It is amazing what relaxation and refreshment can be undone in a single moment.
As I came home from a morning at the beach with my family, arriving fresh from vacation last night, I lay both my sleeping children into bed for a nap while my husband went up to shower. I sat at my kitchen table to write my most inspired 
blog yet. As I pushed the “publish” button on my computer, I felt a trickle of water run down my back. I had to think, “Am I sweating?” Another trickle. “Did I spill something?” Another, followed quickly by another trickle. I look above me, right where my husband would be showering to see where the trickle is coming from. A huge water leak, and split in the ceiling! I run as fast as I can to stop him from showering and we come down stairs together knowing and fearing the worst. I can see both of our shoulders start to become tense and raise up, the stress of real life is hitting us smack in the face right about now!
Ahhhhh vacation. It was nice when it lasted.
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I’m Amanda Maguire and I have been “Married to a Youth Pastor” for almost 12 years now. We have 3 kids, Dylan (8) and Molly (6) and Scotty (3). I worked in full-time youth ministry for 4 years, got married and got a “real job”, allowing me to continue to be a volunteer in youth ministry for another 4 years. We started having kids and now I’m just married to the Youth Pastor. I have great friends and a fun life! I have a passion and a calling for wives just like me, married to a Youth Pastor.
I love to write.
I love to do creative activities.
I love to run.
I love to shop.
I love to dine out.
And I would love time to do any of these things more.
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I definitely know the feeling. Last month my husband was away on a pastor’s retreat, and I came home to find my entire kitchen under abt. 4 inches of water- our neighbors upstairs (we’re in an apartment) had a leaking dishwasher which was draining into my kitchen. It was a torrential waterfall right there on my countertop! For a week we had a giant hole in our ceiling. Ugh. I kept taking pictures of the damage on my cell phone & sending them to my husband, just to show him what he was missing.:-)
I am so sorry. Hang in there!
Shari
When it rains it pours, right?
I think God allows things like this to happen to remind us that we’re not in control of anything really and that we need to rely on Him.
But…
That still stinks!
Aaaa that bites! So I’m assuming your computer is fine since you still posted? “And we know that he works all things together for the good of them who love God and who are called according to his purpose.” When my oldest was little I was upstairs taking care of the baby and he managed to flood our down stairs with kandoo wipes in the sink! But then through insurance we got new carpet and paint downstairs which we would have never been able to pay for and it helped us sale our condo right before the market crashed. Not that God made it happen, but he certainly worked it out for the good. I hope he does the same with you!
I have found that it is during these times of frustration that God helps us remember what is important… at least that was and is what is going on in my life.
Good luck with the details of fixing it all.
Oh sooooooooooooo totally understand…..
Woke up last Thursday on my husbands birthday to a mysterious maggot infestation. We have our carpets removed right now. On Father’s Day our toilet quit working. YIKES!!!!
Our repairs start next week the day my husband leaves for youth camp. My kids and I will be moving out of our house for three days. craziness…
Hope your leak gets fixed soon as well as all the other repairs.
Boy, can I relate! We just got home from our vacation and our house is overrun with fleas! So GROSS! We pretty much backed right out of the house with our luggage in tow and went straight to my in-laws’. We’ll be here for a few days so that we can do several rounds of fogging treatment. *Sigh* The bright side is that my in-laws are wonderfully hospitable and so it kinda feels like we’re still on vacation.
Brent leaves for camp next week. Those fleas better be all dead and gone by then because I don’t know what to do about dealing with them on my own!
So, this is long, but when I wrote this in my own blog on another site today, I could not help but think of you Amanda!
MY DAY:
The more expressive Vinny becomes, the less he screams, and the easier he is to deal with. We had a pretty good day. We ran some errands and went to the park with Amber and Landon for lunch. They played in the water for hours and were happy happy. Vinny fell asleep on the way home (which, if you know me, you know is the BEST thing ever). I settled down to do some hard core cleaning.
The kitchen floor seems to constantly have a layer of juice on it, so I was SO ready to mop. Before mopping, I feel like it is necessary to take everything off the counters and do a complete counter wipe down too. When clearing the counters, I noticed the stove was looking dingy, so that needed cleaning too. It took longer than I thought, but I got through all that and was just finishing when Vinny woke up at around 5 (late nap).
Darn… I had totally thought I was going to get through all that and vacuum and put away laundry while he was napping. I gave him a light snack and put on Backyardigans so I could begin clearing stuff out of the living room to vacuum. Cleared the living room and went to put the stuff back in the kitchen (floor now dry). Vinny comes wandering in crying, “Mommaaaa…..”
“What’s wrong Vinny?” I ask as I pick him up, then GASP as I realize he is all wet, look at my arms… and see brown. Yes, brown… I turn him around, and he is COVERED in poo…. runny…. stinky… poo.
I do not know how I am going to handle accidents when we start potty training. I nearly lost it. I could barely clean him off (in the kitchen, on my clean floor, of course, because we cannot get poopy on the carpet and there is no bathroom downstairs and he is dripping) without vomiting. It took everything in me not to vomit.
Meanwhile, he will not stand still, has spotted the candy dish,which he does not realize is empty, and is begging for candy, so I rifle through the cabinet and give him a chocolate marshmallow leftover from easter. Anything to keep the poopy boy still. If there is anything worse than a poop-covered kid, it is chasing a poop-covered kid around your kitchen.
Finally, the poopy is all off, but I am so grossed out I can barely touch him, so I decide it is bath time. Bath goes well, until I get up to get a towel and look at the toilet seat cover (where I have been sitting, watching him play in the bath). Why is there brown on my beautiful mint green toilet seat cover? I am sure I got ALL the poopy off. Then I remember… oh no, what happened to that chocolate marshmallow he was eating? I feel my the back of my shorts and, sure enough, locate the crushed remains of his candy.
Thirty minutes, a mega-fit, and several articles of dirty laundy later, we finally made it downstairs in pajamas (both of us), to attempt to put together something (leftovers) for dinner at around 6:15. Not too bad.
It is now 10:00p.m. Having re-cleared the floor of toy cars and choo choo trains after Vinny went to bed, I just finished vacuuming. The laundry is yet to be put away. I have several things TiVoed that I was looking forward to watching when Vinny went to bed (appropriately enough, an episode of Baby Borrowers, which all non-parents MUST see for this very reason).
I’m tired…. I have given up. I have retreated to reggae and myspace. At this point, the laundry will wait until tomorrow.