Expect the Unexpected

If you have been following our blog, you know that over Memorial Day weekend we embarked on the adventure of painting the exterior of the house by ourselves. And I use “by ourselves” quite loosely since we were fortunate enough to have Justin’s sister and parents in town to help out. Thank you, thank you, thank you to my in-laws! Kendry loved the time with Grandma and Cousin Ava.

Our plan of attack for painting didn’t go quite as planned. The prep work we had anticipated doing on Friday evening took pretty much all of Saturday morning to accomplish instead; we didn’t even start the painting the body of the house until Sunday morning; Justin was attacked by a migraine halfway through painting the body of the house on Sunday and had to lay down for a few hours; and our attempts to finish up the trim on Monday were thwarted by fairly continuous ran all day long. Not to mention that my in-laws had to be on their way back home. But despite the odds, the body of the house is painted (w/ two coats)! The trim is still a work in progress, as are the foundation, stairs and carport, so I’m sure you understand why I will not be posting before and after pics just yet. You deserve the full effect. But let me say that the house is already looking a hundred times better, and we are very happy with our color choice.

Memorial Day afternoon found us with lots more trim to paint, the in-laws departed, our kiddo waking up from his afternoon nap, and still no sign of a break in the rain clouds. At that point we decided to take a much-needed break and get away from the house. Where is a family to go on a rainy holiday afternoon? Home Depot, of course! We purchased some new outside light fixtures, picked up a few more paint supplies, and optimistically selected some parsley and pumpkin starter plants (our gardening skills are a bit lacking, but we still try). Kendry even got to take his first ride in the orange Home Depot racecar shopping cart. While he doesn’t yet understand the concept of a steering wheel, he was notably more content cruising around in the “car” as we shopped. When we emerged from Home Depot the clouds were dispersing and the sun was shining through in all its beauty. Perhaps God used the rain to get us to spend some time as a family.

Then we enjoyed the rare occurrence of a sit-down meal as a family. We don’t really eat out much, especially with a very vocal and mobile kiddo in tow. But Kendry was very well-behaved while Justin and I shared a delicious plate-sized hamburger. As we left the restaurant and headed home, I had one of those incredibly peaceful and joyous moments where I thought “I absolutely love my life.” This realization rang true even more when we pulled up to our freshly painted house. Did I mention how much I love the color?

From that point on the details are a little sketchy. I unloaded Kendry from the car and took him inside while Justin headed down to the basement to put a few painting things away. A few minutes later I called down to Justin to please get the rest of the things from the car. His reply: “Well, we’ve got more important issues down here right now.” Gulp! “Its flooded.” Double gulp! I quickly grabbed my unattended kiddo and treaded fearfully down the stairs to the basement. Sure enough, water all over the floor. Justin is looking at me, I’m looking at him, we’re both standing in a giant pool of water, and Kendry is struggling to get out of my arms and walk around. What to do? The words “shopvac” and “pack-n-play” spring to mind. I drag the pack-n-play from upstairs, set it in a dry area (thank goodness there was one), and unload a now unhappy kiddo into it, where he promptly busts out the tears and cries. Then Justin and I start sucking up the water with our amazing shopvac and moving stuff out of the growing pool of water. Let me just say here that shopvacs are about the best invention since sliced bread. Ours paid for itself ten times over in this mishap.

Looking back now, I’m pretty proud of how quickly we reacted. And once we had a few minutes to survey the damage we realized we got pretty lucky. We caught the water before it reached more prized items like mattresses, furniture or keepsakes. And most of our stuff is elevated a few inches off the floor anyway, in anticipation of an event just as this. A few of my boxes of books that were on the concrete floor got soaked, but only a few books inside the boxes were actually wet, which leads me to believe the water hadn’t been going all that long.

We also got lucky in that while the water appeared to be backing up from our main basement drain, it was only musty smelling. At first we thought it was just rainwater since we have received so much rain over the last few weeks and had removed our rain gutters for painting. A further inspection, however, would not be so reassuring. With most of the water sucked up (at least 6-7 shopvac bucket’s full), I put Kendry to bed upstairs and flushed a toilet to see what would happen. Sure enough, more water. And more of a sinking feeling in my stomach. You see, we aren’t on city water/sewer; we have our own septic system. Enough said.

Not wanting to pay someone to come out on a holiday evening, we decided to stick it out until morning and just not use too much water in the meantime. Justin has gotten up during the night the last two nights to make sure the water isn’t seeping out again. Mr. Rooter came yesterday and couldn’t find a clog, but did recommend that we have the septic pumped in order to figure out why it isn’t draining properly. RotoRooter came today and pumped the septic. Now Mr. Rooter is supposed to come back this week and do another flush/pump to see if the drain field itself has a clog. Best case scenario: a drain clog is discovered and cleared up, and we’re out about $1,000. Worst case scenario: our drain field is no longer functioning properly and has to be re-built, and we’re out at least $5,000-$6,000, not to mention that we will have to re-do our yard and sprinkler system (more $) as a result of digging up our back yard. Right now we’re praying and awaiting the diagnosis.

My first thought: the money. We have a small emergency fund (thanks, Dave Ramsey) that will cover the best case scenario. It would hurt a little, but its doable. The worst case scenario, however, is another story.

My second thought: Justin’s yard. He has put hours and hours of hard work into his yard, flowers and landscaping. And we have put a fair chunk of change into the yard and getting our sprinkler system installed. And now we might have to dig a good portion of that up? Its heartbreaking to even consider.

My third thought: babies. You heard me right. It occurred to me this morning that if we have to shell out $5,000-$6,000 to fix the septic we are taking a giant step backward from our next chance at IVF and having Baby #2. This makes me want to cry. God has been revealing so much to me lately about enjoying each day for all that it holds and not constantly wondering when we will be able to expand our family. Lately I have felt more and more peace about truly leaving it in His hands. And then we get flooded, literally and figuratively.

Lord, please give me strength to keep trusting in You, even with something like our malfunctioning septic system. I know you can bring good out of any tough situation. Blessed be Your name.