I’m a little bummed this Friday. I was supposed to be in Nashville at the Teach Them Diligently convention. Then, the Great Septic Tank Issue of 2013 struck. That is really not how I wanted to spend the money I was going to use to go to Nashville.

I’m choosing to look at the positives, though. First, at least I had the money to pay for the septic tank issues. Second, I got to spend the day with my husband anyway. Granted, cleaning out the garage wasn’t my first choice, but it needed to be done and we did it together. Third, I have a really nice car to drive. Yes, it would have been nice to drive it to Nashville, but driving it around town is still good.

On top of all that, we’re almost finished with school for the year! I love our curriculum and I’ve loved year round homeschooling, but I’m still looking very forward to summer break, even though it will be a short one.

As I sit here, I’m surrounded by reminders of how busy next week is going to be. There is a case of water for my trip to North Carolina. I’ll be at the NCHE Convention in Winston-Salem, representing Geography Matters. Then, there is the luggage that I’m trying to ignore. It’s borrowed from my sister and will be heading to Haiti with Brianna.

I can’t wrap my mind around the fact that my first-born is going to be leaving the country a week from tomorrow. I’m excited for her, but I imagine I’ll be a nervous wreck next week.

Maybe. I might not be, though, because I know it’s where God wants her to be and if He wants her there, I’m trusting Him to take care of her. I think it will be a great experience for her. Just do me one favor…if you stop by the Geography Matters booth next weekend, don’t mention Haiti. Unless, of course, you don’t mind taking the risk that I might burst into tears in front of you.

As for now, though, I’m just looking forward to this weekend. It’s supposed to be warm and pretty. I’m going to relax and enjoy it and not worry about next week until Monday.

How was your week? Be sure to post about it and link up. If this is your first time to join us, be sure to read the Weekly Wrap-Up guidelines. You can also follow the guidelines link to grab the banner code.

**Remember, be sure to link directly to your Weekly Wrap-Up post so that others can find it easily when they visit your blog and be sure to post a link back here so that your readers can find the Wrap-Up and join us.

**Was your link deleted? Click here.**

I am so very extremely happy that it’s Friday. This has been one crazy, roller coaster week. It started off great, but took a serious nosedive Tuesday evening.

Let’s start with the yucky stuff, so I can end on a positive note. I’ll spare you all the gory details, but Tuesday night our septic system came to a screeching halt. Two full days and lots of money later, we can now flush toilets and run water again. You don’t realize how much you take for granted.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday with extremely limited water usage. Luckily, my sister lives close enough that we could go to her house to use the bathroom. The kids spent Wednesday night with Brian’s parents. We stayed here so we’d be around when the septic company called on Thursday morning to come out.

Thursday morning, you ask? Why, yes. That’s because we spent the majority of the day Wednesday trying to figure out the problem and fix it ourselves, so as not to spend a small fortune.

It wound up being something we couldn’t fix ourselves, though. It seemed like we were on this best case/worst case scenario flow chart and we kept landing on the worst case side, ending with a backhoe digging out our septic tank and a pump truck coming to empty it.

Fun times, y’all.

Now, we’re just hoping that all that took care of the problem. If we don’t have anymore issues over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be in the clear. Otherwise, we could be spending a lot more money in the near future. Prayers that the problem is fixed are greatly appreciated.

In the midst of all this yesterday, we found out that a family friend, the man who introduced Brian and I over 22 years ago, was in a serious roofing accident. The last I heard, he was in ICU in serious condition. I’d appreciate your prayers for him, too…more than the prayers for our problems.

Today has been spent deep-cleaning the downstairs bathroom, washing clothes that piled up for two days, washing dishes that piled up for two days (thankfully there weren’t many of them since we weren’t cooking a lot here), and general cleaning and catching up.

Okay, so now the fun stuff…and you’d think I’d have more photos, you know, if you hadn’t just read the last few paragraphs. On Monday….{drum roll}…I got the first new (to me) car that I’ve had in over 12 years!!

I am so stinkin’ excited I can’t even tell you! It’s a 2011 Ford Edge. I’ve wanted one for over 3 years and have been patiently biding my time until we could afford it.

(Okay, really I just thought it wasn’t going to happen and I refused to take on a payment for something that wasn’t what I really wanted, so I was just going to drive the van until it quit running.)

We saw it Saturday, but didn’t think it was going to work out. Then, Monday, everything just fell into place.

I’ve had our minivan since February 2001. Because we were expecting Megan, we had to trade the Nissan Maxima that Brian and I both loved, on something that would accommodate three car seats. While I have always liked the van, it wasn’t what I would have chosen to drive, if we didn’t need to room.

Now that Brianna is 18 and we rarely all ride together anymore, we thought it was time we could justify going a bit smaller. We can all fit in the Edge if we need to, so we’re still good around town. We may have to do something else if we all go on a long trip together, but there aren’t any plans for anything like that in the near future.

I’ve had to apologize to Brian for teasing him about things like going out and driving his car just to be driving it and parking it out in the middle of nowhere when we go places. I have officially become just as bad as he is.

Brianna is happy because we didn’t trade the van in. She says she likes being able to drive it without worrying that she’s going to “break Mom’s car.” I still hope she doesn’t “break” the van, just for the record.

See? Wasn’t it much nicer ending on a happy note? It was for me. Now, let’s hope the weekend goes smoothly and we can have a better week next week.

How was your week? Be sure to post about it and link up. If this is your first time to join us, be sure to read the Weekly Wrap-Up guidelines. You can also follow the guidelines link to grab the banner code.

**Remember, be sure to link directly to your Weekly Wrap-Up post so that others can find it easily when they visit your blog and be sure to post a link back here so that your readers can find the Wrap-Up and join us.

**Was your link deleted? Click here.**