When it rains...

...it pours!  

There has been a seemingly endless string of unique challenges we have faced in the past couple of weeks.  A drip turns into a downpour.  But I'm taking a moment today to breathe and bask in the blessings through it all.

Here are our raindrops so far:

We have a couple of attic spaces that my husband put floors into so we can use them as storage spaces.  The one off our laundry room is where we store our kleenex, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, gift wrapping supplies, etc.  A couple of weeks ago, when I went in there to get a box of Kleenex, I noticed some water drops.  I looked up and saw a very minor leak and some staining further into that storage space that indicated more seeping.  We had JUST been talking about needing to have our roof replaced in the spring because it is over 20 years old.   My husband had been up there spreading moss killer on it and realized it was nearing the end of its' life.  Well, the newly discovered leak fast tracked the roof replacement and today is the day work was supposed to begin. Drip...

There are blessings in this challenge though.  First of all, the leak is very minor and not in an area that is causing damage to our ceiling or anything else.   It also developed in a place that we regularly access so it was discovered fairly quickly before damage was caused.  In addition,  the roofing company representative was able to get out here quickly to inspect our roof and give us a detailed estimate (he actually came the afternoon of our big storm and was gone before the strong winds started to hit our area).  Another blessing is that the roofing company is the same one my Mom used recently to repair her roof and the representative was the same person so we are getting a "friends and family" discount on our roof replacement.   There are other blessings I can mention but you get the idea.  Through this trial, there are blessings!

Well, that's just the beginning of our flood of challenges.  After the roofing issue, our area experienced a major "bomb cyclone" storm that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people.   Our power went out at 8:30pm on Tuesday night and didn't get restored until 2:30pm on Saturday afternoon.   Drip, drip...

There were blessings throughout this trial also though.  Thankfully,  because I had been looking ahead at the week and realizing I would be too busy to go grocery shopping on any day except Tuesday or Friday and we would be out of some staples (like milk) before Friday,  I decided to get the shopping done on Tuesday morning before volunteering at our son's school.  Also, our power didn't go out until after the roofing guy had come to estimate our roof replacement.  We were even able to finish eating and clean up from dinner before it went out and it wasn't the middle of the night either.   We knew the storm was coming so my husband had all our lanterns charged up and ready to go and had gotten fuel for our generator. He also ran some loads of laundry in anticipation of a longer term power outage.

Another blessing through the power outage ordeal was that the schools were closed for a couple of days.  

However, my husband had his FAA medical exam scheduled for Wednesday morning and their office in Bellevue was open but without phone or internet service.   Roads were blocked with trees everywhere but we managed to get him to his appointment albeit 20 minutes late because of all the detours we had to take.   We all went to his appointment together to take advantage of the carpool lane on the freeway.  Drip, drip, drip...

Our daughter's choir was missing school on Wednesday anyway because they were supposed to go caroling at opening day of the Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton in Seattle that day.  Since the Sheraton had power and was going ahead with the event, our daughter's choir director was determined to keep their commitment so after dropping my husband off at his medical appointment,  I drove our daughter to her school where several parent volunteers were waiting to drive the kids to the Sheraton.   Our son was along for the ride.  We then headed back to pick my husband up and go home to get the generator fired up.  That afternoon I ran to the school (navigating around more closed roads and through dark intersections) to pick up our daughter and bring her home only to leave again with our son for his 4pm counseling session in Kirkland.   Traffic was really heavy on our way home so with closed roads and traffic lights out everywhere it was a long drive home.  Drip, drip, drip, drip...

What a blessing that we stayed safe on the roads and made it to all our appointments!

On Thursday morning our trusty portable generator failed us.  We had to scramble around to find a new one which was not easy during a power outage as you can imagine.   But we ended up being able to buy one online that we then had to pick up from a store in Tukwila.  We knew our power would be out for awhile because we live in an area where we are at the end of the line and generally some of the last to have power restored.   We were once without power for 7 days!  So we needed a generator to keep our food from spoiling and to keep warm, etc.  Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip...

What a blessing to find a good generator in our time of need when they were disappearing quickly from shelves everywhere!  

The kids were back in school on Friday.  Our daughter had a fun choir gathering planned for Friday night - it was a potluck.   We were going to bake cookies for it but without power, we couldn't so she brought sparkling cider and cans of olives and green beans.  

Thankfully, our power came back on Saturday afternoon.  While my husband was plugging our refrigerator,  etc back in and draining fuel from the generator and putting it and the lanterns away, I was pulling everything out of our attic storage space in preparation for the roofers coming and tearing out the damaged plywood and putting new plywood down.  It was a really busy and physically challenging day for us.  Our daughter cleaned the bathrooms and took out the garbage and our son was in charge of cleaning his bedroom.  My husband also got some laundry going and started making chili for Sunday dinner. 

By Sunday,  my husband was sore, cranky and exhausted.   And even though we had power, our cable, phone and internet service were still out until early this morning (Monday).  He had to leave early this morning on a trip, poor guy!  Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip...

The blessing is that he has a great job that provides us with all the resources we need to live comfortably even in a power outage. And this is his last trip of the year because he was able to get the entire month of December off.

I pulled a muscle in my shoulder and am sore everywhere from cleaning out that attic storage area the other day.  There are some pretty heavy things stored in there with all out paper and cleaning products and getting them out of there was physically very challenging for me.  Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip...

But I did it!  Happy dance (but very gingerly)!  😉

Today the kids went to school, my husband went to work and the roofing supplies were delivered.  But it was raining so the roofers came, waited around for a couple of hours hoping the rain would stop and then left.  So, they will try again tomorrow.  We are hoping this job is done before Thanksgiving because,  of course,  we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house!  Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip...

The thing is that we have a very steep roof and it is very slippery when it's wet so it was wise to postpone the start date to tomorrow.   And the blessing in this day was that while I was waiting around to find out what the roofers were going to do, I got my Bible reading done, had a hot cup of coffee and then got all my photos of the kids printed, cut down to size and put into Christmas ornaments,  ready to mail out.

This afternoon I picked our daughter up from school and today was the day she brought home butterbraids that she sold to our neighbors as a choir fundraiser.   They are frozen pastries that need to be delivered quickly and put into freezers.  Of course it was raining when we got hone and only 1 neighbor was home.  We ended up finally getting everything delivered but the last one wasn't delivered until after dinner.  Drippity drip drip...

One blessing tonight is that my daughter dust and wet mopped our floors and packed her lunch and I got a much-needed, relaxing hot shower!

I will need to do another grocery shopping trip in the morning and then volunteer at my son's school at lunch time.   My husband will come home before lunch and the roofers will be working on our house.

And Wednesday I will need to bake a pumpkin pie and prep in advance for Thanksgiving dinner.  And both kids are out of school at 11:15am.

This week has been a tough one.  Tensions were running high throughout the power outage as stress levels rose.  I think my husband checked the outage map about every half hour.  

Each of the above challenges, taken one at a time, is manageable and some can even be fun.  But taken altogether feels some days like Chinese water torture. 

Tonight I am about to get the kids to bed so I can get my weary bones to bed too.  I'm in my pajamas after my shower and my left leg feels like rubber.  But I am reminded that these are 1st world problems.   We in America are spoiled and we don't really understand REAL suffering.  I was trying to put myself mentally back in Bible times when there was no electricity,  indoor plumbing,  grocery stores,  gas powered vehicles, etc.  People had to work hard physically for everything and if someone was disabled,  they had to rely on the kindness of strangers as they begged for money or food.  It was a MUCH harder life, even for strong, healthy people than the lives we live here in America.   I was laughing at myself the other day and thinking about how ridiculous it was that I was feeling inconvenienced by the power outage.  Especially since we had a generator and were a lot more comfortable during that outage than the neighbors on either side of us who didn't. 

So, I am looking at the dripping in my life as blessings raining down on me.  Because I am SO blessed and I need to keep reminding myself when I'm in the thick of it to look up and thank God for the blessings - even the ones that I can't see yet.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!