May 10, 2007

Verse of the Day:
“[A Brother Who Sins Against You] "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” (Matthew 18:15)

What a day! It was filled with some up and down moments.

Of course, since today was DearHubby's birthday, I made sure that I said "Happy Birthday" to him when we first got up.

So, after DearHubby left for work and when DearDaughter awoke, I gave her a quick bath and got ready for the day. Our first errand was to return to the Township to talk to the person I needed to to reapply for our laundry room addition permit. His instruction was that all I needed to do was fill out all the applications again and pay all the fees again. DearHubby and I expected that so I took the time to fill out all the applications at the office. When I was done and ready to submit the applications, they pulled our old file and found the letter from the Board of Health about our septic system. I was not able to submit the applications because of the septic system issue. I took all the paperwork back with me and immediately called DearHubby to inform him of the situation.

DearHubby needed to call the septic system installers again, but needed a copy of the contract, so when I got back home, I scanned the contract and e-mailed it to DearHubby. Then, I searched for old bank statements as proof that we did pay the entire amount. One reason for explaining these details is to testify about the usefulness of a good organized paperwork system. Blessedly, before DearDaughter was born, I was very diligent about keeping all of our important paperwork organized in user friendly files and so when it came time to searching for paperwork that is 6 years old, it wasn't too difficult to find. I am glad that I didn't shred those bank statements. In research I've done about how long paperwork should be kept, the suggested length of time is 3 years. I guess the exception to that is when you have open issues like we did, but how would one know there's an open issue unless it creeps up on you like this one did 6 years later? Hmmm...

Anyway, when all the septic system issues were addressed it was time for DearDaughter and I to leave. I prepared food for a birthday luncheon for DearHubby at work and I decided to drive into the city to join the party too. I used to work at the same company as DearHubby so it was nice seeing old and familiar faces again! It was a bonus to spend time with DearHubby on his special day!

On the way to the city, I called the OB/GYN office to inquire about my glucose tolerance test results. On the way home, I received a call from them and they told me that the tests came back normal. I do not have gestational diabetes. I was so relieved!!!

We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some buns. Though many at the luncheon enjoyed my meatballs, there was enough leftover meat for dinner, but no buns.

When DearDaughter and I arrived home I had a list of chores that needed to be done. However, I had not addressed my Mother's Day cards yet and I wanted to make a Mother's Day present for my Encouraging Sister at church who just gave birth last week to a baby girl, Brielle. When sending out cards, I normally like to write a personal note in each one and include a recent picture of DearDaughter with the card. I had a card for my mom, sister, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, my 2 grandmas, DearHusband's grandma, and DearHusband's aunt. I don't normally go beyond the grandparents, but I had a picture to send for DearHusband's aunt since December. After personalizing and addressing those notes, I started working on my Encouraging Sister's project. It was about 4:45pm by this time and I needed to get to the post office before 6pm, hoping that if I got those cards out today, they'd make it in time for Mother's Day. Well, it was almost 5pm and though DearHubby told me that he would be home late, I decided to get his Casting Crowns CD/DVD gift set wrapped up. As I was putting the last piece of tape on the gift, he pulled into the driveway. I quick hid the gift and went back to my Encouraging Sister project. As the time ticked away, I saw that I wasn't getting the project done if I didn't get help, so I recruited DearHubby to help me. We completed the project at 5:45pm and I quickly packed up the gift and left for the post office at 5:48pm and made it on time. Unfortunately, when I asked if the cards would make it in time for Mother's Day, the postal worker told me they wouldn't. Blessedly, the box I had for the gift was a Priority flat rate box and though I didn't intend it to go Priority mail, it did, so I know that my gift will get to DearEncouragingSister in time.


Blessedly, we had the leftover meatballs and so when I got home, I straightened out the living room a bit and then prepared dinner.

DearDaughter and I presented DearHubby with his birthday present during dinnertime and he was very excited about it. He immediately popped in the CD in the player and we enjoyed awesome music while we ate our awesome dinner.

As DearHubby and I talked about the rest of his day, he informed me that he tried contacting the septic system installers and engineers, but got a hold of neither. He also informed me that when he did talk to the installers yesterday, they agreed to do the fill-dirt certification, but we'd need to pay for it again. DearHubby is getting quite impatient with this run around that we've been getting and he's so tempted to just pay for the fill-dirt certification ourselves. I encouraged him to continue pursuing the installers to pay for the certification themselves because they need to understand consequences for not fulfilling their contract.

Well, DearHubby needed to do some work in the garage after dinner so I spent some time responding to a DearFriend who is struggling through a discouraging time.

DearHubby and I don't watch too much TV, but we do enjoy watching The Office and so we spent some time doing that.

It's now time for bed. I have a lot of chores ahead of me tomorrow.

In Pursuit of His Call