K- My daughter the Hero!

K saved the day yesterday ( or at least the house) School is out early this week for teacher conferences and K and her little friend S were in the family room watching a video. I had just been downstairs and fixed them popcorn and a rootbeer (this is significant because I had to get the rootbeer from the 2nd fridge which is in the laundryroom). They were fine so I went upstairs to (what else) read my blogs. Not five minutes later, K is screaming for me that there is water in the hall. I fly down the stairs and there is water coming into the familyroom, masterbedroom, hall and laundryroom. The hot water hose to the washer had split and a geiser was shooting up, hitting the shelf over it and literally raining in the laundry room. I start in to turn the water off and realize that first it is hot water and second I have an expensive hearing aid on that will ruin if I go running in there. So a quick detour to remove the hearing aid and then I turned off the water. It was hot but it did not burn me.

What a mess, it was about 2 inches deep in the laundry room and running out the back door into the garage. I got ahold of my hubby ( he just loves to get my phone calls these days!) and called the insurance, they connected me with a water extraction company who came within the hour. So we started moving furniture out of the way and emptying closets ( what a job) They tore up the carpets and cut out the padding, took off baseboards to let the walls dry. They had to cut two big holes in the closet to get to the area under the stairs which was full of water. All of this in less than 5 minutes of running water. They brought in 12 fans and 2 big dehumidifyers and it is noisy and windy in my house now. I know just a little of how hurricane victims feel now.

It is our new family joke that my parents and my brother get the hurricane ( they still have no water or electricity) and I get the flood! How fair is that? The main carpet area affected is the area that we were planning to ceramic tile anyways, so maybe this will spur us on to go ahead and do it.

Today is my day to work in the workroom at school and also I have a conference with K teacher today so I guess I better get hopping. It is good to keep my mind off this mess. All we can really do right now is wait and hope it drys out with no mold forming. Hope all of my friends out there are staying dry and go check your washer hoses RIGHT now!

Prayer request regarding Rita

I heard from my parents last night and they are safely in Ark at the camp house. My mom had emailed me a day or so ago and asked me what I wanted her to save from the house when they evacuated. I wrote her back and said that was a no brainer, I wanted her to save herself and my dad! Then I suggested she take her important papers and her photo albums and leave everything else for the insurance. Nothing in that house is worth dying for, so just leave it. My brother is the Fire Chief in the town they live in so he is not able to leave. So the first prayer request is for him and his family. Then my husbands older brother lives in Houston and has decided to stay home to repair any damage that might occur. They live in the northern part of Houston area so they should not flood. His family left last night and are at my husband's parents place in Dallas. So he is prayer request number 2. I just got back from the grocery store and it is a mad house. The only problem we may have in this area is losing electricity. Our area has not flooded in the 5 years we have been here and we have had some doozy of floods in this area, so it is unlikely we would be flooded but very likely we could lose electricity. The news just reported that it looks like Rita is turning and will go in around the Tx/La border (right where my parents and brother live) that is good news for my area but not so good for my family. Please Pray! This turning of the hurricane also means that New Orleans could recieve a lot of rain which they absolutely don't need!

Survived Another Year (and Birthday!)

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, it has been a busy week. The weekend was good, hubby and I got some alone time on Friday. We hired a babysitter and went to eat seafood ( darling daughter doesn't like seafood, so it was a good time to go) Nice to be together even if he was in a quiet mood that night. Sat. was filled with errands and picking up the car from the shop, big bucks to get the A/C fixed but after spending most of the summer with subpar A/C enough was enough! Sunday was busy with church and life group activities.

Monday was good in that K went back to school and stayed there! I had my physical therapy and they did not forget me on the bike! After school was dance class and then home to hubby! He had gotten off work a little early (rare thing for him) and wrapped (?) my birthday present. Now by wrap, I mean that he wrapped the box in bubble wrap and put a plastic pink lei (the kind the kids get at parties!) on top. I might mention that he had to walk by not one but two rolls of wrapping paper to even get to the bubble wrap but hey he gets points for wrapping and remembering to get me a present. My bubble wrap present was a shredder! What a romantic guy I have! He did buy me a watch for my daughter to give me and that one actually got put in a gift bag! He had ordered pizza for supper so what more could a girl ask for?

People keep asking me if I had a good birthday! I had an okay birthday but maybe not the most memorable one I have ever had! I have a great husband, a sweet daughter, all the earthly possessions I need and many that I just want (and lots that I neither need or want!) I have family and friends that love me. I have a God who loves me best! So if my birthday was not the most exciting day of the year, so what! I am trully blessed and thankful for what I have. I still have a girls night out this weekend to celebrate with my friends so it ain't over yet!

A quick prayer request, my parents just informed me that they are evacuees from Hurricane Rita! They have a camp house in Arkansas to go to so they are more fortunate than most. Please pray that this will not be another killer storm and no more people will die!

Lesson Learned!

Darling daughter woke up this morning complaining that her stomach hurt. I did not pay much attention as her stomach hurts or she feels like she is going to throw up at least two mornings a week. Usually it is just a matter of getting woke up and dressed to get over being sick. Besides it was picture day and I had ironed her dress ( I hate to iron!) So I sent her off to school on the bus and told her that if she was still sick at school the nurse would call me. The bus left the house at 7:12 and I got the first call from the nurse at 7:55, school starts at 7:45. The nurse said she had been in the office complaining of a stomach ache but did not have fever so she sent her back to class. The second call from the nurse came at 8:05, K had vomitted (fortunately for all she made it to the restroom) so off to school I went to pick her up! I guess I should have believed her. She looked fine when I got there and the nurse even sent us off with a plastic bag to have her picture taken so she would not miss picture day. She probably could have stayed at school but school policy said she had to go home. She has not gotten sick again today and has been eating. She doesn't feel good but it doesn't seem to be a virus. Don't know what it was but hopefully it is gone now. In my defense the school nurse did not think she was sick either and she is a "trained professional" As if I don't have enough guilt in my life. Here's wishing all of you healthy happy children!

Wonderful News!

I just got a call from one of our Elder's sons. He was calling to tell me that his Dad's bypass surgery was a success. You could hear the relief in his voice. He said the doctors were all pleased and that he had seen his dad briefly in ICU and he looked good. Praise God! This Elder is one of the best people I know. He has had a rough summer in that he lost his wife of 52 years suddenly and he has been helping to take care of his terminally ill sister also.

When we first moved to this church 5 years ago, he was the first person that we really connected with. K had eye surgery within just a few weeks of us placing membership and he came to the hospital and sat with us while she had the procedure. He has a powerful love for K and he has been so patient with her. When we first came to church she was so "man shy", she would not even shake his hand but would bury her head every time he came around. He never pushed her but just kept coming back and getting down on her level to talk to her. Over the course of a couple of years, they progressed to hand shakes, then to talking and finally to big hugs. Now she loves him like he is one of her grandparents and always seeks him out at church for her hugs.

So I am so happy that this surgery went well and we can hopefully keep him around for many, many more years. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayers and keeping our Brother H. safe.

Physical Therapy

I am finally getting some physical therapy for my shoulders. They have been bothering me for awhile but kinda got put on the back burner while I was dealing with my kidney stone. Funny but shoulders don't hurt much when you have a kidney stone or maybe the pain meds just drowned them out! I like the doctor at this place, he is easy to talk to and seems to listen to me. The rest of his staff I am not so sure about but I will try not to make any lasting judgements until I give them a couple of chances to redeem themselves. One of them put me on a exercise bike, the kind that works your arms too, and told me to do it for 10 minutes. She did not set the timer, and promptly forgot about me. I did not have a watch on so I did not know how long it had been but after the second person came and did their cycling and left I got to thinking maybe I had been forgotten. The arm motion was not so bad but the seat was uncomfortable and boy is my butt sore! Things kinda went down hill from there. I think we overdid the shoulder(with the bike) so the other exercises were painful and I was in tears by the time I got to the doctor. He was upset because he had told the staff not to push me, that the idea was to loosen up my shoulder and it should cause no pain. So nobody was happy by that point! He spent time manipulating my neck and shoulders and that always feels nice and then more exercising and then we end it with the electrode therapy ( whatever they call that, where they zap your muscles) and ice down the shoulder (brrr cold!) This will be my routine for the next 4 weeks, three times a week with daily exercise routine as well. Have I meantioned that I hate to exercise! But I hate shoulder pain and not sleeping more, so wish me luck and pray this works.

Exactly, What do I believe?

I have been struggling with this one for awhile now! Life as my parents and my husband's grandparents view it is so simple. You believe what you have been taught about the church for the last 50+ years. I have been reading a lot of blogs from members of my "denomination" ( although we say we are Non denominational) and some of them are embracing things that fly in the face of my "conservative" upbringing. Even my own congregations seems to be getting wrapped up in this need to be bigger and better and more progressive. Some of the things I accept as outside my comfort zone and not spiritually or biblically incorrect but some just seem wrong. I also question, why we suddenly (or at least it seems sudden) need to make all these changes. Why is change being forced upon people who for what ever reason do not want this change? Why is it not enough that some people are hurt by these actions and are uncomfortable with them in church. It seems like the needs of the people who are uncomfortable with the changes should be equal or perhaps even more weighty than those who are just looking to change things to spice things up. I really fear that if all these changes continue to take place at this fast pace that the end result will not be one of growth but will cause people to leave the congregation . Don't get me wrong I can see the need for some changes and I am in no way as conservative as my parents and grandparents but still question what is the big rush. I have friends at church who are more conservative and friends that lean towards more liberal (although I dispise those two words) and I don't want to lose any of them over these changes. I also don't want to say one group should have more influence over the other, although if I am forced to choose then I think we should err on the side of caution. I don't think the more liberal minded people are going to leave over these things but I think the conservatives just might. I realize that I am being a little vague about all of these but just sharing what has been on my mind for awhile. So I am forced to ask myself "What Do You Really Believe? " "Is this a spiritual issue or a comfort issue?" and "What do I need to do about it?" I know that prayer and serious study time will help and I need to make a committment to do both!

So So Sad!

This is such a sad time, it is really hard not to become seriously depressed. I know that I should not watch so much T.V. or read the internet news all the time because it is affecting me so but it is like I am drawn to it. I think I keep hoping that a little good news will be thrown in but let's face it that's not what they like to report on. Poor Hubby pulled a muscle (or something) in his back this morning, so he is laid out with back pain. It is raining but fortunately my daughter has a little friend over and they are playing nicely together so it is reasonably quiet here. I think I will go read a book or something to take my mind off all the negative and try to focus on the positive for awhile. Here's wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable weekend.