Christmas #1 - Georgia & The Flood...

Christmas in Georgia was quiet but really was quite lovely. My Pop drove up from Florida a couple of days before the 25th and hung out with me. Mom came over on Christmas morning and the 3 of us celebrated together and opened gifties from each other and the ones from the California folks. I am so glad that my parents get along well and enjoy each other's company even though they haven't been married to each other for over 20 years; we had a very nice time and really enjoyed each other's company.

I made a pot roast with potatoes, carrots and pearl onions for our "Christmas Dinner" and after dinner was done Pop left us and drove up to Nashville to be with Uncle Peter and his family. I would have gone with him and Peter & Family really wanted me to go but I had way too much to do between Christmas Day and the 30th of December which is the day I left for Macedonia for my long planned mission trip. (Will post about Macedonia shortly) Last year everyone came to Atlanta for the week between Christmas and New Year's day and it was really a great time. I'm so glad that our families enjoy spending time together.

About a week before Christmas there was a drip, drip, drip coming from the ceiling in my kitchen, down the front of the cupboards and onto the countertops and into the sink. This had happened several years ago and I'd told my next door neighbor about it since I thought it might be coming from his water heater which is above my kitchen and after I told him about it the dripping stopped even though he said his water heater was fine. I thought he was joshing me and had discovered and stopped the leak. That may still be the case as that family moved out of the condo next door and my current next door neighbor moved in not too long after that incident. Long story short, I asked Oskar, the current neighbor and he told me that he'd replaced the water heater about a year ago so he really didn't think it could be that. Also, I'd turned the water to my unit off and the drip stopped and then I called the plumber. He discovered that there was a leaky valve in one of my upstairs toilets that had been leaking into the wall and floor of my place and down into the kitchen. UGH! That was $180.00 and then that same day I called the insurance company who recommended a company to come out and help with the drying of my place so that I wouldn't have a mold issue. That was a real adventure since they ripped up the flooring in the upstairs potty room and put a dehumidifier and very loud fan in there and a dehumidifier and two very large fans in the kitchen. The cats really didn't know what to think of all this. So everything still works in the house but now I have 3 giant holes in the kitchen ceiling and wall and the flooring off half the floor in the bathroom and I'm getting ready to go to Macedonia for a mission trip! To say I was a little freaked out puts it mildly but my pop had some wise advice. He reminded me that everything works in my house and told me just to try not to think about it or worry about it until I returned from my trip. As I thought about it, I'm so glad that if this had to happen it happened when I was home; thank you Lord! More on this adventure in future posts...