Yesterday.

Wednesday I spent the day in the kitchen cooking and baking to get ready for Kara's birthday party on Thursday.  We always do a swimming party at my parent's house.  I love it!  And so do the kids.  :-)

Wednesday night Michael and I drove (well, sat in traffic - is it time to move yet?) to drop off his truck to get the oil changed for free.  (Free sounds nice except for all the traffic to get to the dealership, and the fact that it takes them all day.  I wish they took money off the cost of the truck and would just let me go to jiffy lube, but I digress.)  After spending the day in the kitchen, my back was pretty sore, so after taking Michael to drop off his truck, I wanted to just watch tv with Michael for an hour or so, then relax with a heating pad in bed.

Thursday, with no car, my mom came over to pick us up to bring us to her house to host the birthday party.  I decided to just go over in my swimsuit, no swimsuit cover, and no makeup.  A perfectly appropriate outfit for the pool, so I was glad my mom brought her car into the garage for me to get in.

But, when she pulled up, we saw a water leak in the front yard - down near the sidewalk.  Like a little creek.  First of all, I checked my basement for a flood.  All dry, no noise like water running.

My mom helped me find the water meter so we could check and see if it was a burst underground pipe.  Sure enough, mine and my neighbor's meters are both next to each other and one of them is spinning and spinning.  Um, I have no time to sit on hold with the water company to check this out.  And I'd rather not pay for all that water that was wasted - not to mention the repair.

Then God steps up - my neighbor, who I never see - he works nights - drives home and we flag him down to see if he can call about the water and see if it's his issue or mine.  I give him my phone number and head to the party hoping I don't have to miss the pool day because I have to deal with another headache from this stupid house.

And I'm in my swimsuit only, with no makeup, and dirt all over because I was half clawing at the ground to get to the meter.  That guy must have thought I was crazy.

Meanwhile Kara is complaining the air conditioned car she is sitting in is too cold.  My mom and I are drenched with sweat, looking for tools to open the water meter thing, ruined a spade, found a wrench, etc.  Kara also randomly yells several times, "one of your phones are ringing!"  She is trying to be a good kid, but she is making it worse!

So, we get to my mom's house and I am texting Lara, who is running late because of traffic (thank goodness!), I finish setting up food for the party, get the pizza in the oven, and text, text, text.  Then I get an email.  Then my neighbor called.  I am standing in the middle of the room thinking this move is big enough - packing, negotiating the sale of this house, waiting on the inspection report, setting up the rental house paperwork and arranging picking up the key, making decisions on the new house, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, paying the builders, etc, etc, etc.  Not to mention all the emotional stuff with moving and leaving all my family and friends to take a leap of faith and move where God is leading me.  Lots of mixed emotions.  BUT, I am handling it all fine.  I am staying connected to God and heavily relying on Him to fill me up.  It's been fine.

Until something big like a water main break happens.

Or I get a bad biopsy about a dangerous mole and am led to believe I have cancer.

Or the sump pump dies and needs about $1000 worth of work.

Or, or, or.

That extra stuff is what gets to me.  I am like a juggler with 27 balls in the air.  I am juggling the 27 balls with skill and you can tell I've been training for this for years.  Then someone throws a plate in there.  What?  I can't juggle that too!

So, they all fell down, and when Kara bugged me about swimming without sunscreen alone without supervision while I was texting, baking the pizza, and my phone rang, I lost it.  I asked her to just sit still for me because I am too busy to think about ONE MORE THING!

Then I locked myself in the powder room and left the light off and sobbed for about 10 minutes.

Once I got it all out and prayed and prayed, I felt so much better.  I came out of my "panic room" and apologized to Kara.

Just 1 minute before Lara pulled up, my neighbor called and said it was his pipe that burst and he was going to have to deal with it.  I was off the hook.  I felt so bad for praying it was his problem and not mine!

So, I spent the day trying to unwind near the pool with Lara.  We talked about everything we love to talk about, we watched the kids play nicely, and it was a great day.

Six hours later, it started to rain, Lara left, Michael and I picked up his truck, got all the food home and put away, and I was exhausted.  But I still had at least an hour's worth of work to do on emails - getting paperwork ready for signing papers closing the house, paying bills on the new house, phone calls, etc.

My, oh my.  I was so relieved.  But I guess if it had been my leak, I would have just stayed home from the party and called the county, the plumber, and figured out what to do next!

Btw, my neighbor said he was going to pay THOUSANDS of dollars to fix it.  Poor guy.  :-(