Still Here

Thought it might be time to write something more here, since it's been a little bit.  Life is starting to get back into some sort of a routine for those of us that are here.  Annie flew out to Idaho for the summer, last Sunday.  She seems to be having a blast out there.  The first time I called her she didn't answer, and when she called me back she said "Mom, don't CALL me!!"  It's true, though, I've been to these staff training events, they're schedule is PACKED with meetings and work projects.  So we wait for her to call us, and yesterday she had a NICE long chat with Lon.  Seems she is having a wonderful time!  I'm so glad she got to do that.  She didn't get hired, but she is volunteering for as long as they will have her there, possibly the entire summer.  Lucky girl to have a job here, that will still be there for her when she gets back - she cleans the church, and Sarah is just filling in for her, while she is gone.  Makes Sarah happy too!!

Lon has slipped pretty easily into a routine of driving up to Nashville on Monday mornings, and home on Fridays.  He was able to be home the first three Fridays, by working 4 ten-hour days, his boss allowed that, so that we could 'finish' getting settled.  But he found that schedule to be rather grueling, so he worked a normal 5 eight-hour days this week.  He'll occasionally do a modified schedule, just depending on what business-hour things he has to do here in HSV.  This next week we have some DMV work to do, and he has his sleep study follow-up appointment.  So he's not going back to Nashville until Monday, after we do those things. 

The kids and I got quite a bit done on unpacking this last week.  We are pretty much done with all the craziness of phone calls and dropping off documents regarding insurance, FEMA, SBA, etc.  Now we are ready to focus on getting UNPACKED.  So that feels good, to finally be getting settled a bit. 

We got the kids a pool and a trampoline, thanks to a generous donation from friends back in Portland, and we are enjoying being able to cool down by getting in there on a regular basis.  It also makes a GREAT incentive for the kids to get their 'chores' done every day, and actually behave themselves!!  (for the most part)  The weather has been rather on the hot side, in the hundreds often for the last three weeks.  A bit cooler this next week, which will be nice, only in the 90's, and maybe even 'only' the 80's.  I'm hoping to get at least a bit of a garden in, in the three garden boxes that we have here. 

The chicken coop is all finished now, thanks to some wonderful friends who took it on, and saw it to completion.  The only problem is that the chickens don't like to stay in their 'yard' so we are going to have to add some more mesh to things, and fasten down the mesh at the ground a little better.  They usually either squeeze under the mesh, or they stand at the top of the ramp from the coop, and fly over the mesh.  Hopefully that will get dealt with today. 

My leg is feeling MUCH better.  I've been doing alot of walking without even the boot on, around the house.  My 'final' (hopefully) appointment is on Tuesday of this next week.  So I'm hoping to be able to abandon that boot for the most part, and start working on some PT to get full range-of-motion back.

And, of course, God continues to work on my heart.  But I still have a hard time FEELING things, just because of how shut down my heart was for SO long.  It is a constant prayer of mine, for Him to bring complete healing to that part of me.  Seeing and feeling His presence through this whole experience has definitely settled the 'head' part of that healing.  Now, we just need to let the heart follow.  Any books that anyone wants to suggest would be much appreciated. And prayers.

I'm enjoying a new e-mail relationship with my brother.  He has been having some interesting interactions with my parents, and needed someone to vent to, so we have been doing ALOT of e-mailing back and forth.  It's been AWESOME!!  What a surprise blessing that has been!!  I'm really enjoying it!

We did go to a meeting with the old neighbors.  That was a miracle, how it all happened too.   I was out on some errands with one of the older girls in tow, and one of the things we wanted to do was go and dig up the daffodil bulbs I had at the old house.  We kept re-arranging the order of our errands and ended up heading up there in the heat of the day.  NOT our first choice!! (it was one of those 100+ degree days)  While we were driving up, we saw Nan driving through, and stopped to chat a bit, and she told me about it.  It's was focused more on people talking about insurance issues, etc, and what they are planning to do in the future (move away or re-build) so, since we are already moved away, she had not called me about it.  But, invited me, when she saw me, anyway.  It was that evening.  Fortunately I had nothing planned and was able to attend.  It was SO eye-opening to hear them all talk about the hassles they have had with their insurance, and finding contractors, etc.  Some of them have had an AWFUL time, but even the ones that have had a 'easy' time have CLEARLY spent a GREAT deal of time dealing with the whole process.  AND they are all living in temporary housing.   Attending that meeting helped me to realize just how fortunate we were to be leasing, and be able to walk away from the house and not have to deal with it. 

Everyone was, of course, wondering what we knew about what the homeowners were going to do with the house we were in.  So Lon called them, and it found out that it is indeed shifted on it's foundation.  It's actually twisted a bit, not just shifted to one side, but turned in place.  That is how close we came to having it sucked right off of us.  The homeowners are, unfortunately, badly under-insured.  So it is unclear exactly what will happen as far as demolition, etc.  Hopefully we at least hear about it before it happens.  It's amazing how many things we keep thinking of that still need to be picked up up there.  We go up about once or twice a week for this kid or that kid to get some item that they realized that they didn't pick up.  Lon is up there this morning, retrieving some game pieces from a game that got wet.  Emma thought it was a total loss, and then realized that the pieces are plastic, so they can be washed, and she wanted her 'lucky elephants'.  So Lon went to get them, and a pile of towels.  We kept wondering what had happened to all of our towels.  Then Lon saw a pile of them down in the basement.  They are a bit mildewy, etc.  But we are going to bring them home and wash them up and at least have them for rags.  He didn't pick them up when he saw them the first time, because he didn't think of using them for rags. So, nothing URGENT, but still, it would just be nice to have some warning before they knock the place down. 

We are going to buy new furniture this afternoon.  I found a nice faux Leather set, Couch, Love Seat, and recliner for less than what we saved on food from the SNAP money.  So, I'm taking Lon to see it today and talk price with them, but they are having a HUGE sale and the guy came down in price like $300 just when I came to see it the once.   (thanks for the tip about the sale, D!!) We're going to use the Dave Ramsey method of having cash on hand to get them to be willing to come down in price.  It's amazing what the sight of one hundred dollar bills does to a salesman's psyche!

The new cars are working out pretty well.  The van has some quirky things wrong with it, but it IS a nine year old car!  And every time I get mildly frustrated with the odd things it occasionally does, I just remind myself "NO PAYMENTS!!!"  You can put up with a great deal in that situation.  It WILL probably need a new transmission before too long, but we got it for a good deal less than blue-book price (probably for that very reason - it needs a new tranny) so it will be a wash in the end, financially, as far as the transmission goes.  We like it though.  It's nice to have something a little smaller to drive.  Parking is SO much easier!!!

Lon and I took a look at the long-term budget today, and it was pretty exciting to see that we can be completely debt free and have a nice buffer to cover us between Lon's work contracts, within about 18-24 months time!!  That is a good feeling for sure!!  People have been SO generous, and blessed us in SO many ways, financial and otherwise.  We consider all of the money that people have given us to be GOD'S money, and we expect to pay it forward to others in need, as God shows us where HE want's it spent!  That is going to be FUN!!

We went to a neighborhood picnic here in our new neighborhood last weekend.  That was NICE.  It was good to actually meet some people!!  There are several other home-school families, and there is a couple in our cul-d-sack who has a 9 year-old autistic grandson, who lives here in town too.  So we are hoping he and Ricky can play together a bit now and then.  

Ricky has been seeing his therapist, and had some testing done, and the clinic is telling us he is not autistic.  I'm not buying it.  They are basing it on the fact that his IQ is a certain number, and that apparently, according to them, makes it so he can't be autistic.  I've been reading on the internet, and found that NOT to be the case at ALL.  #1 - IQ tests are INCREDIBLY unreliable for autistic kids.  And #2 - ANYONE can be autistic, whether they are intelligent or not.  So we will likely be finding a new clinic to work with.  I'm not happy with all the pressure I get from this therapist to put him in school, either.  She is just convinced that home schooling is not what is best for him, and we spend so much time each month discussing that, that Ricky does not get the services he is supposed to be getting.  There is a great therapist in Decatur (a town not too far away, and CLOSER, now that we have moved) and I think we will just start working with her, instead.  She also specializes in adoption and attachment issues, so she'll be able to help in that area too. 

Well, one thing I want to do today is get a BUNCH of unpacking done, so I suppose I should get up from the computer and get going on all of that!!  Thanks for all of your prayers, and please continue to pray for us as we continue to 'recover' from this event and figure out how to move on from here.  God continues to work in our lives, it is never a completed project, is it???

PS - Emma found the one item that she particularly wanted to find, and couldn't, earlier.  It was a toy, that she had saved from her pet bird that died, just before we moved out here.  She found it in the toy box that had just been picked up and brought from Mayahna's room (That Emma used to share with her) That was a large part of what had her pretty upset before, and also the fact that a great deal of her stuffed animals had a 'smell' to them.  We were able to 'recover' most of the stuffed animals by setting them out in the sun for several days.  So, she is doing MUCH better, emotionally - thanks for all of your prayers on that one too!!  She's also going out to MiVoden for two weeks of camp, which lifted her spirits considerably!!  She was really bucking for MiVoden, rather than Alamisco, and I told her to pray about it, and ask God to provide the money.  HE DID!!!  (and then some!)  She leaves in two weeks.  She is, needless to say, counting the days!