Run with endurance the race that is set before us

I haven't written in awhile; my apologies to those who are interested and have been eagerly checking and awaiting. . .

A verse that seemed to stand out today was: Hebrews 12:1 -

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Plumbing problems, black water, and damage

Just to add some adventure to my already colorful life with four small children, I was heading down the stairs this past Friday to start some much-needed laundry, when I stopped dead in my tracks in my descent. At the foot of the stairs, I smelled sewage.

No, no, NO! Couldn't be.

I headed straight for the basement bathroom. Sewage wasn't just in the shower area and in the toilet, it was all over the floor. ALL over the floor. Dark green stuff. What the crap?

Called Roto Rooter around 5 pm . They promised someone would be out to my house in two hours or less from the time I called. That would give me time to get the repulsive crap off the bathroom floor. Once I got the stuff off the bathroom floor, I prepared the girls' dinner but was too grossed out to eat myself. Then I got the girls ready for bed.

The plumber didn't show up until 10 pm. He worked for two hours and couldn't clear the main line.

The next day, the company was supposed to send someone out with a camera, to see whether that would reveal the source of the plumbing problem. Until then, we were not to use any water (well, not to flush anything down the drains or to flush any toilets).

Friday night was a nightmare. I was nervous about one of us accidentally flushing the toilet, using the sink, or throwing toilet paper into the toilet, even though I took preventative measures, such as taping toilet handle so it couldn't be pressed, with a "do not use" post-it label on it.

Fast forward to late afternoon Saturday. Over 24 hours had passed since we were last able to use sinks or toilets. The company's camera couldn't see past the water to the problem. Finally, by late afternoon, after figuring out where the gas line was, they began excavating. That's right, our front yard looked like it had a well installed. At the very least, for the time being, we could use the sinks and toilets again.

This afternoon, I learned that there is a clear breakage in the main line, starting about three feet from the sidewalk into the street. The break isn't at the city's sewer pipe; it's at my personal property. Which means I am responsible for the repair and paying for the repair. And, homeowner's insurance doesn't cover the plumbing work, but it covers structural damage to the home as a direct result of the plumbing failure damage. Will someone explain that one to me?

So, the plumbing company is doing a total of $8700 (if one counts the $150 spent on the first attempt to use the camera to discern the problem) worth of work. Since insurance covers disinfecting the affected areas and replaced damage parts of the home and we're dealing with sewage, I wanted something done ASAP. Well, Service Master came out today, and I learned that the wonderful news just keeps going.

The impacted rooms include the basement bathroom, unfinished room, hallway, hall closet, and some of the bedroom. Carpet in the afflicted rooms must be thrown away. Impacted drywall must be extracted, but those walls must be tested for asbestos and lead first. Underneath the carpet are tiles, which also must be tested for asbestos and they, too, must go (because they were damaged/impacted by black water, aka sewage). Isn't life just dandy and grand? At least we can say that by the time all this is done, we should be living in a safe home, once again, hopefully one where plumbing works well.

Victoria singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

Victoria singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

2012-12-28

I videoed Isabella practicing violin. Moments later, the child who detests having her photograph taken these days, my four and a half year old, wanted me to record her singing. This is her song of choice: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in Chinese.

A six year old's violin practice

Isabella practicing Baby, Shh Sleep Twinkle (Twinkle Little Star).

Isabella practicing the "Sunday and Monday" song.

 

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Six days a week, Isabella and I work hard at practicing violin. Well, I am not actually playing. But, the Suzuki method, when used with such a young age (my eldest is six years old), involves a parent's active participation/teaching. I'm a second teacher to Isabella, in other words. I am so proud of her. She has only been taking violin since mid-August, and she can play more than a handful of songs, if you count the different variations of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" that she practices every week.

Four kids for fun

Saturday, the twins turned 14 months. Full of personality. The siblings are all so different. They fight hard and they are also sometimes inseparable.

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Like the twins, the oldest two, oftentimes mistaken for twins, are thick as thieves. They fight hard and they play hard. Love, love, love, the entire brood. Not a dull moment. Full of meaning, joy, and wonder.

Ear piercing at 4 1/2 yrs of age

 2012-11-25

The girls have been pestering me, for months, to get their ears pierced. I told them I would get their ears pierced as my Christmas gift to them. Today was the day. No, today's not Christmas. But, today seemed a good day for getting this done. One of my good friends and one of the girls' favorite aunties could go.

Isabella asked whether I was getting my ears pierced. Only if both of them got their ears pierced. I wasn't about to tell them I'm pretty anxious about the pain involved in getting my ears pierced.

I wasn't going through any panic attacks. I had a strange feeling at least one child would cop out of getting her ears pierced. . .

***

Each of the older two girls kept offering the other person to go first. I wasn't sure anything was going to happen. However, this was up to them. If they didn't want to get their ears pierced, I was fine with that. I just didn't and don't want to go back every week, until they work up the courage to get their ears pierced.

Victoria volunteered. This was contingent upon sitting upon Auntie Amy's lap.

***

I asked the ladies, working at Claire's, to do both of Victoria's ears simultaneously. I could anticipate how things would end if the piercing was done one ear at a time.

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And, I would have been right. Immediately after the piercing, no reaction. But, moments later, Victoria started freaking out. But, one of the employees bribed her, I mean distracted her, with a sucker.

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I think my baby (wait, pardon me, she's not my baby anymore; but, she was my youngest for nearly 3 years), did rather well. She did what I do not have the courage to do.

Even though I have given natural birth to three of my children, without any pain management, whatsoever.

Way to go, Victoria, you and your butterfly earrings.

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Way to go, brave Victoria.

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However, I can see Victoria teasing her big sister mercilessly about how she (Victoria) was able to get her ears pierced, but Isabella wasn't able to and didn't.

My autumn wreath

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I have had, on my mind, to make some sort of autumn wreath. But, I wasn't willing or able to spend much money on it. Toyed around with the design in my mind. Well, yesterday, I found this wreath. The original price was around $25.00. It was on sale, for 40 or 60% off. I remember thinking that $12 was still a bit steep for what I wanted to spend, but I hung on to the wreath. I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased to find out the wreath was going to cost me $4.99, once I got to the check out.

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For the bargain price of $6, I put this together. I had played around with the idea of fastening fall color leaves onto the wreath, but none struck my fancy. So, I decided to keep it simple.

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Happy autumn! Blessings to you all, even though I have resented the daylight savings time change. My children obviously didn't get the extra sleep memo. In fact, my 13 month old twins woke me up at 3 am this morning, determined (playing dead didn't work) to nurse.

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I shall take me and my tired self to bed. In the meantime, hope you're enjoying your fall season.

13 months with the twins

I am not sure how a month has flown by, but by the blink of an eye, this pair went from 12 months to 13 months. Christine and Christian turned 13 months old today. And getting photographs of them, without them moving all over the place, was really hard. One or the other kept crawling towards me and laughing.

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Costumes on Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween. Yup. We did so much stuff ; how could I forget? Getting pictures of these munchkins; well, that was a feat.

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Doesn't seem so hard to take photographs?

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How about when someone or other closes her or his eyes?

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How about unhappy faces or people who won't look at the camera?

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Really, will you look at the camera? Or me? Or feign to be happy? Mama, here.

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Very funny, Victoria.

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What? No one will look? No one's interested? Thank you, darling Bella.

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I just want to smooch every one of these precious children. Thank you very much for humoring your mama.

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Okay, I luv ya, bub-bye.

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Don't stay up late, hyped up on sugar, okay?