When It Rains It Pours (Literally)

It feels like our family life goes in waves. We rarely have completely calm waters around here...something I'm learning is normal with a large family! We'll have some calm waves and then, out of nowhere, we get a storm.

Here is a recap of the last couple of days:

I've been working hard on my recent Laurel Haven project. I have learned a lot! This has definitely been my hardest piece and I am almost ready to show it to you! By Thursday afternoon, I had it almost complete. I snapped some photos and sent them to my client for approval. At this time in the afternoon, my babies were napping and I still had about an hour before they would wake up. I decided to give myself some downtime (I am my own boss, after all!). I sat down in my darkening living room as our afternoon storm rolled in.

I had been at my computer for about 10 minutes when Caleb came running up the stairs: "Emergency!! There is water pouring in the window well!" Me: "What? Inside?"

I am not an overreactor...I calmly walked down the stairs. I looked across the room to see the window well about half-full of water and water gushing through the bottom of the window! At this point, we all jumped in to try to do...something. I had no idea what to do. I kept telling myself "You're the mom. You're supposed to know what to do." I didn't. I asked the girls to bring me all the towels from the linen closet. And the blankets and comforters. I asked Caleb to grab my phone and call Daddy.

I stood there for about an hour, as water kept pouring in. We kept rotating blankets and towels--we used every towel, blanket, washcloth in the house. Daddy came home and, like me, didn't know what to do. There was nothing to do except try to minimize the flow of water while the level went down in the window well. I figured out how to make the water run through the towel into buckets.

It finally stopped and we were left with wet carpet and walls. Brad worked for a long time that night, wet-vacuuming and pulling the carpet back.

We are now in the waiting game with our builder, once again, to see if they will fix our window well wall that is now cracked. We'll see.

Friday, I worked all morning to recover. I had about 7 loads of wet, stinky towels and blankets to wash, dry, fold, put away. The girls and I created an art wall, to display their work. I felt we were recovering from the craziness of the the previous day. Maybe we would catch a movie that night?

I was in the kitchen, fixing lunch, when Emma came inside. She had a dark, thick drip of blood running down her leg. "I'm fine" she told me. "Well, at least let me clean it and put a bandaid on it" I told her as I set her on the counter.

As I began to clean it, I realized it had 3 levels of gash to it (I know I'm making up that term). I didn't know if it needed stitches. I'm the mom...I'm supposed to know, aren't I? I didn't know. I tried to call Brad. He didn't answer. I called the nurse at our doctor's office. Yes, she thought I needed to bring her in. She said to bandage it and try to control the bleeding til we get there. I hung up, tried to call Brad again. No answer. We're out of bandaids. I grabbed a cotton pad and some wrap and made up a bandage. I called Brad again. He answered and said he could be home so I could take her.

Poor baby. She was tough, but it hurt. Lots of cleaning and scrubbing. The numbing needle was the worst. 4 stitches later, and we were leaving.

Brad texted me, "Should we try to make the movie?" I wrote back, "Yes, I was using the movie to bribe/distract Emma. Let's try to make it" We decided to try out our discount theater (we have decided regularly priced movies are out for our family of 7. For a while, at least). He'd get the other kids ready and we'd meet down there.

Emma and I were walking into the theater when my phone rang. Brad, "I think I just lost the transmission." What?? You've GOT to be kidding me. He wasn't.

We hopped back in the car and went to meet them. As I was driving, I began praying. "Lord, what is going on? This is crazy." I heard His small whisper, "Trust Me." "I do."

We ate some dinner while we waited for the tow truck. We loaded into the car and went to the later movie. We saw How to Train Your Dragon (soo cute!). As we were sitting there, I looked across the row at our little ones...all munching away on popcorn and candy. I see Brad, holding my little guy. Life is good. Life is really, really good.

It's not a matter of IF the storm hits, it's when. And how we respond. I have no idea how we're going to fix our window well issue. Or our transmission. We gave up credit cards a couple of years ago and have yet to save up our "emergency fund". What I do know is that I have a big God. Bigger than all of this STUFF.

When Jesus was on the boat with the disciples, He reminded them of Who is bigger than the storm...


"You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. (Matt. 8:26)

Thank You, Jesus, for being my calm during the storm.