I Thought Things Were Bad . . . Until They Got Worse!

This will be quick. I am still trying to get photos edited so I can begin posting some of my favorites from the last few weeks. Is that wrong to have favorite pictures of damage done by an incredibly devastating hurricane? I suppose what I mean is that there are some photos that for me embody the aftermath of Ike, which is to say that they elicit an emotional response from me so I would like to share them with you. However, that is not what this post is about.

I thought the worst of my troubles were over when I moved back into my house 3 days ago. The repair work hasn't begun. The adjuster has lost my phone number, but I was at home. Home sweet home. I got to sleep in my own bed, get my TV fix and take a warm bath (not necessarily in that order). However, to my surprise each day has held a new adventure.

We arrived home Saturday evening and began putting things to rights in our home - laundry, vacuuming, etc. My family and I went to sleep tucked in all comfy, cozy in our own beds. We all awoke Sunday morning somewhat refreshed and ready to attend services with our local congregation. Unfortunately, after we had packed all my equipment (guitar, music, cords, etc.), my daughter's necessities, and ourselves into the car, we found that the battery was dead. We called in reinforcements (my dad, as usual). He came and jumped the car, and the rest of the day went off without too much drama.

Finally, the worst was over. This morning we prepared for our first bike ride since Ike. We were anxious to "hit the road." We had our bike trailers packed and off we went. We had a nice visit with my in-laws. It was a glorious day with cooler temperatures. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful morning. When we arrived home ready to grab a bite to eat and rest our tired legs, we found a surprise waiting for us.

My daughter walked in, stood in the hallway and asked repeatedly, "Mama, what's this?" Now, she likes to ask that question even when she knows good and well the answer before she poses the query. I kind of ignored her while I was lugging all of our stuff back in the house. Since she refused to let it go, I looked where she was pointing and saw that our dog had been sick on the carpet. Upon further investigation we discovered that our sweet, little Beagle, Sarah, had helped herself to half a bag of peanut butter M&Ms while we were gone.

Dan rushed Sarah down to the vet (where I'm sure they were laughing their heads off, especially when Dan walked in carrying a vomiting Beagle and half a bag of M&Ms.). And $78 later they said she would be fine.

As I sit typing this, Avari is playing sentry to Sarah repeating instructions that since she is sick, she should rest. All the while, Sarah is worrying that Avari will pounce on her at any moment.

I suppose the moral of the story is this: Don't ask what else could possibly go wrong because it's likely you'll find out sooner than you wanted.

Now, it's back to editing photos. I wish you fully charged car batteries and pets that don't puke on your carpet!!

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Where to Start . . .

It feels like a lifetime has elapsed since I last posted to this blog. So much has happened over the past couple of weeks that I hardly know where to begin in the telling. The most important thing is that all of our family and loved ones were kept safe during hurricane Ike, and we praise God for that miracle. However, most of our homes did not fare quite as well as we would have liked.

My sister's home had a tree fall on it, and the structure was a complete loss. Fortunately, most of her belongings were not ruined. At this point, she, her husband and their four children are living in a small 2 bedroom house in a fairly undesirable part of town. They are hoping that they will be able to find something more permanent soon.

We had several families among our friends and acquaintances who had trees fall on various parts of their homes. Our pastor and his wife had a 60 ft. tree fall across their back yard, over the swimming pool and into their detached garage. Another family had a tree fall into their master bedroom.

Our home experienced sort of the typical damage. We lost a fair percentage of our shingles. My dad and Dan put tarps on the roof a couple of days after Ike passed. We bought 7 tarps (all they had in stock), and we were still nailing old shingles back to the roof to keep any rain out. Our fence is gone, which has traumatized our dog because she cannot go outside and play in the yard. We also have quite a bit of water damage on the drywall throughout the house. We were fortunate that the water did not damage our carpet or belongings. Instead it ran along the rafters and down into the walls. We were out of our house for 2 weeks because of the horrible smell from the water damage. Now that it has mostly dried we have moved back in, but the smell lingers somewhat. I dread going through the process of having everything repaired. If I don't look at the ceiling or too closely at the walls, I can pretend that everything is normal.

Dealing with the insurance company has been a horrible experience already. I contacted Allstate while the last bands of winds and rain were still blowing. We have had three adjusters over the past two weeks, and among them we've had one phone call with no hint at when they might come to assess our house.

All in all, we are doing well. I think we've been keeping so busy that I really haven't let myself think on things too much. We've been helping various members of our family with clean up of their homes and yards. There were and are so many downed trees. The brush pickup services are pretty much running continually, and they just cannot keep up with it all.

My heart aches for those even nearer the coast on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston island. Most of them lost everything. The search teams have been combing our county for the bodies of those who may have been washed inland by the storm surge. It is a little eerie to know that places like Smith's Point and Oak Island pretty much don't exist anymore.

Papa has helped us to maintain some sense of normalcy for our daughter through all of this. I think it has truly been hardest on her. She tells everyone "the storm broke my house." Then she launches into an explanation that "Mama and Dada are going to fix my house." When I tried to explain that we would have someone come repair it, she became very upset and informed me that no one else needed to come that Mama could fix the roof. Apparently, all those fix-it projects with scotch tape and super glue have deluded her into thinking that I have supernatural repair powers.

Through everything God is so good. That sounds almost hollow to say it that way, but simply put, it is the truth. My Father is in complete control even though I feel completely out of control. I know that He is working all things to the good even through this horrible tragedy.

Stay tuned because in the next day or so I will post some pictures of the damage in Baytown, my town.

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I Definitely Don't Like Ike

Well, we have started prepping for Ike's landfall, which if the forecasters have it correct, should take place in less than 48 hours. They've issued evacuation orders for our area, but most of the people we know are going to ride it out. My sister and her family skedaddled to Dallas. My parents are staying put and will probably have some friends who live in a mobile home stay with them. My in-laws are planning to stay at their place. My brother-in-law got sent to Tennessee with work. We will stay here and "hunker down" as the news anchors are so fond of saying.

We're busy now with housecleaning since we figure that without power it could get pretty gross around here if it doesn't start out clean. Dan's already brought in the few things from our yard. We filled up the car with gas and bought some extra batteries for the radio. Tomorrow we'll fill up our coolers, bathtubs and sinks with water. Fortunately, since we Grocery Game, we've got plenty of food. All in all, we're as ready as we're going to be.

I don't like that the phone networks are already overly busy, and I've had a bit of trouble making some calls. Hopefully, as those who are going to evacuate get to where they're going, the phone traffic will lessen some, but that is probably wishful thinking. I'm sure we'll be glued to the telly until this thing hits us. One thing I like to joke about is that if we get flooded at least my dad has an air boat, so he can come fish us out if necessary.

So, if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why. Please be praying that Ike will lessen in intensity. I will post again when the storm has passed. I do love that I have a beautiful peace in the midst of circumstances like these. I know my Father has seen me through just as bad or worse in the past. I'll talk to you on the other side of this one!

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You Call That Customer Service?

I'm a planner. I start things way ahead of time if for no other reason than to spread out the money flow for different celebrations. For instance, I have already purchased a number of items for my daughter's 3rd birthday, which is in December. I know, it's a disease, but I haven't found a cure for it yet.

In keeping with the symptoms of my illness, I recently ordered some party supplies from Birthday Express. They also operate as Celebrate Express, Party Express, etc. The supplies I ordered were very basic, for the most part - plates, cups, spoons, napkins, etc. I received my order in a timely fashion; however, I opened up the box to find that instead of lime green spoons I had received lime green forks. No big deal - that's why I start early, so mix-ups like these don't become party spoilers.

The first thing I did was check to be sure the mistake had not been mine. I'm pretty meticulous when placing an order, but it wouldn't have been a complete surprise to find I had clicked the wrong item while distracted by my angel's unceasing questions. Fortunately, I found that this mistake wasn't mine, so I picked up the phone and dialed the 800# listed on my packing invoice. I reached the customer service department where I provided my order number, explained the problem - I ordered spoons and received forks, and asked that they send the proper item. I falsely assumed that this would be a simple matter of having them correct their error.

The young lady who answered the phone didn't seem to speak English as her first language. I could understand her, but she didn't seem to grasp that I ordered spoons and received forks. When I had explained that part of the issue 3 times and I thought maybe she was clear on the matter, she asked to place me on hold. I was curious about the necessity of this (the spoons/forks were the same price - $3.79, which would seem to make the rectification of the matter simple), but I patiently waited while she put me on hold.

She came back on the phone and explained that I would have to place a second order - they would waive the shipping charge - and I would need to return the forks. I explained that I had already paid for the spoons, so I thought they should be able to just do an exchange and send me the correct item since the fault for the mix-up was theirs.

Now, I won't go into all the hairy details of this ordeal. Let it suffice to say that I spent nearly 30 minutes on the phone with this young lady. She placed me on hold 7 or 8 times during the conversation. In the middle of all this I had to re-explain that I had ordered spoons and received forks. At one point, when I insisted that it was ridiculous to expect me to place another order and have my credit card charged twice because they made a mistake, she recommended that she refund my money and I could purchase the items from a local store. She couldn't seem to understand that if that was an option, I never would have paid to have the items shipped in the first place. I would have driven to the store and bought them.

I asked very courteously to speak to someone who might be a little more knowledgeable about their procedures because she seemed to be placing me on hold very frequently. She was not inspiring me with a great deal of confidence in her ability to handle the issue. In the end, she gave me the bum's rush, said she would send out the spoons and I didn't have to return the forks.

Now, I understand that different businesses have different practices and procedures, but in my world (when I worked) you were to attempt to provide a modicum of customer appreciation, especially when the issue being addressed was not the fault of the consumer. This young lady would put me on hold, leave me there for 2 minutes, come back on the line, and repeat the same information she had quoted before putting me on hold.

I can tell you this: I won't be shopping at Celebrate Express, Birthday Express, etc. again. I would recommend that if you value your sanity, you might want to consider another party supplier, as well. I could have ordered most of my items from a number of different online vendors, several of which I have been happy with in the past. I was lured to Birthday Express by one item that no one else seemed to have in stock. I will not make that mistake next time!

So, to all you businesses out there who are possibly reading this and care about customer loyalty, please don't give your customers a hard time when trying to correct a mistake that amounts to $3.79 (retail) that wasn't the customer's fault. It will lose you a customer and gain you some bad press.

UPDATE: I received a very nice phone call from someone in management at Celebrate Express this evening (a mere 2 hours after posting my original message). He apologized for my inconvenience stating that the representative I spoke with was in her first day on the call floor. We had a nice conversation, at the end of which, he offered to refund half of my purchase price for my order. I graciously accepted his offer and stated that I hoped my comments would improve their customer service and make the experience more pleasant for future customers. If that happens, my little inconvenience will be more than worth it.

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The Funny Things God Does

I know you're probably tired of hearing it by now, but I'm a little apprehensive about paying my bills this month because I have no money and none coming in (that I know of). Now, that being said, God threw me for a loop yesterday. It was a bit of a rough start to the day because we couldn't convince my 2 1/2 year old daughter that she could not go to Sunday school while still suffering from a cold.

I know, I know, some people would say I have little faith, but Avari has come home with enough germs from the kids in her Sunday school class to prove to me that common sense should prevail by not sending your kid to Sunday school with my kid when they have green snot running from their noses. I'm just saying - have pity on your fellow parents, and don't share the germs. So, anyway, I was trying to prevent a summer cold epidemic. OK, rant over.

It was a good but long morning. Dan took Avari home after worship practice and before service got started. We planned for them to come pick me up afterward because I needed to stay and play guitar for the end of service. We had a wonderful time of prayer and worship that lasted the entire time. I think we just need one of those every once in a while - not all the time - just every so often.

Don't worry; I'm coming to the point of all of this.

Dan picked me up; we loaded my gear in the car and headed for home. As we pulled out of the parking lot, he handed me an envelope. It looked like junk mail to be honest with you. And, no it didn't contain a blank check telling me to write in an amount and pay off all my bills. However, it was a promotional gift card from Guitar Center.

Now, I love me some Guitar Center. It's like Toys 'R Us for musicians. I could spend days in that store and never get tired. Anyway, apparently even they have noticed my recent cash flow issues because they sent me a $25 gift card to be used this weekend along with a letter saying they noticed I hadn't been in the store in a while (a year to be more precise!). According to them, I can use the gift card on the specified days to buy whatever I want - no strings. Well, of course, they figure I'll probably come in and fall in love with a really expensive guitar or some other pricey piece of equipment and spend way over the $25 on the gift card. In the words of one of my favorite cartoon rabbits, Bugs Bunny, "He don't know me very well, do he?"

What's cool is that I get to go spend $25 on something that I don't need, and it doesn't come out of my pocket. Therefore, there is no guilt involved. Isn't that just like Papa? He knows I'm worried about the big things (house payment, light bill, water bill, gas for the car), and He sends me a little something in the mail to show me that He sees even my smallest desires. Just a simple message to say, "Hey, I've got everything under control." I'm so glad that my Father loves me that much.

I'm sure there are those of you who are thinking that I'm getting way to amped up over a $25 gift card that is being used as a gimmicky hook to higher spending at a local store, but I choose to use the glass half full view, thank you very much. You see, I know that the Bible says this in Matthew 7:11:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

I know that this scripture means so much more than a $25 gift card, but I also know that the larger truth it is pointing to is that God is a much better Father than we could ever dream up on our own. So, I am going to spend that $25 on something that every time I look at it will remind me that Papa is even more detail-oriented than I am. And that's saying something!

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Scared . . . Did Someone Say Scared?

Oh, I've read all the scriptures. I've sang all the songs, but there is just something that happens when the rubber meets the road. It is a different kind of phenomena altogether when you are waiting to see what Papa's plan holds for you. Suddenly, you wish there was some unknown scripture that you had not underlined, highlighted, memorized and pasted to your forehead for good measure. You scour the Bible hoping to read something between the lines to give you a hint at what is supposed to follow this great leap. You're free falling and hoping the next sound you hear isn't the splat of your body hitting the ground.

So, did I make things sound desperate enough? I'm just being real about where I'm living right now. We got Dan's last check this week. We haven't even deposited it in the bank, and most of it is gone. There's enough money to maybe pay the rest of this month's bills, and then? Well, then is the question indeed. I'm hoping for a windfall, praying for a miracle and knocking on God's door incessantly.

This thing is completely out of my hands now, and I'm not totally thrilled with how I feel about that. It strikes me that a note of panic is resounding in the back of my mind, which has resulted in a pounding in my head. My heart seems to be racing a little faster than usual, and that is making me sweat (Maybe I should say perspire - aren't women supposed to perspire or perhaps it was glisten - you get the picture). In any case, I am suffering from peaceful panic, I suppose.

Oh, I still have that overlying peace, but my humanness is fighting it every step of the way. My brain keeps telling my heart that it's lost its mind. Talk about conflicting feelings. All the while, my daughter is sticking a 2/$5 sticker on me, which just reminds me that I pretty much can't afford 2 of anything for $5 anymore.

OK, I'm calming down now. Wait, no, the questions are rushing in like a raging river. It's not just the questions from other people. No, they don't ask nearly as many questions as I posit to myself. Where will we live? How will we live? Is my baby who despises change of any kind going to completely flip out when we take her from her only home and transplant her to new surroundings, new people, a completely foreign life? Are we going to be able to sell our house? Should we sell our house? Are the credit card companies going to get the opportunity to hunt me down and take away my favorite T-shirt because I can't pay them anymore?

Well, the last one may be a little far-fetched. My favorite T-shirt isn't worth much, so it's probably safe. The point is that my head is full of questions, and I haven't an answer to one of them right now. Fortunately, my heart has now responded to my brain's accusations with the clarification that my brain hasn't managed to do so much on its own thus far. So, my heart is reminding my brain that Papa has everything under control.

My pulse is slowing. My headache is dulling. I think I'm going to make it. Boy, this experience makes a lobotomy sound like a promising proposition. I suppose I'll have to do what I'm sure Moses, Abraham, David, Daniel and my other biblical predecessors did . . . Remind myself that Father keeps His promises, and I just need to be patient until I can see the answer that is already on its way.

After all, "my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." At least that's what Paul tells the Philippians in Philippians 4:19. I'm sure glad He doesn't supply our needs according to our riches, or I'd be in really big trouble! Oh, come on - you know you smiled at that one!

Blessings!

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