One day we will laugh about this...

Since we moved to Texas our fridge went out and we had to replace it ($700), the civic needed a new starter ($100), and we found fleas on Ginger (CRINGE!). Thankfully SEARS has refrigerators and we only had to go a week with our food in an ice-chest. Chris was able to find the part and replace the starter himself. And we sprayed the grass, gave Ginger her summer cut, and doused her with medicine and hopefully that is the last we will ever have to deal with fleas! (CRINGE-me no likey bugs!)

I told Chris that if Texas was trying to kick us out, "it" was doing a great job! I'm starting to feel picked on and it's no fun!

Our recent adventure was this past Friday morning when around 10am our electricity went out. We were doing our normal thing and out of no where we were without power. More importantly without AC. I waited it out for about 20 minutes then called the electricity company to see what was going on. After all the account verification rigamaroll we find out that our account has been cancelled because (according to the electric company) we had cancelled our account because we went with a different provider. WHAT!? Not sure what that means? Neither did I. Apparently here in Texas there are a few different options for electricity and at any time you can cancel your service with one provider and transfer to another one. We had no idea this was an option so obviously this wasn't our fault.

The operator I spoke to told me they would fix it as soon as possible. It could take 1 hour but no longer than 24 hours. I explained that I had small children in the house and he said it would be on the priority list. This was about the time Chris said let's go to San Antonio so we packed up and left town. We never thought to call back and confirm that we had electricity so when we got back in to town on Saturday evening we were shocked to find that we still had no power. At this point everything in our fridge/freezer and deep freezer were completely ruined.

So we call the electricity company back only to find out that they don't work on the weekends so the earliest they would come out would be on Monday-SERIOUSLY!?!?

Here we were, 6pm on a Saturday evening and the only option we had was to get another hotel....a mile from our house. The girls were so excited! At this point they think we are on an extended vacation!

So we pack our church clothes (because did I forget to mention I had to speak in church the next day?) and we headed to the Holiday Inn to pay $100 per night for 2 nights. LOVELY!

We made the most of it. Turned the a/c down to 70 degrees and let the girls swim to their hearts content! 4 days in a row.

I gave my talk in church on Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day with our R.S President and her family, and waited it out.

On Monday morning I called the electic company back to make sure they were coming out before noon. I had to check out of our hotel room at noon and we had no other place to go.

According to the electric company we were on the list but they couldn't guarantee anything other than that it would happen before 7pm that evening!??! Seriously! I was losing it! Noon came and went so we went to our Bishop's house. Thaknfully his wife let us in and we hung out at her house until 3pm when the electricity was finally reconnected and we could go home!

Chris and I spent the rest of Monday cleaning out our fridge/freezer and deep freezer. Our house smelt so bad and some food in our deep freezer leaked out on to the floor! It was awful!

On the upside, the electric company is going to reimburse us the $300 we spent on hotel stays and they are giving us $200 for all the groceries we lost.

It was definitely an interesting weekend and one I hope we don't repeat any time soon! There are often times that I wonder if things just happen to us for the fun of it or if we are actually suppose to learn something from it. I know I can see a silver lining in most things but at times it's really hard to not just throw my hands up in defeat and have a good cry. And sometimes I do that even when I do see a silver lining!

This picture I love because it was taken on Father's Day. He's a good snuggler!

I've come to the conclusion...

that the virtue Patience is never meant to be mastered. I don't think you ever get to a point in your life where one can say they are an expert in patience. Maybe I'm not being optimistic, but I don't think that's the point.

Christopher and I have been reading the conference talks from the April Ensign and recently finished President Dieter F. Uchtdorf talk "Continue in Patience" . If you haven't read it, do. And then read it again! And again!

It's been on my mind a lot these last few days. (Really the last year has been about patience but counting days just gets depressing.)

Maybe because we are teaching Elodie about spending her money wisely. Poor girl wants everything under the sun but doesn't want to spend her own money. It's heartbreaking because as much as I would love to just buy her whatever she wants, it's not the way the world works. She is struggling to understand the difference between buying something as soon as she gets a dollar and saving it until she gets 10 dollars and can buy something really big. And when you only get $1 a week, it's a tough lesson to learn! I keep reminding her that if she learns to save her money when she is younger, it will be much easier when she is older. But then again, I struggle with the same concept!

One part of President Uchtdorf's message has stayed with me...

Every one of us is called to wait in our own way. We wait for answers to prayers. We wait for things which at the time may appear so right and so good to us that we can’t possibly imagine why Heavenly Father would delay the answer.

We have had many opportunities pass us by this past year. Opportunities that, in the moment, felt perfect for our family. And just as we got our hopes up, they were gone. It's hard to understand Heavenly Father's plan but another part of President Uchtdorf's message is reassuring...

patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!

That really hit me. I never want to regret the way I deal with a trial. I never want to look back and wish I had reacted to it differently. I never want it to get in the way of my relationship with Chris and my Heavenly Father. I never want a trial to get the best of me and change me as a person! I think that's the true test of a trial.

In reality I know that clearing one hump doesn't exclude me from another but accepting that counts for something! Right?

Life comes at you fast AGAIN!

So I've decided I need a label on my blog entitled TRIALS!!! I'm surprised I haven't given that alot of thought since we've had our fair dose of them in the past year. I've also heared that you can't consider anything a trial that can be solved with money so maybe I'm just being selfish in the woe-ist me department....

At any rate, we have been hit again..maybe Heavenly Father felt it important for me to focus all my attention on something other than the birth of our second child tomorrow. If that's the case then he hit the nail on the head!

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while you may remember this post but if you aren't familiar with it, take a minute and review.....this post will be freakishly similar!

My mom flew in this morning. Our plan was for me and Elodie to pick my mom up from the airport and for Christopher to spend his day at work. He would be taking the rest of the week off for the new arrival so he wanted to try and squeeze in as many hours as possible as to avoid using too many vacation hours....anyway.

Christopher left around 6:30am, at this point Elodie and I were up but not out of bed...about 15 minutes later Christopher calls me and the conversation went something like this...

Chris: "Hey, the truck just blew up and I'm on the side of the interstate! The truck isn't moving!"

Me: "WHAT?!? Are you kidding me?"

Chris: "NO! I called Aamco (a transmissions place) and a tow truck is on it's way to come get me and the truck. I called in to work to let them know I wouldn't be there today. Now you need to get dressed and come get me!"

Me: "Are you SERIOUS!?! This can not be happening!"

And then some other unimportant stuff was said like I can't believe this is happening! My mom is flying in today..more importantly we are scheduled to have a baby tomorrow!!!

It was surprising to me at how calm and at ease I felt with the whole truck thing. I said a prayer that what came we would be able to handle and really you just have to laugh about the rest. It would figure that we would have car troubles the day my mom flies into town and more importantly the day before our new baby comes to town. Should I expect anything less?

So, initially when Christopher got to the transmission place (he knew it was the transmission from the very beginning but didn't think it was severe as the truck was never showing any of the same symptoms that the car was showing) he thought the repairs would be minor..maybe $500. I went and picked him up, we got breakfast and together went and picked up my mom. Both of us pretty much what will be will be about the whole thing...because really, what more can be done?

Sidenote: We have all really enjoyed having my mom here with us and know she will make for huge help in the coming weeks as we adjust to our new little family. Elodie was especially giddy and excited to have a her best playmate here and you should have seen Ginger's reaction when my mom walked through the door.

We spent the afternoon catching up with my mom, made one last grocery trip, and then WHAM! The guy at the repair shop calls with the estimate....$2300....I didn't mumble nor did I mistype that....$2300!!!! in repairs! The exact same thing that happened to the car happened today to the truck!! And the craziest part is that my mom was here last year when the civic had it's problems and now she is here for the truck. She asked if she just needed to turn around and go home!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I do have to say that in moments of car crisis I just think to myself "okay Heavenly Father, what am I suppose to learn from this!" Because obviously there was something I missed when the civics trasnmission went out!!

So as of now, the truck is in repairs and will be ready for pick up on Thursday. We only have to survive the next 2 days with one vehicle and on the brightside, Christopher is off of work and I won't be needing a vehicle for the next week. So if it had to happen should I say that now was the best time?!?

We had to reroute our schedule for tomorrow..it won't be the most convenient thing but it will work out.

I'm not sure what is to be learned from all of this...something I do know is that our tithing has been paid and as long as Chris and I stick together it can't be all that bad!

And tomorrow when I get to hold my brand new baby girl nothing else will matter anyway right?

As for now, I'm just trying to avoid thinking about anything. This is where the blog is theraputic...I'll just send it out to cyberspace and let the rest fall into place. We got through this once and we will do it again!

Our next post will be pictures of Addysen so stay tuned...probably late tomorrow evening or first thing Thursday..no guarantees!