Battle of the Bad Smell

 

This week was again a series of ups and downs, and all the ups and downs showed us the hand of God in our lives.

The ups...taking our grandson, Wells, to the Zoo. Ephraim being a regular part of our lives.

Some dangerous trees got cut down. They could have smashed our house in a storm.

And we finished unpacking our LAST POD. The downs... our new clothes washer broke, the kitchen sink pipes clogged and would not drain even after taking off the p trap, snaking the pipes, and using a gallon of appropriate drain chemicals

A plumber is coming tomorrow, meanwhile we prayed mightily and after many hours the sink did drain and is draining but slowly so we can at least use the sink!

The washer will be fixed tomorrow.....the big big deal is the big big stink. Back in June when we took possession of the house there was a terrible smell in the house that wasn't there when we toured it before buying. It was a heavy aroma of fish and ammonia.

While exploring the cause we found the basement garage to be so strong that it burned our eyes! 

In the last two months, our boys power washed the garage twice, we replaced the upstairs carpet, we spent hundreds of dollars having our vents cleaned, the smelled remained strong.  

We've spent hundreds in cleaning supplies and Reg has spent at least 50-60 hours scrubbing and scrubbing the garage floor only to have brown gooey bubbles rise from the concrete after each cleaning.  He's used baking soda, vinegar, TSP, and rinsing after each time. 

The smell is much much better in the garage, but every time we run the air conditioner the ammonia smell continues. 

Someone is coming out tomorrow to check that out. So because of these smell battles, I have been the main person unpacking and organizing the whole house. Lol. 

Nevertheless, God has sent individuals to help me. We are being blessed every day even in our trials. We know this too will pass. Meanwhile, Reg continues to scrub. 

PS we found out that at one point the previous owners kept their bull in this garage and their cats also urinated  everywhere.  Their bio chemicals soaked into the concrete and they are oozing back out....ugh

A much needed Break

Sorry I didn't post last weekend! We took a break and drove to Utah to visit Spring and her family and to be with family and friends at BYU Education Week!  Silly us...when we bought the tickets we thought..."Oh we'll totally be unpacked and set up by THEN" Wrong...but who cares. LOL

Amazingly, Grandpa Beck the founder of Grandpa Beck card games was there in the book store promoting his games. He didn't need to convince us! We already have several of his games. Skull King and Dragoness being our favorites

Reg babysat the girls, Caluna and Lilian, for two days so Spring could spend time with me and attend classes.

I had several favorites. Robert Ferrell's eliminating contention within yourself and around you. 

Connie Sokol's the power of female leadership, Scott Anderson's No one is beyond the Savior's reach. Classes on building Zion, becoming more 

Christlike, creating a mature marriage relationship, etc etc etc check it out online.  You will want to come meet us there next year!!

 

Birthday Blessings

 

This week we celebrated Benny's 29th birthday And tomorrow I will turn 60! I felt like this whole week was a gift to me. Heavenly Father blessed us with a great deal on two lawn mowers.

The kitchen and the great room are completely empty of boxes! That's progress.

And we drove to Utah to attend BYU education week. I feel all these things are blessings just for me for my birthday. I am so grateful. Our first stop in Utah was to visit the Spotted Elks. So fun. We are grateful for friends and family 

Ground Hogs Day in Reverse

One week in Missouri, 

We are deep cleaning, unpacking, figuring out our neighborhood, and trying to stabilize.

Every morning I pray myself out of bed.

This week we also tried to relax by seeing TWO shows! I am astounded by the talent here and the general love of music and theatre. It's heaven. 

We saw Ephraim's girlfriend perform in Saturday's Warrior.

Today, Saturday, we drove to Branson, MO to watch Ephraim perform in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Hughes Family Theatre!

We also had the opportunity to forgive an unknown kook who ran over our mailbox, cracking the 4x4 in half!! It was then we started noticing why our neighbors had T posts all around their boxes...ah the country life.

Ephraim and Vadim repaired it. We love you and hope you are well.

Alma 37:37

 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Made it to Missouri

 Wow what a grueling last two weeks. Thank Heaven we have such an awesome real estate agent!! 

She told us, "just pack and take what you want to Missouri and go and I'll take care of the clean up and get rid of everything you leave behind." What a huge blessing!! 

She'll have a landscaper bring the yard back to our level of clean and tidy after no care for 18 months. Then she'll have the inside painted. It's going to be a wonderful house for whomever buys it. The love is in the walls and trees.

I remember Ben, climbing a tree and playing his guitar to a nest of newly hatched birds. It was so adorable.

So Tuesday we left with the Pearl pulling the trailer and our uhaul truck pulling two uboxes for uhaul.

That was a miracle. Uhaul called us and said they had two boxes that needed to be delivered to a nearby town in Missouri. 

They offered us $950 to trailer those boxes. So that basically covered our gas and hotels. We were so grateful for this blessing 

Our friend, Vadim, was helping us pack then asked if he could travel with us and help unpack!! Lol what an angel.

He rode with me in the truck and helped me stay alert. We cycled through audio books, music, games, and just talking to keep me alert.

I was grateful he was there. Members of the LDS congregation met us at our house and unloaded five PODS and the uhaul. They came three times this week to help. Ephraim coordinated it all. Angels in jeans! All of them!

So now here we are! Among a pile of boxes! So much still to be done. So grateful for the protection. We saw five flipped cars over our four days of travel and we're almost hit by semi trucks at least four times!! It was running the gauntlet. 

Today we fasted for gratitude. Gratitude for the protection, the old house, the new house, our angel helpers, Vadim, Ephraim and Ben, and for each other.

Please keep in touch. We love you.

Surprise visit from kids to say GOODBYE HOUSE!

 

Autumn and Spring came to visit us on Friday.  We drove into San Francisco to pick up Autumn who had been touring about with friends all day to enjoy San Francisco and all the old fun places.  Then she let us know that Spring's flight had been delayed to 2am!!!  She told us we should go back to Windsor and she'd drive back up in the middle of the night.

They got back at 4am, as they snuggled into bed with me I gave them both eye covers so they could sleep in as much as possible.

When I got up I used the guest bathroom to make as little noise as possible then headed out to the kitchen. Reg was talking so loudly on the phone, I wanted to alert him to be more quiet.  "Hey Reg," I said and as he rounded the corner it WASN'T REG!!!  

It was BEN and EPHRAIM!!!!  SURPRISE!!! NOW I was whooping and hugging and grinning so hard.  ALL MY BABIES were back in our house. Just them. It was an unexpected miracle and blessing.  SNEAKY Autumn and Spring! 

 The kids explored and remembered the house and yard and exclaimed and delighted in everything.

Ben had obtained a skate board off of FACEBOOK marketplace on the way home from the airport. First fun of the day was going to the skate park.  Then BurtoNZ bakery for breakfast.  Then walked the neighborhood.  Then went to Screamin' Mimi's in Sebastopol, then got Salt Water Taffy in Bodega,

then spent the day at Doran Beach where a couple of the kids' high school friends met up with us.  Then we drove north along the coast and got fish n chips at our old Russian House place which is now Jilly's.

Our dear friends swapped cars with us so we could fit everyone.  As I drove around I was SO happy. I also felt tears and grief and gratitude pouring from my soul.  It was so beautiful and so fun to have a magical portal of having my children back again. I can't describe it. It was like time had stood still...a magic day that I wouldn't trade for the world. I didn't want it to end but knew it would.  I didn't want to spoil the joy with disappointment so I chose to be grateful. That worked.

Then we had dinner at Yuen King in Windsor and dessert at Moxies.  The best day ever playing and playing and talking and reliving all our favorite family memories in ONE day.  Then we sat around and talked about our favorite memories of living in Windsor.  Everyone brought a totem that represented something we were grateful for. We put them all in a box and buried it as a time capsule.  A ceremony of gratitude to the house and yard for being such a wonderful part of our childhood.

Sunday we all went to church together and it was SO lovely to connect with old friends.

Then Autumn and Spring drove the boys to the airport and Reg and I took a nap!  When they got home more of their friends came over and just reminisced in the house.  It was interesting how their friends just wanted to soak up every last minute of being with us. Some lingered until midnight and had to be told to go home now. LOL  It was tender.  I knew how they felt.

On Monday, the wonder continued as Autumn and Spring and I went to Goat Rock Beach to see the sea lions and nap on the beach like silkies.  Then Guernville for lunch and thrift shopping, Armstrong woods where they made a video about being Cullen Vampires running through the redwoods...hilarious.  

Then home to have dinner and games with the Lowes who are like second grandparents to our kids. They are so lovely and kind.  So I drove the girls to the airport last night and got back around 4 am. I am so deeply grateful.  So deeply happy and feel like this is what I needed to release myself from this Great old beautiful house and the space it gave us for so much love.