Floods, Homework, and General Conference

So this last week we have had several plumbing problems in our house. First, the dishwasher was not draining. Our kitchen really stunk and we couldn't figure out why until we opened the dishwasher. It has not drained afte Jon did the dishes. So he had to fix that. Then our washer wouldn't drain and he had to fix that. On top of all of this, Jon has been working on midterms and has been in the process of writing to essays for his classes. He had taken this past Tuesday and Thursday off so he could work on them. After getting our plumbing problems fixed, we felt like we had finally gotten all of our trials behind us. Not only that, the coming weekend was conference which is one my favorite times of year. What else could possibly go wrong??

Then Friday rolled around. I was up working in my office and Jon had the morning off so he didn't have to go in until 9. I had started a load of laundry on my break so I could get my laundry for week caught up. Jon was getting ready to leave for work. When he walked into the hallway, he asked me where all the water was coming from. I asked him what water. He told me that the carpet was soaking wet. So I walked out of my office (my office, bedrooms, bathroom, and washer and dryer are on the top floor) to see what he was talking about. Then we noticed that the hose that goes from the washer into the wall that drains the water had slipped out and water was draining everywhere. I guess the draining problem was fixed. So I grabbed a bunch of towels to start soaking things up when Jon asked if the water had leaked down to the kitchen. I ran down the stairs and sure enough, the kitchen was flooded as well. I called off work for the rest of the day and went to work getting everything cleaned up. The ironic thing, is I was washing towels.

We used up every single towel we had and I ended up calling neighbors for extra towels and box fans so we could get the carpets dry. Then we pulled out the washer and dryer so we could mop up all the water underneath. I just started crying. Jon had to leave for work and I was left to cleaning everything up my own. The leaking finally stopped and I spent a better part of my day drying towels just to get them wet again. A friend brought me lunch and another stopped by to visit which helped me get my mind off of things. Another called just to check in on me and was so sweet to listen to my woes.

I was in the process of finding someone with a shop vaccuum when my father in-law came to the rescue. He said that he had two shop vac's and as soon as he got off work, he would come over and start sucking up the water. We were able to salvage the carpet for now and he said when everything was completely dry, he would come over and shampoo my carpets for me. I am truly blessed. He also helped us hook up the washer and put everything back in place. We thought our troubles were over. We were in for another small surprise.

Saturday morning, I woke up early to go to my nephews football game and Jon stayed hom to work on his essays. When I came home, I noticed that the ceiling in our kitchen was caving. Jon ended up cutting a few holes to start airing the ceiling out. At this point, we realized we would have to file an insurance claim and I was not looking forward to having a work crew come in redo my whole kitchen ceiling. When we were visiting with some friends that night, our friend, Jared, said that he could most likely help us with our problem. He talked about we would have to do and that it sounded like a simple job. I was so happy to hear this that I started crying tears of happiness. He said it was no big deal.

All weekend, Jon has been working on these essays and almost decided not to go to the Priesthood session of conference. He was just so overwhelmed and stressed. finve minutes to six, he got dressed and went. When he came home, you could just tell that he felt happier that he had gone.

Today, we stayed home, listened/watched conference. I did laundry, organized my dresser, made pasta and chicken salads and just chilled. It was a very relaxing day. I'm glad that I just took the day to relax and listen to the leaders of our church. It was important to me that I took that time and I felt like I heard things that I needed to hear. It also made me think that after all the disasters that we have gone through in the last couplre of months, we have had friends and family who have been willing to help us out and come to our rescue. I am so grateful for these small blessings.