Henry Burton Lester

Henry Burton Lester

Friday, September 25, 2009

10:38 am

6 lbs 2 oz, 19 inches

Two VERY excited big sisters.

One BIG happy family.

Something Besides Water

I thought you might enjoy a post that had to do with something other than the condition of my home. So, here are a couple of pictures from Nate and Sam's hunting trip over Labor Day. They were gone for 6 days and did LOTS of hiking and horseback riding. They had a couple of exciting incidents, but nothing like the bear chase from 2 years ago. Sam came home with major facial scabs from a run-in with a tree branch...serious misjudgement on his part. The school pictures will tell the whole story. He looks great now though...luckily they were just minor scrapes. And Nate's horse sunk in a bog...with him on it. But again, everyone...including Rey, came out of that one ok. Here is Emma on her first day of preschool about two weeks ago. We are doing a small "playgroup preschool" with four other kids. She has been so excited about it and asks when preschool day is. We have to "do the days" when preschool will be...Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Notice the doll. She is a constant companion for Emma lately. She is such the little mom, and takes the poor thing everywhere. She is such a nurturer, and was giddy with excitement when I showed her the newborn diapers for the new baby. She was even more excited that it fit her doll.

Just One More Thing

A couple nights ago, I noticed a huge decrease in our water pressure as I was doing the evening's dishes. The next morning, Nate complained about the shower...drip...that he had to take. An hour to fill the horses water and a minute to fill a cup of water led us to believe that we had {another} little problem on our hands. We assumed that the problem was coming from the fact that they had just put a meter in, as they are putting us on city water soon. Well, after two days of trickle showers, Nate had had enough and found the number for the project manager putting in the water lines. He stopped by this afternoon and said that they were going to look at the meter and see what they could figure out. When they finally got to it around 3:00 today, he pointed out that we had consumed over 35,000 gallons of water in the last week since they put the meter in. I was a little baffled. Sure, I do plenty of laundry and dishes, but for sure not 35,000 gallons worth. The next question I had was, where is this water going? We're just recovering from floods, and finished intalling the last of the carpet today...the thoughts of that much water being dumped into my house was scaring me. The guy told me that he thought there was a break in the line somewhere between the house and the meter. GREAT! So, we walked into the house where the water comes in, and heard water running through the softener. The guy thought that the system was just running the water through and then dumping it into the sewer. So, I left to get my boys with that thought in my head. And a million other thoughts...{ Where is that water going? Is our house going to flood again? We're going to have to figure this out TODAY. Do we really have to replace our water softener system? The guy that repaired it last year said it would cost in the thousands of dollars. We don't have an extra thousands of dollars. This is just getting too funny and a little absurd...laugh out loud...how much more stress can I handle? I need to call Nate}.
So I left a message for Nate to call me between patients. He called before too long and I told him what I found out. We hung up and I did my afterschool pick-ups and drop-offs. When I got home I was a little stunned still that there was that much water running through our house, so I went to check it. The meter was still and there was no sound of running water through the pipes. AND my water pressure was back!!!! Miracle of Miracles, I thought. What a blessing!!

Then I learned the rest of the story.
After I hung up with Nate, he was angry and discouraged {very reasonable reactions} before he recalled a conversation with our Stake President he had had earlier in the week. President Matthews often tells Nate that he is being refined. This time, he told Nate that he is having the opportunity to be defined...that these experiences, and how he reacts to them will define him. So, with that thought, after his assistant and office manager asked what he was going to do about it, he responded to them...PRAY! And he did. As he did the thought came very clear into his mind that he needed to check a valve that he had put in as part of the sprinkler system. The valve was attached to a pipe that ran under the ground and emptied into the ditch behind the barn, beside the road. He "hung up" and immediately called Darren and told him to walk out of the house, down the stairs of the deck and straight through the corrals , over the fence to the ditch, and that there he would see water spewing through a pipe. Darren was stunned...because that is exactly what he saw. Somehow, in the two days previous, someone had been back there and caused the pipe to be broken off. Darren returned to the backflow valve and turned the water off there. Problem Solved.
Chance? No
Luck? No
Pure Inspiration and Guidance from a Heavenly Father who gives us experiences to define us. I am Grateful for Prayer!!!! And Incredibly grateful that we don't have to dump a couple thousand into a new water softener system right now.

Laugh, If You Can

The conversation at 12:45am went something like this.
Me: "Wow, it's late...what took you so long?"
Nate: "You are going to be so mad."
Me: thinking in my head...what did you do to my new carpet? "Why, what happened?" with a little alarm.
Nate: "Well, when we were tacking the carpet down around the fireplace, we found a spot that felt like someone had dumped a cup of water on it. So, I went downstairs to where the paint was peeling {runoff from a heavy rain that we thought was from not having a cap on the vent from the kitchen sink} and poked it and water just poured out of it. {good thing we hadn't laid the carpet there yet} So, Darren and I took the pellet stove out and there was tons of water, so we got a flashlight and climbed up on the roof and there is a great big spot around the chimney that is not sealed at all. All the rain from tonight just seeped through. Darren's going to buy some tar and seal it tomorrow."
Me: laugh...does that mean we need a new roof too? laugh again. I mean really, what else do you do?

Wow...when it rains, it pours...literally.

What We Found

Yesterday we thought we were finishing up with our indoor projects. We had painted, moved furniture, and the girls even gave us a hand pulling up their old carpet. They were so excited. I was utterly grossed out at the condition of the carpet from the top...and once we had pulled it up, I was mortified that we were living on such a bed of dust and old stains from who knows when. I'm inclined to say that the carpet was original to the house??? It wouldn't have surprised me. But, we got it out and cleaned up, and fresh new carpet in the rooms upstairs before we started downstairs to the boys room to get it ready to put in the carpet. Darren was working on that one when I went downstairs to see how it was going. He was standing in the middle of the room..."you have to see this...it's not good."

No...not good at all. In case you can't really tell from the pictures, that is black mold lining the closet floor and covering the carpet. Nate and Darren put on masks to get the carpet and padding out of there as quickly as possible. And I thought I was grossed out at the condition of the upstairs carpet!?!?! It just makes me wonder if that is why the boys have been so sick this year with coughs, bronchitis, breathing issues...all year long, really. We had found black mold on the walls behind the vanity and sink cabinet in the bathroom, but we didn't even consider that the flood had created such water issues in their bedroom. I'm wondering now what we might find under the carpet in the office. I guess we'll find out Monday when we get back to it. We're going to have to Clorox the floor and walls and then paint the surfaces with Kilz before we can start with the carpet.

As disgusted as I am with the whole situation, I am so incredibly grateful that we decided to replace the flooring. I really think that the boys health will improve, and I will feel so much more comfortable bringing a brand new baby into a house without these serious health hazards. As Sam said, "I guess the floods were really a blessing."

He's right. {Although I would say that it may have been the floods that started this mess}

My Pregnant Redneck Self

So, Amy, you wanted to see my pregnant self. I'll do you one better and post the redneck shot of the year. We went camping with the Thornock family the weekend before school started. Bruce brought a bunch of clay pigeons to shoot, and of course I had to give it a shot. {pun intended} Jenny kindly pointed out what a redneck thing that was, and after looking at the pictures I really must agree. So, here's a good laugh for the day. BTW, I went 1 for 3.

Crazy Baby

So many mornings Nate starts laughing almost out loud. Of course, it wakes me up and it's always the same thing. He wonders how I can sleep when it feels/looks like the baby is trying to crawl out of my stomach. He's such an active little thing. He just gets going and doesn't quit. Without Nate here, I guess that I just had to wake up and see for myself. Good morning, little one.