The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Most of you have been so supportive & wonderful in listening to me vent over the past year about the house drama - we even did a little dance a two weeks ago when the delivered it. So, two and half weeks later you would think everything would be awesome - we would be snuggled in, decorated and ready to go - right? Not so much.
I truly don't want to bore you with the details of the hassles and snags we have hit and it's not just us - everyone in our area is having the same problems. Electrical companies, no central unit, too much rain, and Finishers that didn't do the work right the first time - After all who brings a Table Saw inside a brand new home, who uses a new kitchen sink to mix sheetrock mud??? Apparently an out-of-town crew from Alabama (no offense to my Alabama friends) $%#%^#$#@ Hurricane Rita. Excuse me for using that language. Just trying to keep my smile.
So anyway, maybe tomorrow, we could move in - maybe not - What I asking from my MIP family is your good thoughts & prayers - not so much that I will be in my house, but that I can smile no matter what. That I can stop crying. I know it will be ok - My God has not brought me this far to disappoint me. If I don't celebrate Christmas in the new house this year - I'll do it next year. I just really don't want to cry in front of our girls & grandkids on Christmas night no matter where we are.
Please God - help me to be brave and to get thru this with the faith on the outside that I know is on the inside.
Thank you so much for your thoughts & prayers - I know they will be helpful.
Wishing each of you and your families a Christmas filled with love, peace, serenity and hope -
Never give up hope - for we don't know what miracles our HP has in store . . .
Love & Hugs,
Rita
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No matter what me and my God are going to be ok, even better than OK -
Just to say my prayers and thoughts are with you at this time. You are right in your outlook, if you don't spend this christmas in your new house, you will the next one.
Keep that smile on your face and like you say your HP is with you and who knows what is around the corner. Keep us posted on the progress.
What a struggle to get what most people take completely for granted. With the light at the end of the tunnel so clearly in view, I pray that you will think of this as getting it "right" instead of getting it "fast".
In my family we celebrate the holidays for weeks. We are a bit spread out. So who's to say it didn't make it on time even if its a few weeks from now?
Peace, serenity and happiness are the finest holiday gifts... I hope you have an abundance of all. You are a precious member of my new family, and have helped me realize those gifts many times.
Take care of you!
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"Good judgement comes from experience... experience comes from bad judgement" - unknown
Sending you all good thoughts and prayers. Keep your chin up... no matter where you are you will have a blessed Christmas with your family. It is wonderful that you have them to share with and love. There is a reason and a purpose for everything... although some days I couldn't tell you what that purpose was. LOL!! So Eat!! Drink!! and be Merry with those sweet grandbabies.
Love and Hugs,
Twinmom~
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"The people who don't mind matter and the people who mind, don't matter". (Dr. Seuss)
(((((((((((Rita))))))))))) My thoughts and prayers are with you! You are a wonderful person, and I just know that HP has something wonderful in store for you! You have shown to be so strong through this,(I know, sometimes we wonder how strong we have to be!!) Bless you and your good attitude, you will make it!! Love and lots of TLC being sent your way.
I think, to a large degree, you're asking an awful lot of a government contracted company.
Step back for a minute and think it through with me: these are people who aren't gonna get paid much (let's be straight here, it's not a substantial amount); the vast amount of the "bottom feeder employees," God willing, have high school diplomas, but probably are working their way through college too, and they have families to support; these positions have high, high, level of turnover, these people aren't expected to be of much loyalty or character (no call/no show is very common; quit/no notice is very common, too); this is hard, long work, in all kinds of weather, all the time, and, let's face it, you and me are paying these folks (or, at least, SOMEONE is) because WE don't want to do it (or, if you're like me, Don't know how!). And, of course, you gotta remember there are some of these guys that lost their homes too in the hurricanes--why should they be working on your home when they don't have one?
Additionally, it's not like your frustrations aren't being heard. Courts in your district are getting fed up with FEMA and their ilk and are ordering them to open their wallets. They're ordering insurance companies to get over their egos and bloated self of importance and pay up. Action, however slow, is being taken. And, if you were to search the blogosphere, you would see that there's alot of people writing about your ordeal; there's alot of news columnists that are still greatly disgusted that it's almost been 18 months and there's still people living in the temporary living trailiers. I mean, it's like I've been running into over and over and over again: it's a beauracracy, which means the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing and it means that a deeper spiritual relationship with oneself is called for.
What I think is really at stake here is the fact that it's *cue the music!* Christmas. Everyone wants a home, a place of their own, for Christmas. But you know, I haven't forgotten what it was like to live in my car. I haven't forgotten what it was like to go without food, money, water,...and there were quite a few hannukkah's like that growing up, AND as an adult. Nothing I could do. What's important for me to remember, at least today, is that "It Could Be Worse." you know, I have a place, THIS year. THIS year. One of my sponsorship sisters is spending christmas with her 6 week old daughter in a homeless shelter, living on food stamps, waiting for subsidized housing wait list to come to her. She's in the same boat you are. It just takes time.
I am sure that you will be able to keep your sanity. Just remember to count to oh say.....1000. You'll be in your house and I say celebrate when you get in there. Who cares if it's next week or the week after? Orthodox Christmas isn't until Jan. 7, so you still have time.
Love and blessings to you and your family. Merry Christmas!
Live strong,
Karilynn & Piper Claus
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It's your life. Take no prisoners. You will have it your way.
The only thing I retained from Psych101 (some 15 years ago) is that things can always be worse. You can always be optimistic, but disappointment is a fact of human nature.
I remember watching, acutely, a Colonel and Chaplain walking across my apartment complex with a solemn face and an American flag, folded with honor, taken to a newly single wife that lived 3 doors away.
I hope the best for you and the people affected by Katrina. Some of the troops I directly supervise flew aid missions into and out of the area. Keep your head up, and your will to overcome this setback. You have the strength and the courage, I hear it in your words. Lace up the bootstraps, put on a smile, make for the best, prepare for the worst.
with love
cj
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time to stop going to the hardware store to buy bread.
