Day 110 | Disaster Strikes Again

June 27, 2017

Today started out innocently enough with, you guessed it, a big pile of laundry. Brett was super busy preparing to open registration this evening for his online program for young writers. In the late morning he went into town to record an introductory video for the new students. We don’t really have a good shaded place to record videos here.

I stayed behind so I could keep breathing the good air. I got more laundry done, got myself some lunch and sat down to rest. Through a series of unfortunate events, l ended up contaminated from having to pick Ramona up.

She got really excited about some people she saw and started whining and barking like crazy. I felt so embarrassed and couldn’t think of what else to do to get her to calm down besides picking her up.

So I did, and only afterward realized it meant Brett would have to come back. I didn’t have anywhere to decontaminate and change in privacy. The van is our only shelter.

Poor Brett was super stressed trying to get everything ready to open registration at 5pm. It was 4pm, the worst possible time to interrupt him! I felt so horrible about it that I wanted to cry! But I knew that if I failed to deal with cross-contamination from Ramona I would probably have to deal with increased symptoms and sickness. That would be bad for Brett too, not just me.

So, Brett started on his way immediately when he got my text forgetting that he had temporarily stacked our coolers one on top of the other to create a platform for his computer. As soon as he pulled out onto the road the cooler on top fell over and burst open! It sent a rushing river of ice water right under the rubber flooring in the front of our van!

He was noticeably upset when he arrived and I was mortified when he told me why. What are we going to do?! Our van could be ruined if mold grows under the floor! How are we going to dry this?! It only takes 24 hours for mold to grow! This is horrible! Are we going to need to tear up the floor? Why did this have to happen now?!

We were pretty sure we’d need to pull up the floor but Brett suggested I email Sara Mattson to ask what she would do while he finished opening registration. She confirmed our suspicions… This was serious and we needed to make sure it dried completely.

I texted my family to ask them to pray and they called me with an idea. They suggested using a utility knife to cut through the floor and pull it up that way.

So this evening we went to Walmart and bought a utility knife. It was already dark out so we stayed in the lighted parking lot to do the job. Brett did almost all of the work as I watched helplessly, handing him paper towels to mop up the water.

He cut around the seats so that we could lift the floor and let it dry underneath. It seemed to take forever because Brett was having to offer customer service to potential students at the same time. When we were finally finished we drove back to the ranch and heated our shower water as quietly as mice. It was past 2am and we just couldn’t wait for the awful day to be over.


By the way, Brett and I made a beautiful PDF of my favorite resources for suffering souls. I created the content and he made it look fancy with his superduper graphic design skills. It’s available for free to my email subscribers. Click here to sign up and receive 5 Resources for the Suffering Soul.

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17 Comments

  • Alex Harris

    Oh, Ana! We are praying that this new challenge gets resolved quickly!

    June 30, 2017 at 8:05 pm Reply
    • Ana Harris

      Thanks so much Alex! It seems to have dried thoroughly!

      July 1, 2017 at 2:57 pm Reply
  • Hannah Freel

    Praying that the God who made Gideon’s fleece dry when everything around it was wet will completely dry out your van before any mold can grow!

    June 30, 2017 at 8:38 pm Reply
    • Ana Harris

      Thank you so much for praying Hannah! It seems to have dried completely. 😊

      July 1, 2017 at 2:58 pm Reply
  • Natalie Julson

    Praying for you guys!!!!!!!!! I hope it dries up very quickly and it doesn’t cause any problems for you Ana

    June 30, 2017 at 9:11 pm Reply
    • Ana Harris

      Thank you so much Natalie!

      July 1, 2017 at 2:58 pm Reply
  • Charis | charisrae.com

    I’m sorry that you had such a rough day and hope everything dries up quickly. God has blessed you with an amazing husband and I’m keeping you both in my prayers.

    July 1, 2017 at 8:01 am Reply
    • Ana Harris

      Thanks so much Charis! I couldn’t agree more. 🙂

      July 1, 2017 at 2:59 pm Reply
  • Hannah Mead

    I’m so sorry about this latest development! I’m praying for you!

    July 1, 2017 at 8:09 am Reply
    • Ana Harris

      Thank you so much for the prayers!

      July 1, 2017 at 3:00 pm Reply
  • Katherine Forster

    Oh no… Praying!!

    July 1, 2017 at 10:49 am Reply
    • Ana Harris

      Thanks so much Katherine! 💚

      July 1, 2017 at 3:01 pm Reply
  • Kimi

    Aw, friend! I’m so sorry this happened to you both! I hope you guys got restoring rest. 🙁

    July 1, 2017 at 11:12 am Reply
    • Ana Harris

      Thank so much Kimi! We got it to dry!

      July 1, 2017 at 3:00 pm Reply
  • Rose M

    May The Lord continue to give you courage to do the next thing.

    July 1, 2017 at 9:15 pm Reply
  • Bethany

    Such a difficult day. Thankful y’all were able to get the floor dry.

    July 6, 2017 at 9:52 pm Reply
  • Erin

    Oh no! That so sad!

    July 10, 2017 at 8:53 pm Reply
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