End of The Rope

If you’ve read my blog than you know that 2014 was a rough year for my family. In fact when I got bad news after Christmas that made it seem like 2015 was going to start off rough, I had to pull back and hibernate for a few days. I would love to tell you that 2015 is off to a great start! But let’s go down a little memory lane to visit the last 27 days of January.

My grandfather had heart surgery and was in the hospital for almost the entire month.
My workhorse dishwasher from 1997 finally broke. When it broke we had to turn off the hot water in the kitchen and the breaker that controlled the microwave for a week until a new one could be delivered.
Our brand new vacuum broke around the same time. The company asked me to drive it 40 minutes away to see if it qualified for repair. This is literally one of the cheapest vacuums you can buy. I told them no and had to get ugly on Twitter to get them to send a new one, three weeks later.
My husband was laid off from his oil and gas job. The lower price of gas costs more than you realize.
The new dishwasher was installed on a Friday afternoon. Saturday we left for a three day trip to visit my grandfather in the hospital in Dallas. We returned on Monday to a horrible smell and found soaking wet carpet in the dining room from the leaking dishwasher.
We tried for two days to save the soaking wet carpet but eventually had to rip out all of the carpet in the dining room. Now we have bare concrete in the dining room.
The dishwasher can’t be reconnected until the wood that surrounds it is 100% dry to prevent mold growth. Which means it’s been another week with no dishwasher, hot water in the kitchen, or working microwave.

Then my coffee maker broke. End of the rope. I know… I know.. All this seems like SO MUCH FUN. Sigh. All of this has happened in January! But it gets better. Yesterday as I was putting up some stuff in the garage, one of the kids came out to tell me the toilet upstairs was clogged. “Leave it alone” I said, “I’ll be right there”. 2 minutes later…. “Mom! The toilet is all over the floor”. I ran up there thinking that maybe it would have just slightly spilled over the edge and the two towels I took with me would do the trick. NO. Oh no. When I got up there the water was still running from the toilet and there was an inch of horrendous liquid on the floor. I’m going to spare you the rest of the details. But… I was mad. I was mad at the kids for not listening and just leaving it alone (they had flushed it again) and I was mad at life. While I was mopping with bleach water I just wondered out loud when God was finally going to show up for us. Then the guilt of those words hit me like a brick. God has always shown up for us. 13 years ago God showed up for us when this extremely handsome guy knocked on the door to pick me up for our first date. He showed up again when we were married. God really showed up when we had problems during our second child’s delivery and she was born with a temporarily paralyzed arm. We didn’t know it was just temporary at the time but God knew and He showed up. When our youngest pulled the coffee pot down on herself two years ago, God showed up. She has no scars at all from the burns. God has showed up for us time and time again, without fail. Yea, parts of life stinks right now (especially the part I cleaned up yesterday). But those are just meaningless parts. I still have my family and we are all good. We still have a house. It might be plotting against us but we are blessed to have it. Mr. Byrd actually gets a little time to regroup and rest, which he deserves after a stressful last year. He’ll find a job and hopefully it’ll be one that gives him more family time. Hopefully our kids will also walk away from this thankful for the chore of loading the dishwasher versus hand washing all of the dishes. And most importantly, my coffee maker is still under warranty. God shows up but it doesn’t mean that you won’t need a cleaning crew to clean up the mess of life. I usually don’t post on Wednesdays but if you follow my Instagram you might have known I was at the end of my rope today. However you can always just go to Lowe’s and buy more rope. Right? I’m not actually at the end of the rope, I’m far from it. No worries friends, no worries.

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Comments

Amanda (@mommygorun) says

January 28, 2015 at 2:07 pm

I feel a certain closeness to you, and this post again had me in tears. Sometimes things seem so bleak and it can be so hard to remember that He is always looking out for us. I feel your pain though. We just got all of the paperwork to switch our insurance from J’s old company to be covered under my job….Holy crap…I’m terrified…it’s just shy of HALF of my paycheck. I just keep praying. It’s so hard not to throw my hands up and give up. Unfortunately, we will probably have to move-again…we can’t afford our place at this rate. Every part of me wants to completely break down and cry.
- Bobbie says
  
  January 30, 2015 at 5:06 am
  
  I’m sorry Amanda. It is hard. Life is hard. But I know there’s been miracles in our lives before where we shouldn’t have been able to afford something but God provided. I’ll keep you guys in my thoughts and prayers and believe that all will be provided for you.
Dan says

January 29, 2015 at 6:54 pm

Bobbie, I just read this posting and do feel for you. My apologies if in my ignorance I’ve been a bit of a nag from time to time. Please feel free to call on me anytime I can be of assistance. For what it’s worth, during the last several years I’ve found the even numbered years to be much more challenging than the odd numbered years. Hopefully that will hold true for you, too; and you and yours will have a great 2015.
- Bobbie says
  
  January 30, 2015 at 5:04 am
  
  That is a unique and interesting take on the odd years vs. even years. Thanks for the comment. I will be contacting you soon.
Kristin says

January 29, 2015 at 10:32 pm

God is always there and always on His own time. We may not agree with it, but he is always there.

Love to you and your family.

If you need something, you let me know.

Or else.

<3
- Bobbie says
  
  January 30, 2015 at 5:04 am
  
  Thanks friend! No worries – I still fear the bat! 🙂
Beth says

January 30, 2015 at 2:20 pm

Thank you again for such a testimonial word!
Wow!
Life here lately seems to be throwing bullets at us also.
From my husband loosing his great job 2 years ago.( he has yet to find another solid job)
To the lost of our home and many belongings Bc of lack of income.
And now having to live with my mother n law! ( whom is EXTREMELY hard to even be in the same room with for a few hours, much less Living with her! Bc she’s soooo negative!)
We for the 1st time ever got assistance from our boys school and our church to help us provide our boys with the “Best Christmas Ever”!(they thought we just did really good on our firewood sales & Santa pulled through like he always does:)
With just our self income work/jobs we had “little” income.
So little that we did not qualify for EIC and CTC!
That was a BIG disappointment!!!
We have so many things we needed to pay for and take care of, that we are now HAVING to leave up to God.
Like I mentioned before; so many bullets and Stones
- Bobbie says
  
  February 2, 2015 at 3:47 am
  
  I’m sorry Beth. If you’re leaving it up to God than you are on the right track. We can only do so much but He can do it all. I’ll pray for your family.