Floods

I've had a hard time posting lately. So, one of my New Year's resolutions is to be a more diligent blogger. First, the floods:

1. For Christmas we were flooded with the generosity and kindness of our neighbors and family. We had two different groups of people anonymously leave an entire Christmas for us. We were given food, cash, gift cards, toys, etc. We were overwhelmed and even after that, it just kept coming. Not only was it a flood of gifts, but with it came a flood of emotions. We went through feelings of guilt, sorrow that we are in this position, love, gratitude, shame, and humbleness. Through it all, the overwhelming emotion was the gratitude for the spirit of Christmas that came upon our home as we saw through others actions the true love of Christ. It was a very special holiday that we will never forget.

2. Yesterday I moved the shower head and heard a crack. Water was still coming, so I didn't think too much about it. Although I did mention to Don that I may have just broke the shower. Later in the day I asked Don to take some Christmas stuff down to the basement. When he went down, there was water all over. After a lot of moving boxes and stuff around (this part was no fun, since Don can't lift anything because of his back issues) and using a shop vac, we finally cleaned it up and figured out that it really was coming from the shower. This really was a big deal, because just a week ago while cleaning our other shower (that is not often used) we discovered that there was no hot water. The cold came out fine, but when you turned it to hot, there was nothing. So, we now had two broken showers and a flooded basement. Don's dad came and between the two of them and a visit from a very nice and informative plumber, they were able to fix it for only $8. I have to add in here what a handy-man I married. I always tease him about not being handy, but when problems like this arise, he always figures it out and finds a way to make things work. What a blessing. It made for a very long day, but we're grateful that it wasn't any worse.

Now, just an update on everything. Don's treatments are going well. He finished his first sixteen weeks and had an evaluation. Everything is healing great and he has about three times more space between the discs than he did when he started treatments. Yay! However, he still needs to go for another nine months at least to keep it from happening again. So, we're still going (and paying), but he's doing well. He finished his project for one of his contract jobs and his other one ran out of money to pay him. So, we're unemployed again. We're fighting with the state again to try and qualify for unemployment. They always try to find a way around paying. This time it's because he's a contractor. Apparently you have to make enough money each quarter in order to qualify for unemployment (does this make sense to anyone else?!) and they don't want to count the money that you make if you're a contracted employee. Why? Who knows. So, that fight continues. In the meantime, Don has had several interviews and he continues on with his schooling. He got a 4.0 his first semester and he will be starting the second one next week. We will have a busy schedule with him gone for classes Mon and Wed. Tues he will have Bishopric meetings and I work on Fridays. I guess Thursdays and Saturdays are for homework. :)

Evan is 7 and he is very excited for his Baptism Preview coming up in a couple of weeks. He's doing great in first grade and is working very hard on several projects to complete his Masters of the First Grade. Kabe is hilarious. He has his dad's goofy personality. I love it. He is really enjoying preschool and loves to be with his buddies. Addie keeps us all laughing. She loves to repeat everything that we say and watch our reactions as we laugh at her.

Overall, things are still really good. We are hoping and praying for employment, but at the same time we realize that our life is in the Lord's hands and we will continue to trust in Him. No matter what happens, or what floods may come our way (haha!), we'll remember that with His help, we'll get through it.