Wow, ok. I procrastinated this. Now here it is, November 1st, and I'm only finally going to finish the "story" of our August/September. I guess the best way is going to be to try and summarize everything. It'll give you the general idea and update you (for anyone who actually even reads this) on what's going on with us.
Ok, so to wrap up that weekend in August. We helped settle Shaela into her apartment that weekend, the 16th and 17th of August. We took her, her dad Jack and her mom Traci to dinner and introduced them to Chuey's (you're welcome guys, haha) and then had fun wandering around Target searching for the items on Shaela's list to get her apartment livable.. and I discovered then that I would be spending many more days with Shaela helping her to "learn" how to shop; meaning I pointed out things like "acetaminophen" IS Tylenol, and its got twice as much as the "Tylenol" brand for $1 less, or that Target brand laundry detergent smells the same as the other stuff and is a couple dollars cheaper. I got a kick out of her initial reactions.... and then I felt a surge of pride when I followed her down the cereal aisle and she grabbed a Market Pantry (Target) brand of cereal instead of the Post brand. Anyways, we did what we could over those couple of days to help her feel settled and help her folks feel better about leaving their baby in a strange new place, over 700 miles from home. So August wrapped up with Frank working the last of his night shifts. The last week of August, we quietly headed out from Dallas to go Pensacola. Unbeknownst to one of my best friends, Angela, I had been assisting another friend of ours with planning a surprise birthday party for her. This was to be the first birthday without her mom here to celebrate with her, and she was feeling very disheartened and sad about that. So to cheer her up, we started the idea about the party. It worked out, because it was the tail end of Frank's day shifts, so we could drive out there and spend the time on days doing things, and then drive back and just STAY on days (finally!). So we went and stayed at Hotel Royalpappa in Pensacola and had the chance to visit with everyone. That Saturday, August 31st, was the surprise party. We managed to make it all work! Bill (Angela's husband) took her out for what looked like an early anniversary day of thrift store shopping. We were hosting the party at their church's fellowship hall, and Heidi and her crew got there mid morning to get things set up. I picked up the sub sandwiches we were using from WalMart, then rushed over to Angela's house to get her crew of 7. See, we knew it was likely she'd see all the cars (not alot of places to hide them all!) and figure out that SOMETHING was going on.... but I wanted to keep my presence there a surprise until the very end (I know, I'm sneaky). So I had to make sure my van wouldn't be at the church, so she couldn't catch a glimpse of it. So I arranged with Bill to let their oldest daughter in on what was going on, and work out for him to leave the keys to their 15 passenger van, and I would go over, take all of them in their van and head to the church. So sure enough, we get there, get everything set up, people show up, cars are hidden, and suddenly some little one (honestly not sure who) shouted "They're coming!" so we all quieted down as they parked and came in. As I suspected, Angela saw someone's car as they were parking, so she was already a little aware and opened the door with a smile, braced for the big "SURPRISE!" we all shouted. I was standing off to the side and waiting.... I still wanted it to be a surprise! So comes into the doorway and it happens... she saw Frank (who was standing more in the middle of the crowd with my phone, which was acting as our camera), so she started looking for me. Angela and I have been through an AWFUL lot together. She's as close to me as any of my real sisters could be. Before we moved, I spent probably 2-3 days a week doing things with her. So since the end of May, I had seen her twice. As soon as she found me and we made eye contact, it was all over. She was crying, I was crying.... We just hugged and cried. And then I got a smack for not telling her I was coming to town. (See? Sisters.) So we enjoyed our visit and spent Sunday with my brother and his wife, and then with the Royappa's on Monday where Frank got to spend some time playing a few tabletop games... and managed to keep us in Pensacola til nearly 7 that evening. So we made about half the trip.. Drove about 5 hours out of the 10, stopping right on the border of Mississippi to get a hotel and sleep for a few hours. As we drove out of Pensacola, I cried for probably 3 hours. I was emotional for various reasons, but the biggest was that I had lost the feeling of "home" that Pensacola had once had. I suddenly had ZERO attachments. Oh yes, there were tons of friends and people that are "like-family" there. But my HOME was gone. Even when we'd lived in our own place, my parents place was our "home", even to Frank. It held all our "home" memories with each other. And that place now sat empty. My big-little brothers weren't there to ask us to get sushi or play disc golf. My sisters weren't around to talk with or play cards with. My parents weren't there... no one was cooking in mom's kitchen. I had NO HOME. The enormity of that hit me. Right now, I still don't have a "home". But I've dealt with it better than I was dealing that night. I mean, I was "ugly crying". I think Frank was scared for me, honestly. Well we finally made it back to Dallas, to the hotel. We unpacked and we just relaxed, for the next day we'd be back to regular life.
So September! Frank is on dayshift, and I spend about one day a week out in Ft. Worth with Shaela. Then the second weekend of September, I managed to come down with the flu! Loads of fun. A fever that (I will neither confirm nor deny) may have been over 103. Upset stomach. Violent shakes. Nightmares when I could finally sleep. I had the works. And I was stuck in a hotel while Frank had to work. I was blessed enough that one of the front desk guys took pity on me. He used his own money to buy me a couple 20 oz Sprites from the vending machine and brought them to me. I of course paid him back. But the fact that he helped me out when I felt like I had no one was so awesome. Then after I picked up Frank from work that night (one car... I still had to do my wifely work), he went to Walmart and grabbed some applesauce, some sprite, the makings for chicken and dumplings, and some brothy soup. I was set for the next few days. I had to cancel my nursery shift that Sunday, and I agonized over it. I hated cancelling like that, and was so worried they'd think me a flake and kick me out of nursery (they didn't). Well, I managed that Sunday evening to make the chicken and dumplings. It took about three times as long as it normally does, because I kept having to go sit down, but I made it! I ended up missing the very first day of the women's Bible study I had joined at our church, because Monday afternoon I was still running a fever. I couldn't risk getting any of our ladies sick! (Side note, if you ever have a chance to do a Lisa Harper study, do it. If you get a chance to do her Malachi study, JUMP FOR JOY.) Anyways, I finally got better and was back to normal. The rest of September passed uneventfully for the most part. Car broke down and got fixed again, and we obtained our Texas residency. Then we started working hard with our budget, and decided to try and cut down our biggest expense: RENT. So to craigslist we went! We were unable to afford a short-term lease place, those cost more than the $1600 the extended stay place was costing. Plus we needed something furnished, since we own NOTHING. So we were looking for, ideally, a person with a house that needed someone to help supplement bills. We were praying for an older person, maybe someone who could use help around the house and with cooking and such, since I'm home most days. Well, we found a place. It's an apartment, and its not an older person. It's a middle-aged divorced guy, who'd had his teen son living with him until recently, so he had a fully furnished bedroom with a private bath and walk-in closet. Downfall?? It's on the 3rd floor, and there's no elevator. *sigh* Well, that SEEMED like the only downfall at the time. We moved in on September 30th, and started to get settled (btw, its saving us nearly $1000/month). That evening we were making dinner. Frank set the stove on fire! Not on purpose, and not through any fault of his. The stove top was FILTHY.. the drip pan under the electric eye was caked with grease and dried food droppings, and it caught fire when he turned the eye on "high". So we took it out to clean it off. The underneath of the stove top (you know, the place where you can normally lift up and clean out when you spill stuff?) was full of about an inch and a half thick layer of....... I honestly don't know what. It was black. Smelled funny. Looked like a lard or jelly kind of consistency. My heart sank. This was what was under the "looks like a great place" exterior.... what else would we find?? Well, over the next two days, we discovered the A/C unit needed a new filter, the floors needed vacuuming, the entire stove and oven combo needed a thorough cleaning (took me 2 days, a half can of that EZ oven off stuff, two pairs of rubber gloves, 2 4-packs of scrubbing pads, and LOTS of soap, hot water and degreasing spray), the cabinets needed cleaning, fridge needed cleaning and emptying (food that was 3 years old still in use), pantry needed to be gone through for expired items (in other words, everything needed to go into a trash bag), and the lint filter of the dryer had to be pried out of its hole and the 3-inch layer of lint needed to be cleaned. I felt so overwhelmed and like we had made the biggest mistake possible. But after the first week was up, it seemed to be ok. We have since discovered a few things that are mildly disturbing, but I'll save that for later.
Alright. Now we're at least caught up and all I have is October to talk about! So. I will hopefully get that up before the next month is up, and then we'll be all caught up! :) If you took the time to read all of this, I hope you enjoy keeping up with my life! And maybe reading about my life will help you remember to keep me in your prayers too. I promise I need them!!
Blessings to you and yours!
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