Ups, Downs & Starts

It has been a roller coaster these past few months. Anyone that knows us, we always have things going on, but this past year has been insane.  

David and I hit a huge fork in the road of sorts with our marriage to the point where it was almost irreparable, but with the prayers and some greatly needed communication and God’s grace we have made leaps and bounds in these last 10 months. Every day is a new day and we have set backs but mainly we have many leaps forward. (I will do a separate post on this).

Great-aunt Iris passed away in the spring, David and I were married on her birthday the year she turned 84 (I think that’s correct) and she was just 6 months and a day shy of her 100^th birthday when she passed. The family has been planning a grand celebration of her life for September. Those of you that had the pleasure to know her all know that she was full of fire and spunk; many knew her and Nana and she is missed greatly each day.

David’s father spent 8 weeks in the hospital with severe congestive heart failure, what most people don’t know is that once you’re classified with CHF it’s not something that goes away, it’s treatable, but the symptoms need to be monitored closely. He’s strong and God’s not done with him just yet.

We now have 2 teenagers in the house, 15 & 13, every day is an adventure with them as well as the 10- & 8-year-olds.

After David quit one job to do another, he was laid off from that job. This summer we’ve had to stretch every penny that has come in, just like many households do every day. I"m ready for our economy to turn around!

Last week two kids went back to the same school and the two older ones both started a new schools. With the new schools came new schedules since the oldest is in band, we now have marching practice on top of regular practice. The oldest is also in the drum line and those kids practice more on the side. The second oldest, she is not only playing volleyball she is also on the flag/color guard for the 9^th grade marching band. A huge accomplishment for an 8^th grader in my opinion! Today finishes their second week of school and the kids have had …

•  6 volleyball games 
• Band practice until 9 one night
• Band performance 
• Football games
• Parent meetings
• Counselor meetings
• Coaches meetings
•  Homework everyday (poor little dears) & them refusing to get it done directly after school (time management is not their forte, that is what I am for!)
• After school pick up mishaps and successes
•  Drop off for school successes (so far this has never been an issue, it’s always the picking up)
• Starvation pleas after school (always plenty of snacks on hand)
• 1^st day they all roll out of bed and are ready WAY before 6:30, we don’t leave until 7:15
• Days 2-10 it’s like trying to wake the dead and watching zombies get ready for school
• Can't forget the lectures of how important grades are ....

Last Wednesday was the parent meeting for the volleyball parents; band meeting isn’t until next week. Those meetings are solely to inform you of the schedule, have a pep talk and to take your money. I really don’t like August; I mean school supplies, clothes, athletic fees, band fees, prescriptions, dentist appointments, doctor appointments, etc.  Some of these expenses were complete surprises while others were not, but dreaded them.

Then …. the bottom fell out ……

·         David vehicle shut down on him while he was working a few weeks back and we had to get the alternator replaced $$; we got lucky that the alternator was under warranty but we still had to fork out huge $$ for the labor.

·         The hot water tank went out, as the evidence of water was all over the garage and my kitchen floor. Our family cannot express how grateful we are to have such a loving and caring church family. Not only did they purchase the hot water tank, they also installed it.

·         The tires on my car, well let’s just say we’re NOT driving it until unless absolutely necessary until we can get new tires. The back ones are so bad that if we hit a bump in the road the wrong way, the tires might explode. Today was especially bad with the rain.

Things start to look up …..

Now we have hot water …. able to take warm showers, use the dishwasher, use warm water to wash clothes, both showers work now (because apparently one is only using hot water, I think it’s the type of faucet that’s in the shower), and we have ice in the ice maker (because the warm water is run to the fridge, don’t know why).

David is working part-time. If he were to go full time, the benefits would be fantastic.

A project at work gets held up for 6 weeks which runs into another project, so I’ve been hopping around like a jack rabbit working on 2 projects at once and manage to do both gracefully and get them both completely finished last week. 

Hurricane Isaac made his way through the Gulf of Mexico and turned into Tropical Depression by the time he arrive here and now we’re soaked. Which we have NEEDED this rain so badly. I will admit that 24 hours+ of rain has me thinking that Isaac has worn his welcome out here. I don’t like drab dreary weather and this is what Isaac is to me right now.

Then we had a medical incident Monday with Madelynne. I'm working on a separate post for that which is explains everything, from what happened, testing and treatment.