Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

So I am really trying to stress less and to look at the big picture instead of freaking out. It is one of my goals. Well don't ya know when you make that kind of goal you get tested?

 

On Saturday morning we woke up to our house being 53 degrees, brrr. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal since I am sleeping extra warm these days and Brian has a good internal furnace, but the problem was that our thermostat was set to 56, so why was it so cold? Our furnace was busted. We tried calling the landlords and then remembered those days are over, we are the landlords. Brian fiddled around with it and then called around. Luckily there was a place open on Saturdays and they didn't charge extra for the weekend. So they came out and he seemed a little stumped but decided to replace the ignitor, jiggle some wires, and it worked. The ignitor was $150 and his services were $75. Gulp. At least we had heat. 

We leave for the evening to have dinner and play games with Nate and come home around 11:30 pm to a cold house. The furnace is not working. Again. After we just spent $225. Brian is livid. So he calls the company and they fortunately have an answering service. Unfortunately, Brian proceeds to unload on this poor girl who is just answering the phones. He doesn't actually unload per say, but explains how frustrated he is. He does feel a little better after this and is able to go to sleep. They are set to come out Sunday morning at 10 am. 

Fast forward to 10:30 am-nothing. Finally Brian calls and talks to the guy who says he will be here in 10 minutes. The guy gives us our $225 check back which was a huge relief as we really didn't want to have to fight about that. He decided it's not the ignitor (duh) and that's it's the mother circuit board, which he has to order. Guess that means another few days of wearing our winter jackets in the house. 

Playing dominos in our coats:

Monday morning Brian calls around and finds a place that is more experienced with our furnace type and also has cheaper parts. So, they come out and diagnose the same thing: the circuit board. They also have to order the part but it will come in Tuesday afternoon. Great, we can finally have heat. So what's the damage? About $475. Gulp. 

Gulp. 

Gulp. 

Oh my, how are we going to afford that? It's okay, we'll take it out of savings and then put extra in there next month since we're paying off my student loans next month. 

At this point (Monday afternoon) I'm not feeling too horrible, it's a huge inconvenience, but that is what comes with being a home owner and I am remembering to take everything in stride. 

Then Brian calls again, this time about his student loans. A little back story: We put his student loans on deferment since he is going to school. This has really helped us and I've made the budget around the fact that we won't have to pay his student loans until he finishes his masters, at which point we are hoping for a big raise. So for the past 3 months we haven't paid his student loans. Back to Monday afternoon: Apparently we should not have been approved for deferment because he has to go to school part-time (minimum of 2 classes) to be eligible for deferment in the first place. So now we owe 3 months worth of his student loans and have to figure it in the budget for the next 3 months until he starts taking 2 classes in the spring. This is where I start to freak out. I don't really say anything and Brian wonders if I'm still on the phone or if I have passed out. After some nonsense mumbling from me about how I need a minute I hang up. I take a deep breath and say a prayer. But instead of asking to win the lottery, I ask for help in remembering all our blessings. We have our health, our loved ones have their health, we have a home, we have good jobs, and we are expecting a little miracle in February. Things are great. Financial worries are something we can deal with and fix. I'm not saying I didn't feel a little sick the rest of day and tried to go over in my mind how on earth we were going to pay for all of this, but I realized that we can do it and we have so many good things to be thankful for. This is just a little speed bump in the road. 

Now, onto some fun memories and the blessings I was just speaking of...family. I am finally uploading our Christmas pictures.

Christmas Eve at Mom R.'s house

Christmas Eve at Mom B.'s house, here is Porter, MJ and Lance posing for me:

Porter was helping his mom play the piano

Kailey and Jaidyn were too:

Adorable little K-bear:

Porter realized for the first time that I had a big belly. It was pretty funny watching him inspect why my tummy was so big, I think he thought I had put a basketball under my shirt so he had to see what was under it. 

The siblings and their mom

MJ and her Dad

Little Sammie's first Christmas (my mom and Randy's newest addition)

Jaidyn loved hauling Sammie around:

Mom and Randy:

The Tegner's

My buddy and me:

The Jensen's

The Holcomb's

Christmas day at my dad's house (I apparently was on a picture hiatus):

Abby and Cassidy have no problem posing for pictures, I love it!

Little Abby and me

For New Year's we played games at my mom's house which was a lot of fun. Jenny made some fancy drinks for the girls and even put pretty red sugar around the rim, they loved it!

Jenny making the drinks

Whew, that was a lot of pictures! We've had a great Holiday season and I really am so grateful for all our blessings. We are of course looking forward to bringing our little one home and can't wait to meet her. We're gonna be parents!!!