Seriously

Although, logically, we all know the world does not revolve around us, sometimes, it’s hard to grasp the concept that the world does not stop when personal crisis hits. Outside of the news about Joseph’s health, we actually had a bad week last week. To ask why, in my opinion, would be too much. However, I did find the question, “Seriously?” Come out of my mouth, in varying inflections, often throughout the week.

In efforts to take life for what it is, a gift, while trying to not take things so……Seriously……I would like to share the others events of this past week.

1. On our way to what we thought was just going to be a yearly check in, we dropped our kids off at Pete and Krissy’s (check her out at A Fruitful Vine) An hour or two turned into an almost 12 hour day for my best friend and 5 kids under age 4. This includes 2 babies 6 months and younger! The woman is great with kids and a wonderful mother, SERIOUSLY! As best friends do, they let us sit in their home, in shock, as they begged to take as much of our burden as possible- and fed our family. We are so blessed by them.

2. Understandably so, I was very upset about the news of my husband's health and upcoming surgery. I did not think I would be able to face the days leading up to his operation. The though of taking care of the girls, working, going to appointments with Joseph, and preparing our life for his heart surgery seemed too much to take. Enter my mom! She came down to take care of the girls and clean my house (which REALLY needed it) so I could focus on other things! Good mom, SERIOUSLY!


3. It’s hot. It is really, really, hot. Being practically allergic to the sun and the outside world in general, I am a BIG fan of air conditioning and set mine to “cranked up” the moment the thermometer hits 75.

As my life would have it, the air conditioner in our van is broken. Seeing as we have put about $500 unexpected dollars into the van in the past 2 months, we opted for the “suck it up and deal” approach.

Despite the hot weather, my mom and I packed the kids into the van and set out to run a few errands. Upon parking at our first destination, we realized the power windows were not working. Our windows were both stuck down. I moaned, hit the steering wheel, cursed our van and said, “SER---IOUS---LY?!!”

4. We don’t have a garage, so my husband and I spent some nice quality time trying to tape our windows up with garbage bags and electrical tape. Within a few hours, we were under a tornado warning. SERIOUSLY, this is the way things go for the Rutchiks!

5. I went out to get my hair cut off. As I got in the van, I thought I would try, one last time, to get the darn windows to go up. I pressed the button and…….up they went! I have no idea how or why windows that were broken for a few days are now not broken, but I don’t have time to care! I was, however, too scared to roll them down out of fear they would become stuck again. As I drove, I vowed to withstand the heat and not touch the windows. As I grew tired and weary from the heat, I got lost. While sitting in traffic baking in the sun in my van with no air via any source, I called my husband to help me find my way home. While I was trying to explain to him where I was, we were interrupted by police and fire trucks. Before I could explain this to him, my mother beeped in on the other line to inform me the fire alarms were going off and the police and fire departments were showing up outside our building. Again, I ask, SERIOUSLY?

6. Windows still working and no fires in sight, we decided to take a dip in the pool. It was one of those perfect summer late afternoons. My friend Lora called to inform us that A&W was giving away FREE root beer floats! SERIOUSLY AWESOME! We decided to have “backwards dinner” and eat dessert first, while the chicken was cooking.

Daddy giving Tessa a taste of her first Root Beer Float. I think it DOES taste better when it's free!



7. While the chicken was cooking, the sky opened up and just dumped rain, rain, rain. We noticed our patio was collecting inches by the minute and upon investigation, found the gutter system on top of our building had snapped, RIGHT. ABOVE. OUR. DOOR. Of course. We spent so much time gathering buckets and positioning our friend’s wagon to catch the water, and then emptying the water into the storm drain, we forgot about the chicken. A smoke filled home and potential home flood. Perfect, exactly what the Rutchik’s needed!

My mom said this was the most excitement she has had in one day since we were little. She was so pooped out after a few days here!

8. Our girls know something is wrong, and are acting accordingly. Being a highly intuitive person myself, I can see them developing their intuitiveness and it makes me proud. I feel blessed by the gift and was hoping to find it in the souls of our children. Unfortunately, in this situation, it means having our little Tessa, the anti-cuddler, wanting to be help all....the...time. This is not possible when Anna is, bu nature, the most needy baby I have ever met. She herself is showing signs of distress and has decided not to sleep, ever. She has backtracked on any progress she had made in this department and is back to screaming around the clock. It is exhausting and as I anticipate our need to have others taking care of our children for us soon, I struggle this most with this one and with anger in my heart, ask God, SERIOUSLY?!!

So, that was our week! It was full of highs and lows. It was a good reminded that you can’t stop life. Things happen and you can either roll with them or not. Our prayer is that our struggles feed our souls and lead us closer to God’s Kingdom. We are praying on these lessons. We think we may be on to what we think we can take out of this roadblock. As we haven’t had the best luck with sharing our hearts recently, we’ve decided to hold this in prayer through our ordeal. No matter God’s intentions, we are holding our heads high, hand in hand, chins high and ready to take on this surgery.