when it rains it pours... downpours!

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's been crazy, I mean crazy around here. Lets just jump in and hit the highlights. Friday night we had some kids sleep over (friends from church, they were so good, we had fun!). Saturday morning I woke up early b/c we had a very busy day. As I was in the shower I started to smell this horrible burning plastic smell. You know the one I am talking about it scares you to pieces. It's a horrid smell. I jumped out of the shower and began searching my house to see what could possibly be on fire (and no we didn't even have our tree up yet!) After a long panic attack, I realized it was in the bathroom. We turned the power off to that side of the house and called the electrician. After cheerleading practice and rehearsal we headed home. The electrician came by at about 4 o'clock and soon discovered that is was the illegal ceiling fan in our master bath. Yeah, we know who puts a ceiling fan in the bathroom. It was here when we bought the house and it was on our list of things to remove/change in the remodeling process. The electrician told us it was a fire waiting to happen. The light bulb was sizzling and causing that horrid smell. He said we were really lucky and that it could have caused the house to burn down. So that was Saturday. Sunday we went to church, then to a cheerleading competition that started 45 minutes late and lasted a really long time. When we all got home we were exhausted. So we didn't make it to the Battalion Christmas Party. Monday came faster than we ever imagined, the kids went to school, I went to work. We got home as usual and I was greeted at the door by the 'easement man'. He had to tell me that all of the big beautiful hardwood trees in our backyard must come down. There are within the easement area for the power lines and they have to cut them down. So one of the reasons we bought this house, all of the beautiful trees, shade and great backyard is now going to be cut down. I know I should look at this as a blessing, but it is so hard to imagine our yard without all of these beautiful trees. I love huge shade trees, & I love the way the yard smells after a fresh rain. That will all change because we are losing all these hardwoods. Oh did I remember to mention that they want to do all this work right before Christmas? I am not ready for all of this... and now our poor dog. She's 14 years old and has developed a horrible infection in her front right leg. She's been on 3 different antibiotics for the past 3+ weeks and it's not healing correctly. She's is now scheduled for surgery to remove the infected area this Thursday. I know she's older, but she has a lot of life left in her. She's got more squirrels to chase and lots more love to share. So see, it's been a little crazy and a little stressful around here lately. I am creating and I'll be posting my new classes and creations soon! But in the mean time, pray for us, pray for our dog and continue to pray for Mark and the safety of his team.