Journal Entry 29: Jesus, Life, and Broken Toilets

Jesus, if you’re not in it, I don’t want it.

Journal Entry 29: Jesus, Life, and Broken Toilets

          I know, the name of Jesus mixed in the same title with toilet, but for this article, yes, it’ll work.

          Catching Up: So, my previous article, Journal Entry 28, was about communing with Jesus and ended on a high note about Jesus speaking to me through these three songs in a way that was amazing and brought me tears of joy. I also ended that article with a tid bit about praising and running to Jesus even in the rough times like when my child decided that very next day to flush wads of wipes down the toilet. This is the article about that next day and those wipes.

          Tuesday was a day of joyful tears thanks to Jesus.

          Wednesday was an evening of painful frustrations and annoyances thanks to life in a big family.

          My wife and I are the parents of several children and one recently born, Ember, who has just turned a month old. Anyone who’s had the joyful and exhausting experience of raising a newborn knows that they are A LOT to care for. To help my wife out in the evenings after I get home from work I watch the kids and care for Ember, so Rainy (my wife) can go get some much needed sleep. Wednesday of this week, I made the mistake of complaining I was bored. Not just saying it, but I was truly whining it to myself, to Jesus, to my older kids who wanted to go do stuff, but with a newborn all things are on limited time and access. Around 6:30/7 that evening, what I’m assuming was my newly potty trained 3yr. old cured my boredom.

          Act1: Kids are bored and pumped full of energy and causing dad some stress, but not much out of the normal. Mostly too much energy to slow down and listen or think before they act, that kind of afternoon. We’re a big family, I’ve gotten used to this.

          Act2: Getting closer to evening/dinner time, kids are eating dinner and finishing up, mom’s fast asleep, and it looks like I might close the night out with minimal stress. Time to feed Ember, she’s getting fussy and apparently didn’t like that she had to wait on me to help get her older siblings situated and fed. She shows me how much she didn’t like it, by taking half of her consumed bottle of yummy booby milk and projectile vomits it up all over me, her, and then more of me. Slightly stressful, but honestly, I’ve dealt with this a hundred times over by now with her older siblings. So, I sigh, look upwards towards Jesus and remind myself to take refuge in him. Then, I begin to clean Ember and myself up.

          Act3: Getting the toddlers, our 2 and 3yr. old, down to bed for the night, I’m wishing for sleep myself. Raine, my 11yr old daughter, not Rainy my wife, but Raine (confusing, yes I know) helped me with the toddlers. They can be a goofy duo full of laughter or mischief depending on their moods at any given minute. But, with Raine’s help, we get them changed, teeth brushed ( a laughable attempt for the 2yr. old), and off to bed. Ok, night is coming to a close, good.

          Act4: Finally, a minute to myself, I am able to change out of my semi damp booby milked clothes. Good old shirt and shorts on, I go to my bathroom, pee, and attempt to flush my toilet. The water doesn’t go down. I sigh.

‘Plunger it is.’ Several attempts with the plunger and the water isn’t moving.

‘Ok?’ I go to the kids bathroom, and I attempt to flush their toilet. Guess what, the water doesn’t go down.

Due to history of this old house and my family, I now know I’m in for a battle. In my home, probably most others, if one toilet doesn’t flush it could just be that toilet has a clog. If two toilets don’t flush, well, that usually means there’s something lodged in the pipes below your house. An easy fix if you’re not on a foundation and you can get to the pipes. A nightmare if your pipes are surrounded by concrete with no easy access. I’m the no easy access one.

          Tired, somewhat stressed, I don’t want to accept what I feel my brain and perhaps Jesus is telling me. ‘Pull up the toilet (a dirty and timely job), run the snake (plumber tool for clearing pipes), and fix the problem.’

‘Nope,’ I say, and starting plunging both toilets like a mad man.

The cycle is something like PLUNG-PLUNG-PLUNG . . . wait . . .flush . . . PLUNG-PLUNG-PLUNG and repeat. This goes on for maybe a good thirty minutes; when I realize the water I think is going down slowly through the pipes is actually coming up in our bathtub. Our master bathroom is the lowest point in our home far as sewer pipes go, so the water, when backed up, fills up there first, and it was filling up our bathtub. SIGH.

          Again I hear my brain and maybe Jesus tell me to pull up our toilet and run the snake. I have a decent snake, coiled wire with a grinding bit on the end powered by a motorized drill with a foot lever. I bought it about two years ago to deal with a similar problem. I’m one of those guys that’ll spend hundreds on a tool and figure out how to fix a problem myself; before, I spend thousands on an expert that only fixes the problem once. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Depends on how messy and sometimes destructive you like things to get during the learning process. For legal reasons I will now recommend you call an expert.

          Still, I say ‘NO’ to my own and possibly Jesus’ advice and I go get my shopvac ( a powerful vacuum that makes your mommy’s vacuum look like a child’s play toy.) With my grand idea and stubbornness to do what I know I should do, I put the hose of my shopvac into the bowls of my toilet and blast air into the pipes of the toilet hoping to push the obstruction through the sewer line. It failed gloriously! Water blasted back everywhere, the other toilet still wouldn’t flush, and somehow, I’d find out later that night, I threw off the flushing system of our toilet and therefore broke it with the power of wind. SIGH-SIGH-SIGH.

          At this point Rainy, my wife, was up and taking care of Ember, I was covered in less than clean water, and had finally, accepting defeat, got my toolbox and snake. I removed our toilet, ran the snake, and with two tries pulled up wads and wads of wipes that I’m pretty sure my 3yr. old flushed. I don’t have proof, but I’m betting it was her. Flush test with the kids toilet, water flows down easily enough and the problem is fixed . . . or would have been, if I hadn’t been stubborn and pushed a shopvac hose through my toilet.

          I put everything back together, thinking I’d finally fixed the problem, and I had, but soon discovered I’d messed up our toilet somehow. It wouldn’t flush. I’d pull the handle, it would begin to spin, but then just fill up and slowly, very slowly, drain back out. There was no water coming up in our bathtub, the kids toilet was flushing like a champ now, so I had broken our toilet. I tried to figure out how, so I could figure out, hopefully, how to fix the problem, but nothing online was helping me. Frustrated, and after removing the toilet several times, I put the toilet back on and this time I cracked it.

Yep, I cracked the toilet. I was frustrated and tightening the bolts on the bottom way passed where needed and I cracked the bottom of the toilet with a popping sound at the turn of my wrench. No sighs, just closed eyes and an ‘Ok, Jesus, I will run to you in refuge even in the rough times. I will not be angry, I will not ask why (For one it was my fault the night had turned as rough as it did.), I will pray to you and I will take refuge in you.’

The toilet on, somewhat flushing but not really, yet the sewer line open and the kids toilet fully functional, I began the clean-up. All the while silently praying to Jesus to keep my head level. Cleaning up after such a task is a job, but I did it. Had to Clorox the entire bathroom and the kids bathroom as well, but I got it done, showered, ate a midnight dinner, kissed my wife and Ember goodnight, and collapsed on my bed. I was about to pass out, but I grabbed my prayer journal and wrote to Jesus.

I’m trying to do this prayer journal every night, a way to strengthen my relationship with Jesus. I almost didn’t after such a plumbing night, but I did and I’m thankful. Thursday came around, I got up early and exhausted went to work. Ordered a new toilet from Lowe’s that morning and had it delivered. When I got home, I installed it, while using it as a teachable moment with my 13yr. old. He thought it was cool. New toilet works great, Wednesday is gone, and after I installed the toilet we left to celebrate our 16yr.old turn 17. A fun evening of bowling, dinner, walk around the outlet mall, and our sister babysat for us which was awesome.

What to take away from this: Take refuge in Jesus in the good and the ugly times. Tuesday was a super spiritual amazing day for me with Jesus, Wednesday was a nightmare where I should have listened, and Thursday though exhausted was a good day. Life is full of ups and downs, but always run to Jesus and trust that he’s got you.

What else to take away from this: When buying an older home you will either need some good professionals in your life to help fix and rebuild things as problems occur, or, you’ll need a lot of tools and patience as you fix, break, repair, learn, and hopefully improve your own skills.

Trust that Jesus Loves You.