Tuesday came, as I was getting kids ready for school, i noticed my sink drain was plugged. Water would not drain. I thought, oh no. I went to Wake Forest Community group and asked for plumbing advice. I was directed to buy a liquid plumber, a commercial kind which was what the guy at the Do It Center store suggested. On my way home from the store in Bunn, I was contemplating on why these things were happening. Although I had intentions to fast last Sunday being the first Sunday of the month, I even started my fasting with a prayer the night before, I woke up Sunday and decided to spend quality time with Audrey. She is always the first one up. We decided to hang out and make breakfast and ate together, and by the time Scott reminded me, it was too late.
So I decided to fast on Tuesday. I also realized that I have not paid my tithing. Since I had started as a Tax Expert at Intuit back in January, I had been paid auto deposit, I had been busy that I did not realized I got paid and had not paid tithing on. I got home and I went to my computer and paid my tithing online. I went on to my pressing errand of reading the instruction on this commercial liquid plumber. Watched some you tube video of how a lady used this same product and it destroy and ate her aluminum sink. Well if that's not enough to freak me out, the product also described a possibility of explosion. I mean, seriously? who would buy this stuff? So I called Scott and told him I got the liquid plumber but that I don't feel confident using it myself. He was okay to do it when he got home. In the meantime, I kept on my research and found out about pouring in hot water, and a cup of baking soda, and another cup of hot water, which I did. But I think in the end, that just made everything worse because in the end I think that added to the congestion in the pipe so that now the liquid plumber in ineffective. Scott used a plunger, even though I think i told him not to use one because I read that online, but he did, so now my sink looks like it is never clean because it has stains of splatter everywhere. Not happy about it. And I still don't have a functional sink.
While my tax world is busy, I am very excited that I am learning more as I work at Intuit. I like that part and being able to help callers answer their questions. Of course, I sometimes get one that is unhappy for the product and giving me a bad review on the survey which was not truly a reflection of my service, but rather their dissatisfaction with the product. None the less it negatively impact my performance review.
Thursday came and I got a call from the school of 3 hour early release due to the pending severe weather.I was on call center shift with Intuit til 3 pm. The kids got home around 1sh and although it rained in the morning, the weather seems rather nice outside. I thought, gee, why did they let the kids out, it so nice out. However, not long after that, the Tornado touched down and we lost power around 2sh. Of course, I immediately unable to take calls. I looked out the window and visibility was low. Ran upstairs to tell the kids to look out the window and see the wind blow, but they were not as enthusiastic to participate in my excitement since I had let them play super Mario. The wind didn't last long but there sure were a lot of rain. The school bus that had dropped off my kids 45 minutes ago and had gone around the lake on it's way out was stuck almost across the street from my driveway where all the power lines where spread on the street. Major traffic, and police cars were around. I noticed the power pole was leaning with lines down on the ground, and trees across the street from us were down. I quickly surveyed our property and there were some big branches down on the ground around the size of my bicep but no direct damage to the house.
The whole excitement about no power lasted from Thursday to Saturday afternoon. Scott has rigged up a wiring from a car battery so that we can have a router and some access to light. We were able to watch some kids shows, Voltron was what the kids were into.
Friday morning came a long, and although we think the washer was fixed, there was no way of knowing for sure since there was no power so we couldn't use it anyway. Still no sink, can't cook inside but grill, I was feeling at home with now resourcing to somewhat primitive living. I surveyed the damage by the gate and at the POA office building, as it turns out they had about maybe 12-15 trees down. I was in awe upon realizing how blessed we were. As i pondered more of the event, I realized the Lord has spared us in a miraculous way. There were a lot of damages all around me and none on my property. I was deeply humbled and felt blessed by the Lord. I truly felt the blessings of keeping my covenants.
Well, Friday was not over without the climax of attending my Citizenship Ceremony. I had originally planned on going solo, since I heard sometimes it could take hours depending on how many were being sworn in. Since it was already an hour away from home, plus the ceremony, i did not feel like dragging the kids there. In fact, to me it seemed like not a big deal. I am a Canadian Citizen, and although I was not able to vote in US, it made no big difference. But today, there was no school and Scott's work was also cancelled. We ended up going together as a family, which I was so glad because it made it even more memorable. I contemplated on the blessings of being guided by the Lord from Philippines to Canada and now to the United States. I pondered on the blessing of being a citizen of the country from which the Restored gospel was born. My heart was overwhelmed with gratitude and I have had to hide my tears that wants to flow down my cheeks. We went to Chick Fil A afterwards to celebrate, and also we still did not have power.
On our way home, we bought some plumbing parts. Scott ended up cutting the pipe underneath in the crawl space to relieve the congestion and add a adjoining pip afterwards. That fixed it. Sink was fixed, still no power and Elias seemed to be running out of clothes to wear.On top of all these, I got a letter from our POA office here at the lake about a Commercial Property violation or a business nuisance and the fine would be $100 per day. Basically saying I was not allowed to run a business off my property. This has added to my stress and although I had emailed them that I will be in compliance. I had removed my Facebook post about my brand new office and that I was ready to take appointments. I believe that was caused them to issue me with this violation and that I had put it in public that I was taking appointment. My major regret was that I posted this photo of my office and just a little clip saying that it will be a busy tax season and that they better make the appointments, yup I posted this on a Sunday morning, thinking it was not a big deal.
I had sorely repented of it. I had took it for granted that it it only took few seconds to place the add, and no big deal, but I should have known better. I was doing it first thing on Sunday. I got excited about my new office and that I have made a business engagement on Sunday by placing an Ad. This was a great reminder for me that nothing good came of it. I was reprimanded with $100 fine instead. I need to really set my own boundaries and not be carried away with the easiness of using technology at the touch of my finger trip and be mindful of keeping my covenants and the Sabbath Day.
The meeting for which I was supposed to attend on the adjustment committee for the violation was re scheduled in March due to tornado.
But this week has been a challenge. A lot was happening, but I have learned a lot and I am grateful for the Lord's tender mercies and gentle reminder.
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