariably takes longer than you think. I know it will be beautiful when we are done, though. 

I feel the worse for my girls, though. Their lives are in an upheaval and will be until this is done. Good thing kiddos are adaptable. 

Patience

This was something I prayed for in my teens and it is something the Lord never ceases to teach me. I once heard someone say that you should never pray for patience because you get enough learning situations without it. I tend to agree.

This remodel project has been one patience producing time after another. :-)  I'll just share a few of them. The toe kick saw, to finish the last bit of pulling the floor up, was rented in West DesMoines. The first time I picked it up only to get home and discover it was the wrong saw. I have never seen one of these before, so obviously I didn't know. The second time I brought it home it was the right saw, just didn't work. Needless to say I will not be using this rental place again - ever. But, I do know it will all work out. :-)

The countertop got installed today - I love it. But... I opened the box for our new granite sink  only to discover it had a huge crack down the middle Ahh... :-) But, the Lord provided another one quickly and I will get to exchange the broken one. Another praise. 

My new stairs, or should I say hole in the floor, are proving to be quite the problem to build, but I'm sure it will get done, and no, we won't be stair less for the rest of our lives. 

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea. I have decided that either couples who purposely move over and over again to remodel are crazy or amazing. They have my deepest respect. :-) 

I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow - or someday soon. :-) 

I'm off to get a little sleep. 

Karis has a prince.

Today I went to a bridal shower at the Bair house. The Male portion of the Bairs came over to our house. I came home to find the husbands in front of the computer, Jackson on his little "game boy" or whatever it is :-). Karis and Owen all snuggled up under this blanket, heads on a pillow, mesmorized by Nathaniel who was performing acrobatics on our jungle gym. I peek in and Karis looks up at me with a grin. "We are watching a show, mommy." 

I found their pose even more amusing because yesterday before Karis and I went to a wedding we had this conversation. 

"You can't wear those cinderella shoes, Karis. What if Owen is there and you have to run around. You will fall out of them."

"Owen will be there?" 

"Well, maybe." 

"Mommy, can I marry Owen?"(hmm... what to say.)

"Maybe later when you grow up." 

"But I want to marry him."

"Why?"

"Because he is my prince." (awww..") 

So that is why this picture amused me. We need to inform Owen that you never get into bed with your princess until after the wedding. 

This conversation also explains why when she woke up this morning she says in a very disappointed voice.

"Mommy, I was supposed to stretch while I slept so I could marry a prince. But it didn't work." 

(She really expected it to work.)

I really need to get her over this obsession. I'm a little worried. Here I am her mother who hadn't even really thought about what I wanted in a wedding until I had to and I get Karis for a daughter. :-)

I about panicked when I knocked out the first tile and the dry wall came with it. Aaron calmly told me that it would be ok, actually easier. So, now my backsplash matches the rest of my kitchen/living room. Torn up and icky.

Monday is the big tear out day, tuesday or wednesday I get new countertops, sink, and island. And Saturday the floor goes in. Yes!
But Daddy, the car really did roll under there. See? I know you can get it. :-) Daddy's are so good at these things. Mommy didn't even try, just said to wait until we moved the stove. 

My brother-in-law Mark graciously came over and ripped out our stairs and put a hole in our floor for some new ones. As always, it is a little more complicated then it seems like it will be and we are stair less, but not for long. :-) 
Aren't they cute. I love these old navy sweatshirt dresses. You just want to grab them and snuggle them. :-)
Ah... the beautiful princess. She adored her dress.
                              It doesn't look like it, but these little buggers get their owners into a lot of trouble. :-) 
Pretty as pictures. When I went in to get Karis' dress Gabi followed me and wouldn't rest until I pulled her dress down, as well. I think I may have some girlie girls!

Exercise

I'm back to exercising again. It feels so good. Hopefully those extra pounds that crept on after Christmas (and during) will come off. Also, my mom was kind enough to put together a book of life principles from Charles Stanley. My Grandma has been wanting to get me the Life Principles Bible for years. She gave me one for Christmas. I have to say I was skeptical. After all, I've had quite a few Bibles in my life. I LOVE it. Not only is God's Word still AMAZING as always, but Stanley has so many practical things to say. What does this have to do with exercising? Well, the book that my mom made me is full of his 30 Life Principles. And I am trying to memorize them while exercising. Today the Principle was "Obey God and leave the consequences to Him." The verse. Ex. 19:5 "Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine." Isn't that absolutely precious. I'm going to try and keep that in my mind all day. I wan to be a special treasure to the Lord.  

As a side note, I fell for one of those t.v. infomercials "hip hop abs." Now, I'm not doubting that it works,(cause I googled it and no, it isn't a scam, and yes there are testimonials of how it works, see, I'm getting a little savvy)  and I may still try it when my order comes cause I've always wanted to be able to dance just a little. And, with my secretly ghetto husband, he might appreciate a little hip hop from his wife, but now I just don't know if i can give up the memorizing time. Maybe I can mix it up a little, but most likely it will just go back in the mail and yes, I just wasted shipping money. Maybe I'll learn to think those infomercials over a little more before i hop on the band wagon. Just for the record, I've only fallen for one other one. It was the spanks. That was when I didn't want to exercise, just suck in those love handles a little.  And no, they didn't really work for me. Yes, they smoothed me out a little, but get rid of inches and make my clothes loose like on t.v. Um, NO.  Ah.... live and learn. Maybe, sometimes I'm a little slow. :-) 

From the mouth of babes

I was talking to Dustin on the phone this evening when I heard this scream from the living room. Karis comes running to me, tears rolling down her cheeks, loudly crying. Gabi is calmly sitting on our beanbag, looking at us. 

"She bit me, mommy." 

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. Where?"  Karis points to her shoulder, still crying. 

"Mommy, lets tell God to take her back. I don't want her anymore because she bites me." 

I had a hard time keeping a straight face. Thankfully her face was buried into my shoulder so I had time to compose myself and try to think of a way to explain why that wasn't a good idea. 

I asked her if she had ever bitten mommy.

"Yes"

"Called me names?"

"Yes."

"Hit me?"

"Yes."

"Do you want mommy to give you back?" 

"No." 

After I assured her I would never want to give her back, despite the abuse I suffer :-) we finally came to the realization that we had better keep Gabi around after all. 

It also turns out that the only reason my youngest was so ferocious was because she was getting squashed by her older sister. It was self defense, but that was yet another long conversation that I won't burden you with. :-)

Gabi is starting to say words. I feel like she is a little late because Karis seemed to be saying a lot more right now. Da Da was her first, of course. But Ma Ma was not her second. Her second and third words were yellow and blue.  And they come out sounding like wewwow and buu. I thought I was hearing things, but she has said the same thing for several months now. Mommy is now in her vocab, as well as shhhh and weee.....  I love watching them learn and grow. 

pictures

                                              I actually cleaned out my toy box from all the 

                                              junk that had gone in there while trying to sell

                                              the house. Now it really is a toy box and the 

                                              girls are thrilled! The boxes beside it are to 

                                              keep people from falling off the ledge until

                                              the new stairs are built. What a mess!
This beautiful picture was a birthday gift from Noelle. I know. I am very lucky to have her. The colors are the ones I want in my kitchen when it is done. Doesn't it just make you want to take a walk there? The group of four people is my family. Although, in that setting I think it would be very romantic for it to just be the two of us. So I guess I can pretend both, eh?
No, I assure you, she isn't really sick. This is what cutting your eye teeth does to you so I wouldn't recommend it. I felt so bad for her. You know she is miserable if she is just laying there. She is better now, though those buggers just won't poke all the way through. I can see them, but my wishing isn't making them move any faster. 

The funny thing is, Daddy saw the permanent marker on the floor by his desk before it became used as body paint. Oops. He had to learn, like mommy, the hard way that what could potentially be a disaster probably will be in this house. :-)
When mommy sells all the furniture, including the kitchen table, you get to eat off of cool stuff like this. :-) And she doesn't even care if we spill on the carpet!