If you are reading this and you are my friend, please accept my apology. I have totally fallen off the face off the Earth in the past few of weeks. I have been teetering on the edge for awhile now. Please accept my apology for not returning text messages or emails. I am so sorry. It has been a ROUGH few weeks and I just couldn't make it all happen. Some of your messages I may or may not have ever received. Please forgive me.
I think my last post said my life/house was a mess. Ha...be careful what you say! I just had no idea what a mess REALLY was!
We started this Summer off with a much needed minor remodel at home. We moved Oney upstairs, changed his room into an awesome laundry room and the old laundry into a pantry! Of course, these things always take longer than you think they will. And they always grow into something bigger than you initially plan on. Complicating the remodel was my simultaneous goal to "simplify" my household and life and "clear the clutter". So yes, our house has been a total disaster. I don't function well being in disarray.
On top of that, it's been really strangely busy this Summer with random things...weddings and parties and Summer basketball for three kiddos (yes, Summer basketball!) and going away parties and basketball camp etc so we have had to be in town a lot-add to that the typical craziness of our "normal" lives with three kids. We have been escaping as much as possible (but not enough) to where else- Pickwick!
Me and the kids arrived in Pickwick Friday afternoon June 28 (I even forgot to wish my cousin Amanda a happy birthday-I just realized that as I typed the date) excited to be there with just our family. We opened our front door to 5 inches of water standing in our house and water gushing out of our refrigerator?! Oney picked the refrigerator up (with pure adrenaline) and moved it out of the way so I could turn the water off. I immediately called Judson who was about an hour behind us and I then I had a total panic attack!!! I had just passed Brad and Anna Claire on the road so I called him over to get his quick assessment on how bad he thought it was...not good! We walked into the basement and we had water gushing through the ceiling. His words were, "its pretty bad. You need help. You can't clean this up on your own. "
So, after speaking with our awesome insurance agent, we called ServPro of Corinth. They answered the phone at 4:55pm on Friday afternoon. Whew! They were at our front door at 6:00 with tons of fans and dehumidifiers. I think it set in how bad it was when the head guy said, "This is the worst we have ever seen." I didn't do a thing. They instructed us to just leave it to them and they would have it dried out by Monday morning. So, fortunately my parents were not in town so we moved camp Naifeh to their house for the weekend! The ServPro people estimated that our water had been flooding for around four days!!! Thats a lot of water!
We went home to Covington Sunday night and just left our house wet and a mess. The insurance adjuster called me Monday and asked me to meet him back their on Tuesday morning. So, Oney and I packed up and headed right back to the lake. Our adjuster was wonderful. We ended up having to replace the ENTIRE bottom floor of our house, new kitchen cabinets, new appliances, new paint, new HVAC, etc. With pretty much a days notice, we had to totally move out of the bottom floor of our house! Being July 3rd, Judson couldn't leave the store (too busy) so me, my sister, my mom, Oney and the ServPro people knocked it out! Not only did we move our stuff out, I "cleared the clutter" there too! Our house has been on the market since last Summer so I have been needing to have a clean out day anyway. We packed up everything and sent it to a storage unit in Corinth. I packed everything with the thought in my head that we may not move back in the house.
The next day, July 4th, I dropped my phone in the lake. Yep, with all of my insurance pictures on it. I ended up not needing them and I actually enjoyed a week without the stress of constant communication.
Three days later I got stung by a yellow jacket. I am highly allergic. Luckily, I had Oney's EpiPenJr with me. That combined with lots of benadryl, I slept all night for the first night in weeks.
The rest of the Summer seems like a blur to me, mentally, physically and emotionally!
For the majority of this year, I have been battling recurring female problems relating to my HORRIBLE hysterectomy from several years ago. My female issues are irritated by things that are unavoidable for most women, being on your feet, fatigue and and stress being a few of them. So, needless to say, all of these events just made matters worse. I have been going to a new Doctor this Summer and I have had a couple of nerve blocks. The doctor also put me on some medication that rocked my world. I felt crazy, emotional, forgetful, couldn't eat, couldn't drink anything but water, totally not myself. I lost 10 pounds. One day, I couldn't even remember how to use the remote control. SCARY! Needless to say, I am no longer taking and will NEVER EVER take that medicine again! I was willing to give anything a try just to be pain free...but, that was for the birds!
So, my point in all of this? When you think your life is crazy, when you think your house is a mess, when you think you can't feel any worse, when you think you've had the worst day/week/summer ever, be careful what you say...the Lord just might throw more your way! And guess what, his plan is ALWAYS the best! Yes, our house flooded and we moved out and no I didn't feel like doing any of that at the time. But after a year of being on the market, it SOLD before we even finished remodeling it!!! Yep, we packed everything up and moved it out for the flood and now we are halfway moved out for the new owners! THANKS to my awesome Dad for taking this project on and totally handling the entire remodel.
I am not feeling 100%, but I am some better. It is so easy to get overwhelmed in life and not be able to see past the muck you are stuck in sometimes. I can't imagine how someone without a strong FAITH would make it in this crazy world.
So, if you think I have checked out this Summer and you have wondered why? Now you know...it isn't the Summer I had hoped for but it ended up just fine. I have three beautiful, HEALTHY, happy, smart, confident children and a wonderful husband that LOVES me and SUPPORTS me and HOLDS ON TO ME me in spite of all of my problems!
This Summer I am thankful for a lot...my good health (yep...it could be worse), my children, my husband, mine and Judson's parents, having food to eat, our comfortable home (even on its messy days), a good night's sleep, insurance, my sister, a successful business, supportive friends, my hydrangeas, ServPro, the flood (yep...it sold our house), you get the point. Thanking the Lord for everything tonight and learning the older I get that I am not in control and life is best lived one day at time...sometimes, hour by hour or minute by minute, trying not to worry.
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The next day, July 4th, I dropped my phone in the lake. Yep, with all of my insurance pictures on it. I ended up not needing them and I actually enjoyed a week without the stress of constant communication.
Three days later I got stung by a yellow jacket. I am highly allergic. Luckily, I had Oney's EpiPenJr with me. That combined with lots of benadryl, I slept all night for the first night in weeks.
The rest of the Summer seems like a blur to me, mentally, physically and emotionally!
For the majority of this year, I have been battling recurring female problems relating to my HORRIBLE hysterectomy from several years ago. My female issues are irritated by things that are unavoidable for most women, being on your feet, fatigue and and stress being a few of them. So, needless to say, all of these events just made matters worse. I have been going to a new Doctor this Summer and I have had a couple of nerve blocks. The doctor also put me on some medication that rocked my world. I felt crazy, emotional, forgetful, couldn't eat, couldn't drink anything but water, totally not myself. I lost 10 pounds. One day, I couldn't even remember how to use the remote control. SCARY! Needless to say, I am no longer taking and will NEVER EVER take that medicine again! I was willing to give anything a try just to be pain free...but, that was for the birds!
So, my point in all of this? When you think your life is crazy, when you think your house is a mess, when you think you can't feel any worse, when you think you've had the worst day/week/summer ever, be careful what you say...the Lord just might throw more your way! And guess what, his plan is ALWAYS the best! Yes, our house flooded and we moved out and no I didn't feel like doing any of that at the time. But after a year of being on the market, it SOLD before we even finished remodeling it!!! Yep, we packed everything up and moved it out for the flood and now we are halfway moved out for the new owners! THANKS to my awesome Dad for taking this project on and totally handling the entire remodel.
I am not feeling 100%, but I am some better. It is so easy to get overwhelmed in life and not be able to see past the muck you are stuck in sometimes. I can't imagine how someone without a strong FAITH would make it in this crazy world.
So, if you think I have checked out this Summer and you have wondered why? Now you know...it isn't the Summer I had hoped for but it ended up just fine. I have three beautiful, HEALTHY, happy, smart, confident children and a wonderful husband that LOVES me and SUPPORTS me and HOLDS ON TO ME me in spite of all of my problems!
This Summer I am thankful for a lot...my good health (yep...it could be worse), my children, my husband, mine and Judson's parents, having food to eat, our comfortable home (even on its messy days), a good night's sleep, insurance, my sister, a successful business, supportive friends, my hydrangeas, ServPro, the flood (yep...it sold our house), you get the point. Thanking the Lord for everything tonight and learning the older I get that I am not in control and life is best lived one day at time...sometimes, hour by hour or minute by minute, trying not to worry.
Matthew 6:25-34
New International Version (NIV)
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
