Sunday was pretty much an awful day. I don't want to say that Chris and I fought... because that's not true at all. But our marriage is -- stressed. There is no one thing identifiable... but - we've been through a LOT... not just with the kids... with everything that has happened with us and to us over the past 20+ years. I don't ever blog about that kind of stuff in my blog - this blog is just for the Rho-cchini kind of things that go on. But I think it's important for you all to know we are experiencing something and that prayers - heavy duty prayers - are very much appreciated.
Chris's mom came to the house at 6:30 am Monday morning to take Chris to Tennessee. The plan was to drive up in her truck, stay in Doug's home, spend a few days and make the house either rent-able or sell-able. Then rent a u-haul and bring back some of Doug's things and tow back his 55 Chevy Convertible. Well.... you know what they say about the best made plans.....
They arrived late last night and found that the electric, gas and water were all off. They kind of thought that might happen, but when they got out of the car and it was in the twenties it took on a whole new importance. They assessed the home and ended up sleeping at Chris's Uncle Robert's house about 45 min away.
Then there's the house.... Doug was a very smart and frugal man. He has a cute little house on the main strip of this little town in Tennessee, Lewisburg. He figured he only needed a few rooms in this house... he needed a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. So... many years ago he walled off the back half of his house, turned one of the bedrooms into a kitchen, added a bathroom - and - wallah! A rent-able back half of the house = steady income with no effort. From what Chris assessed last night, the house needs quite a bit of work. Several of the rooms need paint, some of the siding needs replaced, and there was a roof leak in the back house bathroom which rotted out the floor (meaning roof and floor repair). Chris quickly realized that this was more than a few days worth of work. But we need to do something - we are paying a mortgage on a house that is just sitting there.
Of course, before I went to bed last night I prayed for this to somehow work out. And you know - sometimes it's as if, on certain things, I have a direct line right to God.
This morning Chris called and said that while he was at Uncle Robert's last night, they were talking about his son (in his 20's) who was getting a factory job right in Lewisburg... how nice it would be for him to live closer to his job. Well, they are now discussing the possibility of him living in Doug's home and taking care of it (maybe even making repairs). He'd live rent-free while doing this, and would just have to pay the electric, gas, phone and water. What a deal for him, huh? I hope and pray that everything will work out okay. If he's able to live there and actually get the house into shape, that would be AWESOME and an answer to our prayers. While at the same time, helping him out! Win - win!
I'm real excited about getting the Chevrolet down here. It's just fun to drive around. Anytime you can have 'fun' just getting into a vehicle and going down to the store - that's pretty cool. For those of you who would like to see the car before we get it down here... here's a photo:
Pretty sweet, eh? We'd like to sell it - so if you know any car enthusiast who would be willing to part with $50,000 drop me a line.
Last night was just - insanely busy. With Chris out of town, getting everything done is up to me. I got out of work at 5pm and at 5:15 Dottie (Guardian Ad Litem) came over. We talked for about an hour and then Jay, the new Hillsborough Kids (like DCF) worker came over. He's real new to the system, a very tall black gentleman, and when you talk to him you can tell he's trying to remember what procedure is next. Jay had not yet met the kids, so we had a rather long visit. We all sat around the dinner table and just talked. This is the kids third DCF person, and it was amazing to me to see how the kids acted differently to Jay than they did to any of the other people before him. They assumed he was cool and assumed he liked hip-hop and rap. It was just -- different.
Jay left just before 7 pm and I had to run Justin over to baseball practice and I went to Church for praise team rehearsal (which I was late to, but there was not much I could do about it). I got back home just in time to tell all the kids to get to bed. Of course, when it's close to 10 and they are just going to bed, it's more like 11 before anyone actually gets to sleep. Frustrating! Needless to say, nobody got up on time this morning. Sheesh!
So.... funny story of something that happened last night. Kids are in bed, hubby is gone, so I thought I'd take a hot bath. Well, Jinx (one of our cats) loves water. Sometimes he'll get in the tub or even in the pool if we are swimming. He sat on the toilet and watched me take a bath for quite a while. Then he gets down, picks up my panties that are on the floor, and leaves the bathroom. I was yelling at him, clapping my hands, but he wouldn't drop them. Sheesh! A few minutes later he returns to the toilet to continue looking at the water. Of course, panties are no longer with him. When I get done, I figure the first order of business is to find the panties! Look in my bedroom, not there. Hall, nope. Stairs, nope. Cat litter? Nope. Okay... if it were JUST me and my own kids, I might be fine with just leaving them wherever. But I've got 3 kids in the house that are not my flesh-and-blood. Not to mention a hubby out of town, and I can just picture in my mind him getting back and finding my panties someplace strange and thinking I was up to no good while he was away! So... I've got to find them! I must have searched the house for 30 minutes or more. Finally found them, hidden in a closet. Freaking cat! I return to find Jinx in the bathtub enjoying what was left of the water in the tub. Think he did it on purpose????
Speaking of purpose... another very VERY cool story. Kayla and this boy Michael dated for a very short while a couple of months ago. While they were dating, I told the mom, Cheryl, that she should come to our church sometime. As it turns out, some of her co-workers also attend VanDyke and so - one day - she came to church. She's been attending for a couple of weeks now, and this past Sunday, she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior for the very first time! How awesome is that??!! Cheryl was also my 'parking lot angel' from a blog a month or so ago. She wrote me an email to share the great news, and in it she mentioned how sometimes God puts people in your lives for a very good reason. Just the two of us meeting as briefly as we had... and things have changed in our lives for the better because of it. Truly amazing. God is great, isn't he? Hey, Cheryl.... welcome to the family of God... I'm so happy for you!
I'll try to blog as much as I can this week, but while Chris is out I'm not sure how much time I'll have. Although, if yesterday was any indication of the chaos that will continue to happen as the week progresses, I'll need to blog often as a way to relieve stress!
I better run... but will leave you with this for today:
You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement.
Woodrow Wilson
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