It Was a Crappy Day

No, I mean literally.  The stuff was coming up out of our drain in the basement.  Apparently the flushable biodegradable inserts that I've been using to cloth diaper Maria haven't been flushing down the toilet as beautifully as I thought.  So as of this morning, any time water goes down a drain in our house, unpleasant waste comes back up into our basement.  Nice.  Kevin called our neighbor down the street who's a plumber and he said he'd be able to come by later in the afternoon.  Kevin decided to rent a machine that would clean out the pipes from the basement to the street.  The rental of the machine is available for four hours or if he waited until 4:00 p.m., he could have it overnight.  We decided we could wait so that he and our neighbor wouldn't have to rush to fix the problem.  Well...our neighbor did come by and was able to help Kevin get the machine down to the basement.  He showed Kevin what to do, and said he should be fine.  Unfortunately he had a lot of other things going on tonight.  So...Kevin was on his own.  But it turns out that the job wasn't quite as easy as it seemed.  The snake like pipe thingy would go no further than a foot down the hole.  Tried as he did, he just couldn't get it any further.  So now it's after five o'clock on a Friday and we have to call a plumber who will undoubtedly charge us double for having to come out on a weekend night.  Ugh.  So much for saving money trying to do it ourselves. 

The guy is actually finally here right now - at 10:00 p.m. 

It's just been that kind of a week.  We've had SWARMS of crawling and flying ants trying to start new colonies in our roommate's bathroom, a toilet that overflowed with - you guessed it - and flooded the bathroom floor, leaking down into the aforementioned roommate's bedroom, our bathroom has been out of commission for over a week due to our reglazing of the tub and sink (it's been chipping so much that the chips were getting stuck under the kids' nails during their baths) (it was only supposed to take three days), our phone, cable, and internet went out yesterday for the entire day, and we found out that our insurance will not add Maria to our policy even though we were told by our agent before we left for Colombia that she'd be added as soon as we were home.  We now need to have a new policy for the four of us but anything related to a pre-existing condition of Maria's will not be covered until December.  So our visit to the pediatrician's, the two blood draws she had, the visit to the pediatric neurologist, and the upcoming visits to the pediatric opthamologist and endocronologist will have to be paid out of pocket.  Ugh again. 

Now any one of these things on their own is simply an inconvenience.  (Okay, except for maybe that last one.)  But I must say that all of it piling up together like it did this week feels pretty stressful to us. 

And then the really bad news is that Kevin's sister Kristi's cancer is back in full force, and this has been her first week back on chemo.  She's been sick.  And her husband Brian had to go to the hospital yesterday as he woke up covered in hives.  They asked if he's been under any stress lately.  Ummm...just a bit. 

We would love your prayers.  For strength and peace for us and for all of our family.  The good news is that the ant guy was finally able to come today and spray, the tub guy came today as well to finally finish the job, and the AT& T guy came first thing this morning to replace our modem.  So that's all been good.  Tomorrow is a new day.  And we'll be able to use our toilets and sinks.  It's going to be okay. 


"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."  Deuteronomy 31:8

"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."  Psalm 31:24

"We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield."  Psalm 33:20

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."  Psalm 42:5

"But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."  Isaiah 40:31