The Saturday 8 - Back and Better than Ever

I'm back! And I have so much to share! It has been a month since my last real entry. (The two vacation recaps don't count. Haha.) Probably the longest I've gone without a true Saturday 7 in like 15 years! 

1. Last time I wrote, I was in the throes of auction planning. It went very well and was one of our most successful yet! Not because of anything I did. Mostly because of the auction committee and some very generous bidders. I took detailed notes, so hopefully next year will be easier? I also survived my first Giving Tuesday campaign, and am wrapping up the year-end stuff before I move on to the next fundraiser! Sometimes this job totally overwhelms me, and sometimes I love it. Haha. 

2. We had a week off for Thanksgiving, and snuck a little Christmas in before turkey day. 

At the tree lighting in town.

Stella ruined our tree last year, so I bought a new one, but somehow neglected to make sure it was pre-lit. 🤦

I'm glad I have photographic evidence of Levi's whistling phase.

My favorite.

3. A few days before Thanksgiving, our new niece was born! She is tiny and beautiful and we love her already!

Her parents didn't find out ahead of time if she was a boy or girl, so Lena was thrilled to find out she has a new girl cousin! And I had way too much fun making sure she's stocked up on pink clothes! We were so happy to go meet her for the first time. She's already posing for the camera.

Less than 6 pounds! My babies were never that small! 

3. We celebrated Whit's first birthday, had Thanksgiving with Justin's family, did Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes with my family, and got dumped on with snow.

See my ruler poking out of the top of the pile on the table?

4. Levi had his school Christmas program. He got to be a shepherd this year, and was part of a trio singing a couple parts of different songs.

I purposely dressed him in short sleeves, but he just kept getting redder and redder all night.

5. And then, we had the week of misfortune. It actually started on Thursday afternoon. I had a trunk full of stuff after school, and as Lucy opened the trunk, it started to fall out. So I crouched down to catch it as Lucy slowly raised the trunk. At that moment, my niece drove by and yelled "honk honk!" out her window. I turned to look at her, and when I turned back, I smacked my face into the corner of the trunk. 🤦 I had an immediate goose-egg and could feel the bruise blooming already, but that ended up being the least of my problems. Once I made it inside, I was alarmed by how cold it was. I checked the thermostat and saw that it was set to 67 (don't tell Levi), and it said, "Heat On," but the temperature was only 61. The heat was not actually blowing and apparently hadn't been for a while. Of course the forecast was calling for the coldest temperatures of the season so far, and I was paranoid about our pipes freezing. We made some calls, but didn't want to pay $300 for an emergency visit, so we borrowed some electric heaters to get us through the weekend. A maintenance tech came out on Friday and diagnosed the furnace with a couple expensive problems. He gave me a number we could pay to replace some parts, but he also strongly recommended replacing the unit since it's over 20 years old. Blurg. $$$

Eye starting to bruise a few hours after the incident.

6. On Saturday, I was invited to go celebrate a friend's 40th birthday at a cottage up north. It was snowy and cold, but I left my family in our heat-less house and took off to the great northern tundra . . . where I promptly got stuck in the snow. I've been meaning to get new tires for months, but ain't nobody got time for that. Justin's truck is a company vehicle, so I really shouldn't drive it. I figured my van could get me where I was going . . . and it probably would've if I hadn't gotten lost. Lol. I missed my turn, and the GPS told me to turn off on a side street. Unfortunately, the side street hadn't been plowed, and I didn't realize it until I was partly on it. I tried to correct quickly and get back on the main road, but I got stuck.

I was so close to the road! I inched forward and back over and over as my tires spun furiously. Finally, I got out and kicked the snow away from my tires. After a few more tries, I did it! Didn't even need to be rescued. 💪 Unfortunately, it wasn't the last time I'd get stuck during that trip. Lol. Once I made it to the cottage, I pulled in the driveway behind a bunch of other cars. Later, when we had to move our vehicles so someone at the front of the line could leave, I could not get out of the driveway. Never fear. I just had to inch back and forth 400 times again, and finally made it! We had a great time with a great group of ladies, playing lots of games and eating good food and hanging out together. On the way home, I dropped Jenae off at her house. She lives in a very rural area, and I had to turn around in her driveway, whereupon . . . you guessed it . . . I got stuck again.

This time, I slid off the driveway into her yard, and I was not getting out on my own. Fortunately her husband was home, and came to my rescue with a tow strap and pickup truck. Whew! I did not deviate from the road again and made it home unscathed and with renewed ambition to schedule tire replacement. 

However, the prospect of paying for new tires was a daunting one, because we officially decided to bite the bullet and buy a new furnace. Of course, it couldn't be installed until yesterday, so we lived without heat for an entire week!! Many thanks to my sister and parents who loaned us their electric heaters. They did a great job if keeping the house around 60 degrees and protecting our pipes. But I'm not thrilled about seeing my electric bill this month!

You know what they say, though . . . bad things happen in threes. Sure enough, those two things weren't expensive enough. We had a snow day on Wednesday, and Justin took the day off as well. We were still in bed when we heard a loud boom and Levi came running downstairs shouting something about a window shattering. I followed him upstairs to our sliding glass door and saw this:

We still have no idea what happened. Levi was on the couch, the girls were in their rooms, and Stella was in bed with us. It was 61 degrees in the house, so I really don't think the lack of heat casued it. Fortunately Justin had the forethought to put some towels down on the floor, because it wasn't long until this happened:

Thankfully, the window is double paned, so it's not open to the outside. But we had a heck of a time cleaning up all the glass, and I get to spend Christmas break calling around to glass companies to see if it's worth repairing, or if we should get a new slider. Regardless, it's going to be expensive. 🤦 I told the kids they're lucky that I've been buying Christmas presents for a while, or they'd be out of luck this year.

Truly, though, God provided for us abundantly. We had to pay for the furnace on Friday, and that's the very same day Justin's Christmas bonus hit our bank account. His boss is very generous, so the bonus will cover all of these unexpected expenses! Thank you, Lord! 

7. I'm not going to lie, I've kind of been waiting for the next thing to hit. I got my new tires yesterday and couldn't help but think, "What are the odds I hit a deer on the way home and total my vehicle?" Lol. But so far, so good! We had our first Christmas celebrations this weekend - Justin's immediate family on Friday, and the extended family today. I won the Wizard game, and Lucy won 2nd place in Bunco. It was great to see everyone that we only see twice a year. And no one threw up. There were many years that one of my kids always puked at Christmas. Haha. We've actually stayed remarkably healthy this winter. (Saying that means we'll all have norovirus next week.) I almost always get my bronchitis cough in November, but I avoided it this year! Probably because I spent a week in Mexico. I'm definitely one of those Victorian women with delicate lungs who needs to winter in a warm climate. Darn ancestors choosing Michigan. 

More baby snuggles!

Shenanigans 

Justin has six siblings who live all over the country. You never know who's going to be in town for Christmas - this year it was Kaley from New York! And the rest of this motley bunch.

We didn't have a score sheet or paper, but we're resourceful Dutchmen, so we used a pizza box lid. I won the honor of bringing it home.

8. Bonus point for all the pics and memes I've been saving up for a month!

Two ragamuffin cousins before . . .

After!

I've been trying to keep Levi off his tablet. We end up doing a lot of Art for Kids Hub on YouTube.

More than a week after my injury, still rocking an oddly shaped bruise!

This electric blanket was my saving grace during our week of no heat.

I had to choose a new Marketplace insurance plan last week. Our payment is going up $400 a month, and our deductible is $18,000. 🤦

I'm up to 65 for the year!

This is literally what I have. #classy

Give me all the worship music!

Top 4% 💁

Anytime we complained about any discomfort as kids, my dad always said, "It builds character." I now use that line on my kids. After the week of misfortune, though, I've had enough character building for a while!