Luv'N Lambert Life

A blog about living with Epilepsy, IBHS, Homeschooling and so much more

Hurricane Matthew

November’s End {Thoughts From Me}

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Today is the last day of November.  The past month has been busy for us.  Work has started to return to normal and life is going back to how it was before Hurricane Matthew paid his visit in October.

I’m thankful this month is ending.  I am looking forward to December and then to a new year in 2017.  November has had some serious ups and downs for us.

One thing that happened is that Emmalee’s therapy has ended.  I’m proud of her.  She had surgery to correct her toe-walking on both feet on June 20th and has since worked hard to relearn how to walk, balance, run, and kick.  The strength my daughter has is amazing to me.  She’s come through so much and continues to become stronger every day.

November brought vacation time for my Mom this month and I will say it was the best week for us all.  She enjoyed her time with my brother and his family and we enjoyed our time together as a family without her around.  We rarely get to do that since she is currently living with us but it gave us a nice peak into our future.  I look forward to having that day to day in our lives again.

November brought us challenges.  We discovered mold in our bedroom which had been covered by paint that wasn’t appropriate for it’s treatment.  We also found our outer bedroom walls needed to be replaced.  We worked with our landlord to make this happen and are happy to say our home is now repaired.

November brought Thanksgiving.  We had a great family dinner.  We shared what we were thankful for.  That one meal fed us for almost a week on the leftovers.

November also brought our family a scare.  The wildfire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee where my brother and his family currently live.  Another disaster.  More families without homes who have lost everything.  I’m thankful that my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, their pets and their extended family in the area are all okay.

One this last day of November, I find myself glad it’s ending and praying that December comes with no problems, with nothing but blessings for everyone to finish out the year.  I hope that the next year is a better one because this one has surely been a struggle for so many.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who have been affected by this years disasters.  I pray that the next year will be a better one for us all!

Thanksgiving Challenges {Thoughts From Me}

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Our Thanksgiving weekend did not go as we had planned.  There were many unexpected challenges that came about.  There was work where we least expected it.

Wednesday, as I was cleaning our room to prepare for Winter and cold weather, I saw a place on our walls where the paint was peeling away so I gently tugged at it because I am planing to paint that room anyways.  But what I did not expect to find behind that paint was a molded wall that had been covered with cheap paint before our landlords purchased our residence.  The previous owner had covered over the mold so the new owners had no idea what they were really getting.  Over time, the cheap paint loosened and the truth was exposed.

Mold.  Seriously?!  At Thanksgiving?!  Just what we needed to find!  Luckily, we do know how to remove and treat the areas that were affected.  And so you can guess how the weekend was spent.

We’ve taken our room wall by wall.  One spot had to be peeled away, trashed and repainted with Kilz 2 to protect and seal the remaining mold which was affected only on the surface area.  But there was more to be discovered.  The opposite side of our room, by our window, the wall was brittle and breaking due to the dampness and mold growing there.  It, too, had been hidden by the previous paint job and then by the furniture we had inside our room.  So these walls had to be completely ripped out and replaced.  I’m thankful to say that this is done and now we just need to finish it all off with paint!

So you’d think that God would say “Ok these guys have had enough” but NOPE.  He decided to challenge us even more.  As I was cooking our Thanksgiving dinner (I had the sides while Don did the Turkey and Ham and my Mom did the Giblet Gravy, Mac N Cheese and the Stuffing or Dressing as you prefer to call it), I discovered our sink drain was not draining out.  Oh boy!  Another challenge!  The water was backed up with no where to go.

Yep, you guessed it!  Our septic was FULL!

Hurricane Matthew still has the water level high, so add to that 7 people using the water, bathroom, shower and that equals a full tank!  The septic decided on Thanksgiving Day that it had enough and wasn’t taking anymore.

Yep!  This mess was our holiday weekend.

I’m thankful to say that Don has fixed the bedroom and our wonderful landlords had the septic emptied completely late last night.  We did manage to have a great meal despite the challenges and we all shared things we were thankful for.  Me?  I was just thankful to have the meal done and my family fed.

Sometimes challenges happen and you come through them together, stronger than you expect to.  You learn from them, deal with them and move forward.  These were some pretty serious tasks we faced but we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying our time as a family or discourage us from our holiday.

When life throws you lemons, you simply add some sugar, some ice and have sweet homemade lemonade!