Ya gotta take the bad with the good....

If you read my last blog, you'll see that the week started off with a lot of work. It felt good to accomplish so much in just two days. It was hard work, but very satisfying.

Wednesday, my contribution to the labor of the project slowed down and I was able to go do my volunteering and even get a load of laundry done! I put in many hours preparing for a church event (that is tonight) and did some planning for Young Women's camp this summer.

But, the highlight of the day was talking to Jenelle in Brazil! I squealed with delight as I got to hear her voice! She sounded very well and we talked about missionary efforts and my travel plans to go there and spend a week with her before she comes home! The planned calling time was at 4:00, just exactly when Jenna was suppose to be starting an accordian lesson that had been rescheduled three times already - so we talked on my cell phone in the car! Jenna got about 5 minutes, and I got the remaining 10. Jenelle expressed so much gratitude for the opportunity she has had to do the Lord's work and for our love and support of her. Exactly what a mother loves to hear! I can hardly wait for August 11!

Well, as the title of this blog indicates, there is good and bad. That was the "GOOD". Here is the not so good....I've already blogged about losing Dennis, my cat. That was Thursday.

Earlier in the week, someone came speeding around our corner and hit the light pole! It knocked it right down into the street and the entire fixture crashed to ground! They sped off, so I guess it's a "hit and run". The city sent someone out about an hour later to haul it off. It won't be replaced until sometime next week. Until then, we have a dark street!

The whole family was planning on going to Brazil in August to pick up Jenelle. Over the last several weeks, as I have been trying to book airline tickets, hotels, and apply for visas, it has been discovered that it just won't work - for now.

The plan: we WERE going to have Jenelle come home, then a week later, go back to Brazil, starting with the Amazon region, where Jordan served HIS mission a few years back. Then on down to Sao Paulo to see where Jenelle had served and to meet the people she had become friends and acquaintenances with.

It all fell apart when we realized that Jenelle's missionary visa would be cancelled upon arrival into the United States. She would have to have a "tourist" visa to get back in. No problem, except that it takes several weeks to get it and our plan was to leave one week after she got home. We have a 10 day window to accomplish our travels between Justin's finals and Jordan and Jenna needing to start a new semester.

So, Jenelle will have to stay in Brazil on her missionary visa. But, she can only stay about a week or so at the most. NOT enough time to see even a fraction of what we wanted to see and do.

The other complication is that Micah will not have been old enough to have had a Yellow Fever immunization - strongly recommended for everyone, especially tourists traveling in the Amazon region. So that would leave a nursing Micah and his mommy to stay behind. Jordan won't go without them (I completely understand and support that) and he was going to be our "guide" of sorts in that region.

Soooo, we have decided to postpone the trip until December and go over Christmas break. It was heart-wrenching to tell everyone that it just wasn't going to work out for this August. I broke the bad news to Jenna. Then I was going to tell Justin. But I just was so distraught, I could hardly even talk. Jeff had to call Justin. Then......

Then Friday morning, I get a text from Justin (who lives in Seattle). He has been hit by a car while commuting to work/school on his bicycle. He briefly assures me that he is rattled and bruised and scraped, but that he's ok and will call later in the day. I don't know if he has downplayed the severity of his injuries on my account, or if there really is a little more to the story. The name Justin means The Honest One - so I'm going with something close to his rendition. ;) Later in the day, we call him and he is still a bit shaken and sore, but still in one piece! He will need to replace his glasses, the front wheel on his bike and his band-aid supply, but he's safe.

The next day is Justin's birthday - at least it didn't happen on his birthday, eh?

Saturday. My goal is to clean out the garage which is ridiculously disorganized and almost dangerous to try and navigate in. Oh yeah, I need to go to a camp meeting, get some groceries and rehearse for a lip-sync act I'm involved in later that evening. The day started off with stubbing my toe on a ladder in the garage and ripping off my toenail. I guess that's what happens when you wear flip-flops to clean a garage. The garage did not get clean. Everything else happened though - just with a limp.

And that, folks, is a week to remember - or try to forget.