mini update

Just wanted to confirm to anyone out there who still checks our blog that we are, in fact, alive and well! I've had to cut back on some non-essentials during this period of life and unfortunately, blogging (for me) falls into that category. :(

Not sure when I'll be able to pick it up regularly again - hopefully shortly after our move in 25 days. I may sporadically be able to post a few things between now and then, so keep me on your blogroll - I will be back!

In the meantime, here's one of the things that has been occupying our schedules for the past month (and the dream come true I referred to in my last post): we are buying a house! And not just any house. It's the house I was born in and lived in until I was 12 years old.

How crazy is that? We close July 1. Unreal.

And for anyone wondering, I am now 27 weeks and finally have a bump to show for it! I'll really try to post some pics soon. I'm feeling great and the baby is moving around like crazy! It is especially active at night (makes me wonder if it will be a creative night-owl like me) and also whenever it hears music. Hmmm...

Ok, better cut myself off there - I'll be back soon!

the flood

Well, if you told me on Monday that this is the post I would be writing today, I would laugh. And laughing we have been. It has been a crazy, crazy week, in so many ways, some of which I can't even share with you yet. But now I'm rambling, let's get back to the post: the flood on Primrose Avenue.

This story actually began several months ago when we noticed that our basement shower would fill with water every time it rained or snowed. Water would come up through the drain, fill the shower basin and then overflow into the bathroom. A couple of times, there was so much that it leaked out into the bedroom next door. We reported this to our property management company, and while they sent some guys out to take a look, no action was ever taken to fix the problem.

Oh well, said we. It's not our house. We're moving in three months. They can deal with it later after we're gone.

Monday night brought a whopper of a rainstorm. Tuesday morning revealed a whopper of a flood. By the time Brian left for school, the water was at least an inch high throughout half of our basement, with more gushing out of the shower and a fountain gurgling up from the sump pump. Not good.

I left a message with the landlord and went to an ob appointment. (This was the bright spot of the day - getting to hear our baby's healthy heartbeat!) When I returned home an hour later, the water level had doubled. I started to move everything I could (I am 19 wks pregnant, mind you) to the far wall of the basement that was still somewhat dry. I called Brian to come home and help. By the time he got here, everything was sitting in water.

That's when everything in the basement had to be moved upstairs. To put it lightly, our house is a MESS.

Did I mention that on Wednesday, the next day, Brian was scheduled to take his board exam (basically the test that determines if he graduates or not). He's been preparing for months, but was hoping to have one quiet last day to focus and prepare. Quiet and focused day he did not receive. But isn't that the way life goes? :)

To spare you a complete recounting of the rest of the day's drama, here are the highlights:

- The water reached 5 inches high, in some places even higher.

- After sloshing around it all day, we discovered that the flood was technically "sewage water." The sump pump was illegally tied into the sewer lines and it was all flowing into the house. While there wasn't any poo visibly floating around, it is still disgusting. So gross.

- There was tons of mold behind the baseboards. All of them had to be ripped out. Any part of the drywall with mold on it has now been cut out.

- They had to install a new sump pump.

- The toilet upstairs had to be removed so that they could access the plumbing. This meant no toilet for a pregnant lady for 3 hours. That is a LONG TIME! The plumber reinstalled it incorrectly and then left at 9 pm. I realized after he was gone that water was leaking out of the bottom of it but at that point there was nothing we could do but mop it up every few hours until he came back the next afternoon.

- In the next few weeks, they are going to have to dig out the front yard to rework the sump pump and sewage system.

- There are now something like 10 commercial fans and 5 de-humidifiers going full force in our basement. After everything is thoroughly dried, they will replace the padding, carpet, dry wall and baseboards.

You can probably see the water best in this video:

Wow. Nothing like leaving this house with a bang!

BUT. As much of a nightmare as this day was, the following day (in which I struggled to get out of bed and greet the mess around me) held a dream come true. You will have to bear with me and be patient until I can fill you in.

And for those of you wondering, Brian's boards went well. They were hard and long and draining, but he feels that he did everything he could have to prepare. We won't get the results back for a month, so he's leaving it in the Lord's hands. I have a feeling that he did just fine. :)

All day long on Tuesday, these old Caedmon's Call lyrics kept coming to mind. I hope they'll lift your spirits today, whether you're having a fabulous or frustrating day:

This day's been crazy,

but everything's happened on schedule

From the rain and the cold

to the drink that I spilled on my shirt

Cause you knew You'd save me

before I fell dead in the garden

And you knew this day

long before You made me out of dirt

(Table for Two)

momentous

... is the word I would use to describe the past month (or past 3 months, rather). I don't even know where to begin so I'm resorting to bullet points for now, with the best of intentions to fill in the blanks and connect the dots later.

So, here follows a very brief summary of life as of late:

- Guess this one should probably top the list: we're pregnant (17 weeks today), due Sept. 13.

- After keeping the secret since Jan. 5, we FINALLY got to tell our families a couple of weeks ago.

- I turned 30 on March 23.

- My dear friend, Christine, came to Indy to visit for my birthday.

- We spent Brian's spring break in Wichita, doing grown-up things like looking at houses, evaluating mortgage lenders and signing orthodontic job contracts. It's official, Brian's start date is Aug. 1!

- I got to participate in my very first, of hopefully very many, Gilmore Girls nights (more on this to come).

- I heard my baby's heartbeat twice.

- I am, praise the Lord, over the morning sickness. Why they call it "morning" I will never know, it was the worst for me at night. Due to the lack of nausea, I can finally stand to be in the kitchen again. This is HUGE.

- We are now 3 months out from graduation.

- My computer's logic board went out and I am now using Brian's computer until mine can be fixed. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll be reunited again with my pictures and I will write more then.

For the sake of the blog book I desperately hope to create at the end of this year, each bullet above should have an accompanying post within the coming weeks. Please hold me accountable to this! :)

good stuff

Just a couple things to share today!

First, if you are someone interested in adoption (or even if you're not), please take a few minutes to watch this video by Third Day (thanks, Team Alexander, for sharing!). You've probably heard this song on the radio, but seeing the video puts new meaning behind the words they are singing. Even if you can guess what's coming in the video, it is so powerful. Bet your eyes won't be dry when it's over.

After watching the video, head over to the Cupcakes Divine site for an exciting update! We've been able to sponsor our first child and we are just THRILLED! Please keep us in mind for any future cupcake needs - we're more than halfway toward meeting the amount for a second sponsorship!

february

I'm a bad, bad blogger. I haven't written for three weeks. I'm going to blame it on the cold Indiana winter for freezing my fingers and my brain (but in reality, I just haven't made the time).

Following are some totally unrelated happenings around our house. I'm hoping at the end of this year I'll finally create a blurb blog book, so I don't want to leave any of this out!

For Christmas my grandparents gave us one of the most ingenious gifts (in my opinion) we've ever received - a snowman kit! It includes everything to make a picture-perfect snowman: a carrot nose, pipe, hat, scarf , buttons and lots of coal for the eyes and mouth. I've been dying to use it since we opened it. So, while others were dreading the crazy storm that swept the nation, I actually looked forward to it, knowing it would dump enough snow for me to get to pull out my kit!

And this kit did not disappoint! Isn't our little guy adorable?

A couple of days later, we were privileged to attend a Purdue basketball game with some good friends from church, Matt and Abby Carroll. Matt used to play basketball for Purdue, so he got us awesome seats - on the floor - for a sold-out game! They played and ending up beating one of their biggest rivals, Indiana University. While I felt a teensy bit disloyal to my Baylor Bears for wearing a Purdue shirt (Abby was kind enough to loan it to me), :) it was such a fun game to experience!

And speaking of awesome seats, the weekend before Valentines Day, my sweet husband surprised me with THIRD ROW tickets to see Amy Grant in Chicago! Her concerts are always so great - every time I see her she always exceeds my expectations. For the last concert I went to, we had front row seats and I never dreamed I would get to experience that again!!! We were actually down in the orchestra pit for this one, so she sang only 10 to 15 feet from us. Michael W. Smith was also on the tour with her, so it was a real blast from the past when they pulled out their old classics (Place in this World, anyone?)! They even sang Agnus Dei together, which was a treat to hear live since I chose Amy's version for my bridal walk-down-the-aisle. Wonderful concert from a very thoughtful husband!

While February has been full of fun, I'll be first to say that I'm looking forward to its end, because it puts us that much closer to springtime! Hurry up sunshine and warm breezes!

iced in with a free book

If you're reading this and you're in the USA, chances are you're also on day two of this crazy "snowmaggedon" or whatever they keep calling it on the news.

Truthfully, it hasn't been completely horrible for us here in Indy. We have two to three inches of solid ice covering EVERYTHING, but we've hardly had any snow accumulation. We haven't lost power... yet... and have been enjoying these days with cancelled activities and a little extra free time. One of the only downsides of working for yourself from home is that whenever all of the other business shut down, I really don't have to. :( I've been working a little but trying to take it easy and hang out with the hubs.

Right before the storm struck yesterday morning, Stryder had his teeth cleaned and a cist removed from his neck. He was pretty out of it from the anesthesia for most of the day, but today he seems back to normal, probably due to the extra attention we've been able to show him since we've been stuck inside.

On a completely different note, I found out this morning that a book at the top of my to-read list, Adopted for Life, is FREE as an audio-book during February! I wanted to pass it on in case anyone else wants to take a listen - it's been highly recommended to us by countless people and I can't wait to get started!

Hope everyone stays warm and safe out there!

cold no more

It's been pretty quiet on the homefront around here - I don't truthfully have much new to write about. We're back in the swing of normal life after the holidays: Bible Study, Awana, Life Centers, Small Group... and trying to stay warm amidst FRIGID temperatures.

So, I thought I'd put in a plug for a new product I discovered last fall. I've now used it three times at the first symptoms of a cold, and every time, it's stopped my sickness in its tracks.

Zicam is a homeopathic concoction of zinc and other ingredients that my colds have not been able to stand up against! I've tried the oral mist and the pills, and much prefer the mist (the pills left a nasty flavor behind).

Anyways, just thought I'd share as we're in the middle of cold and flu season. Hope it can save someone else from a few down days!

tunes

Buying new music is something I rarely do. I don't know why... I guess I would usually rather put the money toward other things. A little scared to commit to something that I can't return if I don't like it, I guess I figure the songs picked out by the DJs on the radio are good enough for me.

I've realized lately that for me, good music can be a healthy, highly beneficial, sometimes even necessary splurge. It can literally change my heart, my mind, and therefore, my attitude!

Since I was blessed to receive multiple itunes gift cards for Christmas, I decided to start the new year off by loading some fresh artists into my ipod! I'm so thankful I did. I didn't really know where to start... except that I wanted solid, worshipful, praise-filled songs. Red Mountain Church embodies these qualities to me, so I started exploring the "similar artists" on itunes. This search led me to the following albums which I can already whole-heartedly endorse.

Psalms, by Sovereign Grace Music

I am an avid reader of GirlTalk, the blog written by the wife and daughters of the founder of Sovereign Grace Ministries, but somehow I had NO IDEA that they had a worship ministry. So many great cds to choose from. I ended up picking Psalms, because how you can go wrong with a collection of songs that the Lord authored through David? It's been on repeat all week.

Come Weary Saints, by Sovereign Grace Music

This one's full of sound theology and encouragement for the believer facing struggles both big and small. It reminds me, over and over again, of God's sovereignty, of His lovingkindess toward His children and of the inextinguishable joy of our salvation. Highly recommend it.

A Hymn Project, by Shelly Moore Band

There are only six songs on this album, but they're all packed with a punch! Great arrangements, great heart, great voice, great truths.

Your Great Name, Single by Natalie Grant

While I didn't purchase Grant's entire album, I heard this single on the radio a few weeks ago and was so struck by its powerful, worship-filled lyrics. I discovered the acoustic version, available as a bonus track and single purchase on itunes, and that's the one I ended up choosing. You'll want to blast it to the highest volume and play it over and over and over. :)

I still have some itunes credit remaining... can anyone offer some tried-and-true suggestions for how I should spend the rest of it?