Updating

Since I have blogged last, we have had our trip to Indiana and our apartment has flooded twice! The first flood came with a hurricane just two days before our trip. It flooded Niah's room (and our room but we didn't realize until after it dried) so we had to move all of her stuff out of her room and a cleaning company came with two industrial sized fans and a special machine to suck the moisture out of the carpet and air. These machines stayed there for several days while we were gone to Indiana and they replaced the carpet padding before we got home. We got home on Saturday Sept. 13 at about 11:30 PM. As we all know, there was a new hurricane blowing in from Texas with huges amounts of rain. So I checked her room and the carpet was dry, so we assumed that the apartments had been fixed and we moved her furniture back so that she could sleep in her room. Sunday morning I went to get Niah ready for church, I walked into her room and the flooding was worse than it had been the last time it happened! So after church services, we moved ALL of the furniture out of her room into the living room (toys), bathroom (changing table), dining room (dresser), hallway (toychest), and guest room (crib and storage from her closet; we didn't have room for it in one room). Then I checked our room, our closet was completely soaked (and like most closets there was stuff on the floor that had to be cleaned, washed or thrown away because it was ruined), the water was also under our bed and one of our dressers. There was no room in any of other rooms for stuff from our bedroom, so we had to push it all against one wall and we had to have our bed stored in our Pastor's garage! (Where it still is because they just replaced the carpet padding YESTERDAY!!!) There is still water damage on the walls and doors and I am extremely worried about mildew and mold. Especially in Niah's room because it got the worst flooding. Not to mention that mildew and mold can cause young children to get asthma! Anyway, as I'm sure you can tell I'm a little frustrated with these apartments. Today, after Jonathan gets off of work we will be going to speak with the office manager about letting us out of our lease or discounting our rent (our air conditioner had to run 24/7 with those machines running because they created so much heat)! I have taken pictures of all the damage it has caused to take with us.

So, now that I have vented, let me tell you about our trip to Indiana. We left Thursday night Sept. 4 after Devoted (our teen bible study), we didn't get to hit the road until 9 PM! After driving for almost 6 hours, we stopped for the night at a motel just outside of St. Louis. Then we left again the next morning and got to my parents at about lunch time. We had a lot of fun there, Niah LOVED Papa and Nana's chickens, cows and dogs! I celebrated my 24th birthday on Saturday. On Monday, we went to Spring Mill State Park and had a great time! Niah even took a dunk in one of the creeks and Nana got pretty wet going in after her! On Tuesday, we packed up and went up north to spend the day with our good friends Josh and Erin Allen. We had a blast spending the day at the lake, where they surprised me with a birthday cake and decorations! After that we went to the park and then had a hurried taco dinner. That night we went on to Gary and Cathy's or shall I say Poppy and Mammaw's! We had a great time there spending quality time with family and Niah got a swing hung in the front yard for her visits (which she fell asleep in when we tried it for the first time)! On Friday, we went to the Children's Museum which was a lot of fun for both Niah and the grown ups. Daddy's favorite part was the comic book section where they had one of the Batmobiles used in the movie! Then on Saturday morning, we packed up and headed for home... Or at least that's what Gary and Cathy thought... We actually went to the church for a surprise 30th anniversay party for them, which Mandy so thoughtfully put together. After a couple of hours though we had to hit the road and come on home. All in all, we had a great time and it was so great to get to go up after not going for six months!

Since we have been back we have had something everyday and evening for Church, and will until Saturday (I'm looking forward to a family day!). Please keep us in your prayers as we stay busy for the Lord!

Niah's Room

The toy chest Jonathan & I painted for Niah's room. It was plain unpainted wood. Below is the Bow Hanger I made for her room.