Oh No....I haven't blogged in awhile!

Here are several different things that, in my opinion, are blogworthy. I hope you enjoy my "catch up" from not blogging for a few days.

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11

The psalmist in that verse was praying for protection from God. We too, in this household, pray for protection from God. We're so very thankful that He protects us even when we don't know we need that protection.

If you remember two posts ago, I talked about our stormy weekend around here. Marc was running a 100 km race (which he almost was able to finish before the storms rolled in) up in Lawrence, KS. It turns out that there was a tornado touch down actually VERY CLOSE to where he was running. This would have been a case when Marc was completely protected and O.K. even though I didn't even know about the storms. Marc, though he realized it was getting stormy, did not realize the closeness or the severity of the storms. We're both so very thankful for God's protection.

Here is a photo, obviously before the storms, of Marc during this race. Marc is the first runner in this photo, drinking some water. It's a little blurry (I'm not even sure who took this photo).



*****

If you remember (still two posts ago), our small group had to take shelter in our basement during a storm. After it was over, everything seemed to be fine. We went about our evening, and after everybody left, we went to bed. The next morning, Marc got up and went downstairs to double check the sump pump. He opened the basement door to find roughly 6-8 inches of water in our basement (this is where we're very thankful for a small basement with not a lot down there). He waded through the cold water to look at the sump pump. The little floaty ball (I know, highly technical) had gotten caught; therefore, the sump pump had not kicked on. So, he merely wiggled the floaty ball, and the sump pump started. The water quickly drained. I would've LOVED a photo of all of this water, but I was still in bed, oblivious to what was going on.

Marc did come and tell me. He then went to take a shower and had hot water. We assumed everything was O.K. Nope -- not when I went to take a shower. I quickly realized that the pilot light must have gone out on the hot water heater (in the basement where the 6-8 inches of water was).

So, I called a plumbing service to come and light it. The plumber came over and worked on it for two hours, but it did not work. The water had damaged the hot water heater. At the same time, the plumber took one look at our sump pump and said, "You have a big sump pump for the little hole here. No wonder you have problems."

Since he was coming back to install a new hot water heater (I wasn't about to not have hot water), we had him install a properly fitting sump pump.

Let's just say, "It's all good now -- roughly $1,000 later). But, we're not complaining. It could've been a whole lot worse. We'd been wanting a new sump pump anyways, and our hot water heater was at least 10 years old. So, who knows how much longer it would've lasted?

So, here's the old sump pump -- I know, it's pretty exciting.



And, Voila....our new Sump Pump, which is actually called "The Little Giant." So far, it's worked GREAT!



And, here's a photo of our OLD hot water heater, just after the plumber removed it from its spot.



Here's a photo of our NEW hot water heater. The plumber even put it on blocks -- which it should have been in the first place. That way, if we have water in our basement again, the hot water heater should survive.



*****

On to another topic -- Many times, when pulling up in our driveway, visitors ask, "What is that trailer doing in your driveway?" We do "house" a white trailer in our driveway.

The trailer actually belongs to the "Kansas Ultrarunners' Society" -- a group that Marc and I belong to. The group puts on and supports ultrarunning races, something Marc is heavily involved in. This trailer stores tents, coolers, paper cups, some non-perishable food, etc. -- all stuff used in an ultra race. FYI -- an "ultra" is defined as anything further than a marathon. So, an ultra is anything further than 26.2 miles.

Each year around this time, Marc and several others participate in "Trailer Clean Out Day." This year's day was actually supposed to be several weeks ago, but it rained. So, it was rescheduled for today. I snapped a couple of photos.

Here's a photo of Marc and our friend Jim, inside the trailer after pulling everything out.



While they were cleaning it out, some of the stuff was temporarily stored near our treadmill, inside the out-building on our property.



Since it started to rain a bit while this was going on, the rest of the stuff was sorted through in 1/2 of our garage. Yes, it was a bit of a mess for a little bit.



Finally, after a few hours of organizing and throwing away unneeded stuff, trailer clean-out was completed. After closing the trailer, it was again backed into its parking spot in our driveway.



During part of this time, Luke was sleeping, and I was baking some brownies for tomorrow's investment club meeting at our home. After Luke woke up, I needed to quickly run to the store. So, we moved Luke's exersaucer out to the driveway. That way, he could merely watch the trailer clean-out.



I've been told that this scene lasted approximately 30 seconds after I left. Luke wanted to be held, so Marc held Luke while working with trailer clean-out until I returned. Oh, to be a 9 month-old and get basically what you want!

*****

Lastly on this very long blog post, Luke is starting to play games like "Let's see if I can throw everything off of my high chair tray and get Mom to pick it all up."

Yep, it's started now. So, here's a photo of Luke in his high chair with his toys to entertain him while I do some work in the kitchen.



And, here's a photo of Luke smiling, right after he's thrown all but one toy on the floor, just waiting for me to pick them up.



O.K., I'll stop now. Thanks for reading my incredibly long post!