Christmas (REALLY long post!)

I'll be honest, I've been putting off this post. I just don't like blogging about unpleasant things. This is not a plea for sympathy. This is my family journal and there's no way I CAN'T blog about it. Believe me I've tried.

I'll start by saying it was WONDERFUL to visit with our families and we had a very nice Christmas. Truly wonderful, we have amazing families and they are so FUN to hang out with.

The rest however pretty much sucked. I think vacations in general are on the NEVER AGAIN!!! list for Ryan. Haha, unfortunately he's married to me, so that won't last too long!

The first half of the trip I was sick. Nothing too bad, but I was unable to do most of what I wanted too, like SHOPPING!!! Or set up stuff Christmas night. Ryan did that all by him self! -He did a good job too.
The day after Christmas we went over to my parents. It's pretty close. We barely made it. Long story short, our transition died. SUCKY timing!! In all honesty we probably should have stayed home for Christmas, it was out of our budget to go to Texas in the first place. ALSO the stupid, I mean the car, was only ours for 2 yes TWO months!!
One week. That's all we had until we HAD to leave. Ryan does have to work occasionally. Well- with all the holidays and stuff they JUST barely finished in time. Ryan goes and picks up our car. TWO hours after he picks up the car it breaks AGAIN!!!!! Ok, seriously! Now, not only are we inconvenienced we HAVE to leave to go home and we have no car. The thing in our favor was it was the car peoples' fault. They put the transmission in wrong and broke something. So the upside was we didn't have to pay for the extra work.
After lots of offers (didn't I tell you we have AMAZING!!! families) we found a way home. We traded cars with my dad(he's a HORRIBLE negotiator when it comes to his grand babies!!). So we drove back on time!! (hallelujah!) just with a different car. So not only were my parents down a car but they also agreed to drive to Kansas City (half way) and trade back cars a couple weeks later. Ryan's parents were HUGE HUGE helps in all this as well.

Once we finally got home(our 2nd 8 hour day of driving!) our trials in Texas seemed like a walk in the park. It's 5 o'clock Sunday night. We've been driving all day. We just want to climb into our nice, soft, warm beds. Only they weren't warm. The whole house in fact wasn't warm. It was 32 degrees. 32! Inside my house! Somehow the heater shut off while we were gone. (it's done it a few times since, so I know we're not crazy!) I huddled the kids in a room with some blankets, but it was quickly apparent that that wasn't going to work. So Ryan worked on fixing the house and we went to the neighbors. We have GREAT neighbors! The whole neighborhood is wonderful. So I run over and ask if the kids and I can sit in their house. They have twin girls Emily's age and my kids LOVE them. Unfortunately they were sleeping (the twins). They did wake up while we were there though! That's quite a surprise, wake up from your nap and ALL these people in your house. Of coarse my kids HAD to eat so Jeff is getting them drinks and snacks and one of mine spills their drink all over. And they're eating like they haven't eaten in a week. He was really nice about it, but I felt bad. A few hours later Ryan comes back over and our house is a few degrees warmer, but not much. It becomes obvious that the kids can't stay in the house that night. We call some more friends and the kids and I sleep over at the Bower's. They were so sweet to the kids and I. Not only did they have us as surprise guests, but they already had grandpa, grandma, and a cousin over! In the morning we take our time getting up and dressed. Ryan had called me and while it was warmer it was still only 50 something.
Here I'm thinking ok. I've been patient. We've handled this well. It'll still be a little cold at home, but at least we'll be home and it'll be over with. Hahahaha. Ryan left our house around 7am. I got home at 10am. When he left all was well.
When I got home it was raining. POURING actually. INSIDE my house. INSIDE! I threw the kids on the couch and threatened them within an inch of their lives to NOT MOVE. DO NOT MOVE! STAY THERE! I would like to pretend that I was calm. That wasn't even ALMOST the case. I'm running around the house calling Ryan because I know the thing I need to do is SHUT OFF THE WATER. I have NO IDEA how to do this. Ryan does not answer. I call my mother. Because, well if I don't know the answer my mom does. Haha. Poor mom got a HYSTERICAL call from me. How do you turn off the water!!?!!
Who's this?
Christi, HOW DO YOU TURN OFF THE WATER!!!?!!!
She didn't know. She's never been to my house. We just moved in in July. She lives in Texas, we live in Wisconsin. Poor mom. I finally calm down JUST enough to realize that she really can't help me right now. So I call Ryan's work number. His secretary pics up and says her schpill.
"Hey this is Christi. I need to talk to Ryan. It is an Emergency!"
She got him on the phone pretty quickly. He tells me where to look, but knows I have NO CLUE what I'm doing. So he SPRINTS home. Luckily he works close to home! By this time the kids have gotten off the couch and are running around, because when your 1-4 what's cooler than it raining inside? I was convinced that the ceilings were going to cave in and the only safe place was on the couch (away from all the water!) so I was frantically trying to turn the water off (in the basement- I know how NOW!) and keep them on the couch! Mostly I was running around and doing a lot of screaming. GET ON THE COUCH!!! DON'T TOUCH!!! GO BACK!! That sort of thing. Like I said I'd love to pretend I was all calm, cool, and collected, but it just wasn't the case. Ryan came home and got the water turned on, but it didn't stop raining for a few hours. There was A LOT of water under the floor (2nd story) and above the ceiling that had to drain out.
Ryan called insurance while I called the plumbers. I had calmed down some by then, but apparently not enough. I COULD NOT remember our house address! To be fair we have only lived here a few months, but really. I know my address.

Some funny/cute things were:
Kaitlyn. She was great. She thought this was THE COOLEST thing ever! She got 2 umbrellas for her birthday and she LOVES them. So she got one out and was running around in the rain having a grand old time! Logan too. Except it was still only 50 degrees in the house and he was only wearing footy pajamas and running though the rain. He was PISSED that mom didn't like him playing in the water! At least Kaitlyn had on rain boots and an umbrella. He refused to stay on the couch! Haha. What do you expect a little boy to do with so much water in the house. Silly mom.
Kaitlyn found some of our scented diaper bags and ran around catching the water. At this point I realized. ooohhh yeah. That's what your supposed to do if your house leaks (this was MUCH more than a leak!) so I gathered all the pots, pans, bowls I could find and put them all out catching the water.
Oh and this water was NASTY! It looked like pee or beer. SOOOO gross.
Also my sister happens to call, just to say hey during this time. She could tell something was wrong and asked. I had held it together until then (well sort of!) but telling her just put all the emotions to the top and I started crying. After I talked to my sister, I was by the kids and Kaitlyn asks why are you crying mom? She really had no idea why I would be crying. That was a true blessing. While things were SUPPER CRAZY at home my kids still felt safe and happy. That kept me going threw most of it.

Once we got everyone called and things settled down a little, there wasn't much we could do. Ryan went back to work and I put the kids down for a nap. I really had no idea what to do (disaster recovery was on the way, but until then?) so I started sorting though our mail. I can not tell you what a blessing that was. We are horrible and never send out Christmas cards. Horrible. But for some wonderful reason we still receive quite a few. I sat down in the dining room with the living room still raining behind me and did something normal and fun. I can not thank those of you that sent Christmas cards enough. I can not explain how much it meant to me that even though life was truly CRAZY at the moment there were so many that cared enough about ME! to send cards and letters. Thank you. I NEEDED those cards this year. I always enjoy them, but this year was amazing. It was exactly what I needed exactly when I needed it. Thank you!

Kaitlyn and Logan got up just as I finished my cards. Kaitlyn was still fine, but Logan was REALLY thirsty. We had just gotten back in town. We had nothing in the fridge and the water was turned off. Here's my baby boy in a house FULL of water that I wouldn't let him drink, and all he wants is a drink. And I kept emptying the buckets and bowls down the sink, and then telling him there was nothing to drink. This was truly my breaking point. My baby wants a drink of water. That's all. And I can't give him one. Just thinking about that still makes me cry. Until that point I had thought I could just keep the kids home and take care of everything. Yet this one simple thing, I could not do for my child. It broke my heart. Again we are blessed with some truly amazing neighbors. I took Logan and Kaitlyn over to Jenny's to play for a few hours. When Em got up from her nap I took her over too. I moved as much of the stuff out of the way as I could and then I left too. I needed a break! So I went over to Jenny's and talked with her a little while too. That was such a blessing. My children were in a safe environment with some one I trust watching over them, and I got to get away from the CRAZINESS for a little while. (She kept them all day, and then feed us dinner! And to top it off it was her birthday. I didn't know at the time. How truly blessed we are to have such wonderful people in our lives!)
Once the disaster recovery people got there I came back over to help out. I hope no one ever needs them, but if you do they are truly wonderful. They knew what to do! The ceilings weren't going to cave in. We weren't going to be homeless. Here is a team of men who know what to do. How to dry out your house. Get rid of the wet stuff. Truly a blessing. I am so thankful that we have house insurance. Without it we would be homeless. I'm thankful that there are people who know what to do! How to turn a hopeless situation into something not so bad. We truly have been blessed though this situation. I however would not wish these blessings on anyone else. I hope you never have to find out first hand how important insurance is! Ryan and I were having a rough time. Nothing too serious, just normal married stuff, but boy after this we are stronger than ever. I KNOW what is important to me now. I KNOW what I NEED in my life. I have all I need. I have my husband. We are a team. We truly love each other. We have our children. We are all healthy. We are happy. We have our God, who loves us and watches out for us ESPECIALLY in the hard times.
I know it may sound like I think I have it bad. I don't. I know some of you have truly had a horrible year(s). And I am sorry about that. If I could pick my trials I would pick loosing a few rooms in my house over loosing my family or sickness any day. I am thankful for my trials. I am thankful that my God knows what I can handle and what I can not. Even if I think I can handle less than I can. God knows the trials he gives me are burdens I can carry WITH his help. I can not do it alone. That is why he gave us families. That is why I have such an amazing husband. That is why Christ came to this earth and died for me. He knows I can not do it on my own, but with his help I can.