Learning to Find the Silver Linings

As someone who thrives on order and routine, these last 8 weeks have been very rough for me. While many, many good things have happened (the silver linings I will address), I am fairly certain that my stress levels were lower when I worked full time than they have been these last two months. I'm not kidding.

It all began on a Friday morning when I awoke to see this happening, coming from an unknown source.

I don't know about you, but when I see standing water on real wood floors, I'm thinking that's not so good. So I call the hubs at work, and he blows it off. Oh, It's nothing. It'll be fine.   :)

Ok...after more conversations we decided to call insurance and a plumber to see what was going on. Two trips out by the plumber (because the first time they couldn't locate the leak) we discovered that a pipe in the wall behind the washer and dryer had a pinhole leak. Insurance came out and determined that indeed they would cover the repairs and replacing the flooring. (SILVER LINING!!) New wood floors? SCORE.

Next came the restoration process, which looked like this:

Now, multiply those machines by 5 because that's how many it took to dry out our walls and floors. It sounded like a jet plane was sitting in our house.
So, we packed up and headed to a hotel since it was SO LOUD and not safe for a crawling baby either!

Well, it turns out that sucked. Too close quarters, too much baby stuff to lug to and from home, and it smelled like mildew. So....what's the point?? We came home to our loud house the next day.
A few weeks went by before we were able to go select our new flooring and get stuff moved into storage for the flooring replacements (although those weeks were packed full of meeting a million different contractors and plumbers and such...). Well, the day the movers came to "pack-out" our belongings, we were actually out of town to attend the funeral of my husband's grandmother. A sudden, unexpected loss in the midst of this mess. Our hearts were ripped out and it was so hard to say good-bye to someone we didn't get a chance to while they were living. She was the most amazing grandmother ever. We loved her so much and will miss her.

With heavy hearts we made the trip home to our empty house. When your heart is already sorrowful, it isn't any comfort to come home to an echo and nowhere to sit. So we packed up what we would need over the next couple weeks and moved in with my parents 20 minutes away. It was almost time for the repairs to begin.
The next day, foundation repairs were set to begin. We needed interior piers and that ruins your flooring...so what better time to place the foundation piers than while the floors were already ruined. Here is a glimpse of that!

Once the foundation was finished, it was time to rip out the existing damaged flooring. Which looked a little like this:

And that is where we are today!
Things still left to do on the house before mid-November....texture a room's walls, paint all new baseboards, install new wood and carpet, have movers bring everything back, and hire a maid to help me deep clean post-construction.
While all of this has truly been a pain in the butt, and a major inconvenience and interrupter to our lives...here are some highlights of the last couple months:
I got my nose pierced and LOVE it!!!

My newest little nephew Silas was born!!!

We got to hang out at friend's houses while we did our laundry there!!!

This handsome nugget learned to walk and had fun at the pumpkin patch!!!

Daddy took Jake to the park to play!!!

We got to ride a carousel at the mall that we usually don't go to!!!

We have lots of time with family while we live on their side of town!!!

Our oldest son Stayton took his driver's test TWICE...and passed it the second time!!! He has REALLY been enjoying his driving all over town. And secretly, so have I. No more taxi mom for a couple more years.

Stayton also snagged a date to Homecoming and had so much fun last weekend!!!

So, as you can see...life has been VERY busy. Lots of rough times, but I am learning to "go with the flow", rest in knowing I still have what matters most....my family. There are so many things we have to be thankful for. I catch myself in a fit of anxiety and stress over my house....and then I remember...I HAVE a house. When many in this world do not, I do. How blessed we are, truly. Six months from now we will remember what things inconvenienced us, but we are even more likely to remember the highlights more. And so I can confidently enter the month of November and have a truly thankful heart. Thankful for my loves, time with all our family, and the unexpected updates to the house. Try to see your silver linings...they are there!

~Peace