Hey everyone, I’d like to introduce you to My Rope. I’m currently at the end of it.

Ok, so I have quite a few posts in my head that I’ve been wanting to put up here, but life has been crazy the past few weeks.  And by crazy, I really mean beyond ridiculously crazy. I will spare you all the nitty gritty details, but here’s the rundown of our lives:

• Flood in our apartment
• Homeless for 2 weeks and counting
• Fell during flood and got whiplash
• Had all of our stuff packed up and put into storage, so I’ve been living in the same 4 outfits for 2+ weeks now.
• Took a volleyball to the jaw during a “friendly” game, and couldn’t shut my mouth for the rest of the night.  Went to hospital but didn’t want to wait, so went home (And by home, I mean our hotel room), and prayed it was just a muscle thing, and not a dislocated jaw thing. (which it was.  It’s still a bit sore, but I’ll be fine)
• Found an apartment (we love it!) – have spent the past week sorting out lease agreement details – (BIG INEFFICENT USE OF MY TIME)  We’re supposed to pay first and last on our new place…but still haven’t been reimbursed by our old landlords, or the insurance company (for the thousands of dollars we’ve had to pay to live in a hotel and eat out every.single.meal), so as of right now, money is a little tight.  (We’re fine…we know the money’s coming…just not here yet)
• Our car got in an accident (we’re fine)
• It is now a write off
• It’s ok though, because we’ve been saving up thousands of dollars for times like this.  Oh wait….ummm, nope, that’s not true.
• I’m sick. I woke up today feeling like every time I swallow I’m ingesting thousands of tiny razor blades.  I also feel like puss is oozing down my throat consistently all day.

Well, I realize, that after that list, I am officially a Debbie Downer…so, here’s another list of the good (and really, there is a lot of good still )

• We have been the receivers of SO much love, support and care by our friends, church family and family.  It’s humbling.
• We are safe and (mostly) healthy.  We’ve never not had a roof over our head, or a meal in front of us.
• We have had opportunities to see God provide in so many ways.  It’s fun and exciting!  And I’m not just saying that because I am obligated to as a Christian.  Although we’re tired and a bit stressed – that’s more because of all the tiny little details we have to work out.  God has given both of us a huge peace about everything as a whole and we really do know that we’ll be fine at the other end of this ordeal. 
• Our prayer times as a couple have been deeper.
• I get to see Ben be such a good caretaker of me and our situation.  He is so smart, wise and capable to handle so many aspects of this that I would have no clue wha to do.  He’s carried the brunt of the “details” stuff – so if you see him, or want to email him – let him know how great he is, because really, he is.
• and finally….we’re going to Cancun this weekend!  I’ve been meaning to post about it, but it kinda took a back seat to everything else going on.  But we are SO ready for a holiday and are excited to just put everything behind us for a week and sit on a beach with a drink in hand.  My entire agenda for the week includes me waking up, getting into a bathing suit, and heading to the beach with a good book.  

 I probably won’t post until we get home, but when we do, there will be pictures, stories and more interesting posts that don’t involve me discussing my puss infested throat.

Let’s talk about something other than the flood shall we?

For those of you that blog, you know that sometimes, there’s just not much to write about. So when Angella of the Dutch Blitz variety offered the chance to interview me…I said what the heck.   If you haven’t read her blog – you probably should-  she’s several types of awesome.  She writes well, takes incredible pictures, has cute kids, and manages to represent her faith through all of it.  So…leave me for a few minutes and go check her out. 

BUT THEN COME BACK!!  And read this. These are her questions for moi – enjoy!

1.You mention that the “baby phase” has officially begun in your circle of friends. When do you two think you might join the party?

See – this is tough one to answer, for a few reasons. One,because I’m not actually sure. Of course Ben and I have talked about it, and sure, we have a pretty good idea in our heads of when we think we want to join the baby fun, but as you may know – I work in youth ministry. And I LOVE this. And youth ministry just happens to be one of those jobs that you kinda have to be in for the long haul (well, if you want to see any results you do). And there’s still a lot on Ben and my “to-do” list both in life, and in ministry.  (But at the same time recognizing that there will always be something on the list…so you just have to dive in sometimes)  So that sort of keeps things up in the air. Also – I don’t think I’ll ever really disclose to people when we are “trying”. Because if it doesn’t happen (a fear of mine), people start to ask questions. And if it DOES happen, no one is as surprised because we already told them to expect it, and I’m a big fan of getting to surprise people. So – to answer your question – sometime between the next 6 months and 6 years. Fair enough answer? :)

 2. On your About page, you mention that games are the best thing to do in a social gathering. What are your favorite games?

Ooh – tough question, but the short answer is: Any game I can win. :)  Seriously though, I’m a big fan of Euchre, and Settlers. When in a big group, I think Catch Phrase is the way to go. It keeps everyone involved and it can get pretty funny. If I had to pick one though, it would be Euchre – one time, I played it for 16 straight hours, driving home on a big yellow school bus from a mission trip.

 3. How did you and Ben meet?

We met at Redeemer, where we went to school. He transferred there in his third year from Dalhousie, and got integrated into my group of friends. We spent the first semester hanging out (platonically), and had a class together. Come exam time, it became very apparent that I had taken notes, and Ben hadn’t….so he was pretty desperate for a study partner. And that began the relationship that was Ben and I. This is the short version of this story. Trust me, there is a MUCH longer version – I’ll post it here soon. Let’s just say it took me another 6 months to realize I should date Ben…he was a patient man.

4. Why do you blog and what got you started? (I always love to hear people’s stories on this)

I can remember the first time I heard about this thing called a “blog”. Back when I was in university, one of my VERY academically inclined (and somewhat awkward) friends was telling me about this “new-fangled thing” that all the professors were using called blogs. It was a way to communicate theories, ideas, philosphies, etc and then others could comment on it. He was pretty excited, and it was then, at that moment, that I vowed to NEVER have one of those things….

Fast forward a few years and blogs started to become more common, and started to be based on topics MUCH more interesting to me than Socrates. And I found myself reading more and more of them. Blogs of friends, family and people I’d never met. My co-workers and I would joke about how we were all blog-stalkers….which I openly admit I was (and still am – who am I kidding)

Eventually, more and more I was thinking “if I had a blog….I’d probably write about this…” So I just decided to join – one random day, I just did it. Mostly because I enjoy having something to look back on and see what random little things Ben and I have been up to , but also because I’ve enjoyed “meeting”, commenting and interacting with others, and wanted to offer my 2 cents in this blog-o-sphere.

5. If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Australia, Austria, Switzerland. Although I kind of feel like there’s probably inexplicable beauty in places I’d never even think of visiting, and so I think I’d pretty much be willing to go anywhere. Why…are you offering??

Well, there you have it!  If you would like to join in on the interviewing party, follow these directions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me” (You don’t have to know me to do this either…this is a great way for me to get to know you and a great excuse to de-lurk!).
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog (or facebook…if you’re blog-less) with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I’m sure one day we’ll look back on this and laugh

So, as I eluded to in my previous post, we had a basement flood on Wed. night.  This is an annoyance in itself….but do you want to know what’s more annoying? WHEN YOU LIVE IN A BASEMENT APARTMENT. 

 So yes, our apartment flooded.  When I got home from youth on Wed. night, I noticed a puddle coming out from under the door of the room with the sump pump. “Crap” I thought.  “Ben even predicted this was going to happen (based on the torrential rains we’d been having, coupled with mounds and mounds of thawing snow), good thing he moved a few of our things off the floor of that room just the other night.  Well isn’t this annoying.  I better go get the mop and clean up this little, mess we have”.

So, then I got the mop and went back to the “small” puddle that had accumulated.  Well, apparently I TOTALLY missed the fact that the water had already completely filled the bathroom and was now inching its way into our bedroom.  Thankfully Ben got home at that exact moment, and it’s a good thing, because although I’m sure it will come as a surprise, I wasn’t terribly effective in “crisis management mode”.  I continued to mop, marvelling at the fact that it wasn’t really doing much….but yet continued to do that anyway. Oh and then the phone rang, so I answered it with a cheery “hello!”, and only then realized that maybe it wasn’t the best time to talk.  I’m pretty sure this is what I sounded like “flood….apartment….no, no, I can talk now….oh actually…maybe I can’t”

Ben, on the other hand, was furiously building dikes out of all of our towels (except the white ones…what a good husband he is), to try and prevent the water from going into other parts of our apartment.  That proved to be futile as the water just continued to seep into every single room in the apartment, and before you knew it, we were standing in 4 inches of water.   Thankfully, we’d gotten there in  enough time to stay on top of things, and got most of our stuff moved to higher ground.  And by higher ground,  I mean: piled everything on our couch.   I could go on and on, but frankly, that would be boring, so instead, I thought I’d summarize the rest of this story through the highlights (lowlights?) of the 5 hour ordeal that was Wed. night. 

 9:30 – got home from work, and started mopping in a futile fashion

9:35 – Ben shakes his head at me and actually does something productive and puts towels down.

9:45 – I call Service Master and explain we’re experiencing some flooding in the basement and will need some people to come remove the water.  I also pause when the receptionist asks “is this an emergency?”, because I think to myself, “well, no, not really…no one is hurt, and it’s only a few inches of water”…Thankfully Ben could hear her and answered YES on my behalf, because apparently, I’m incapable of handling situations like these on my own.

9:45-11:00 – Wait for Service Master to arrive and keep moving all of our things to higher ground

10:15 – I’m kind of giddy.  “What an adventure!! Isn’t this cool??” I think to myself.

10:16-  That feeling quickly passes as my feet become numb from being in freezing cold water for hours on end.

10:18 – We email our landlords who are on vacation, and tell them to get a hold of us ASAP.

10:24 – I see a few Dutch Blitz cards go floating past me that must have been hidden under the couch. Sweet!

10:35-  Our landlords write back and say “it’s late…we’ll call you in the morning”

10:36 – I write them back and say “I don’t think you understand when I say you have FOUR INCHES OF WATER IN YOUR ENTIRE BASEMENT….CALL ASAP”

10:40 – I then see a cheque that Ben asked me to cash that I thought I’d lost also float by me.  (This is turning into a profitable night!)

10:55 – Ben wisely points out that I should probably stop using my computer while at the same time having my feet immersed in water.  Something about electric currents or something.  So I pack up, with my computer in one hand and the phone in the other, and start walking from the kitchen to a dry spot.  It is here that I slip on the wet floor, and because my hands are full, I can’t brace myself.  I fall. HARD.  REALLY HARD.  I’m pretty sure my body was completely horizontal in the air, and then landed on the tile.  I whipped my neck back and whacked my head. The phone went flying, but I manged to keep my death grip on the computer and it stayed dry. 

10:56 – Ben helps me up.  I then BURST into tears.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a moment in my life where I’ve actually burst into tears before.  Usually I can feel them coming.  Nope, not this time. 

10:56-10:59 – I sob my way from the kitchen to our bedroom, and change into dry clothes.  Before this happens, I manged to drop the new outfit I was going to wear in the water.  I cry a bit harder and pick out something else.

11:00 – I suck it up, and realize that I can’t be a sucky baby in front of Service Master people, and they’re coming soon, so I get myself back into adventure mode.

11:10 – I realize that there are several socks, and pairs of underwear that had gotten brushed under our bed over time, floating around.  I start to think I should do a quick clean sweep of the place before Service Master arrives.  (Really Karmyn?? Your entire place is flooded and you think these guys are going to be worried about a pair of your gitch you left lying under the bed???”)

11:15 – Service Master arrives…and promptly tell us we need to get a plumber before they can do anything, because it would be futile to empty the water if the pump is still broken.   (They were great by the way and helped us figure a lot of stuff out)

11:20 – I see a ten dollar bill I’d thought I’d lost go floating by me (are you sensing a theme here??)

11:15-1:30 – A lot of standing around, trying to arrange things over the phone with our landlords, insurance, plumbers, etc.

Anyway – long story short (kind of), it was quite the night of chaos.  we are now living at the Holiday Inn, and will be for at least another week.  (Although we just upgraded to a jacuzzi suite)  We have to move, as our current place will take at least a month to repair. (they have to replace all the floors, and re-do the dry-wall).  We’re tired, but thankful that us and our things are ok.  We are also SUPER thankful for insurance, and are milking it for all it’s worth.  People in our church, and friends in general have been BEYOND great, offering us meals, places to sleep, hugs, little gifts, etc (more on this to come in another post…), and we do feel quite blessed. 

It will be an insane few weeks, as we have to figure out what stuff to keep, what stuff to claim through insurance, what to pack up and put in storage, what to keep out for the next month, where to move, finding an apartment, etc.  I’ll try keep you posted as we go, although I maybe, just maybe, will play the homeless card if I get too lazy to post.

Here’s a few pictures – they aren’t great – it’s hard to see the water on the ground. And I didn’t really take any past a certain time, so a lot more water had accumulated since these pics were taken.

Here’s the place about half an hour after we got home.  Behind that bookshelf (the tall black thing), to the right of the clock, there’s a hallway, where the water was coming from.  This is it inching its way through the rest of the place.  I think at this point, we thought this was the end of the water…couldn’t have been more wrong..

The bathroom

Ben’s towel dikes.  The pile of towels at the end on the left is by the room with the sump pump in it, so this is the area that flooded first.  The bathroom is the door on the left, and the bedroom is on the right.  You can also see the abandoned mop and bucket…

It’s Official: My life is a gong show

I’m tired, sore and homeless.  We’re FINE.  Our stuff? Mostly fine. Our apartment? Not so much. I will update with more tomorrow, when I’m not seeing double from being so pooped.

And the baby phase has officially begun…

No, not for us.  We’re still baby free and plan on being that way for a little while yet – but I think the “engagement/wedding” train has officially left the building, only to be replaced fast and furiously by babies.   Everyone said it would happen, but I guess I was kind of in denial still that it was here.  And to be fair, we still have our fair share of weddings on the slate – and not ALL my friends are pregnant…but I think what really sealed the deal was coming home from visiting our dear friends Phil and Sheena and their 4 day old Malakai on Saturday, only to open a facebook thread amongst some friends from youth group, and see that (of the 4 of us) 2 of them are expecting, and one has a baby. 

And it’s great!  Personally I love babies.  I love that I get to hold them and feed them and play with them.  We’re not quite there yet, and that’s ok , but boy was Saturday fun….

Ben having a heart to heart with Malakai

My favourite is when they just ball right up and sleep on your chest

 

I love this shot of him. It’s like he’s saying “really? we’re really gonna do this picture thing now?”

He has big beautiful eyes (that at the moment were a little jaundiced and cross eyed – but still so cute)

Phil and Sheena, we’re honoured to be your friends and love your son already!

He’s Here!!

These people:

Just had this person today:

And I’m thrilled.  Ben and I are going to make the 4 hour trek to Windsor on Saturday to go meet him.  Malakai Ireland McKay, Feb 3, 2009, 7lbs 10 0z.    I think we’re going to get along just fine, me and him.