Wet Wet Wet!

David and I are good problem solvers! We an usually find a way round a problem, a way to make a mitake look like a plan or a way to solve a difficult situation! I remember back when we were waiting for Rosie to come home...we wanted to make her a swinging crib. David made a really silly error in cutting the wood for the end panels, after a few minutes of really getting quite wound up...we did not have a lot of money and really could not afford to go out and buy new wood...a solution came to mind and actually added to the beauty of the finished object...noone would ever need to know it was not always planned to be like that!

Not all our problem solving skills lead to added beauty but we mostly get out of the difficulty and ae satisifed with the result...thus is the story of tonights crisis!
A little while ago you may remember we had some of our carpets replaced with beautiful laminate floor??? We hope to follow suit in the remaining rooms bit by bit. However there comes a distinct disadvantage to this when you have an urgent need to be beneath the floor boards! Tonight was one of those nights! Walking into the bathroom I was certain I could hear a hiss of escaping water! David has recently had need to resolve some plumbing issues...not really knowing if I could hear water or just something I decided to go and look in the room beneath...hmmm I was sure there was some darkening of the ceiling..I called David to the bathroom but he could not hear anything. We went together to the room beneath only to find the wallpaper bubbling and some deffinate dampness! OOOOOH Dear! David turned the water off and we went bac to the Bathroom. The joint I suspected of leaking was the other end of a pipe David had needed to join to...however the offending joint was now beneath 3/4" chip board and 5/8" Laminate. What were we to do?
Solution! Go Dwnstairs and take a square of plaser board from the ceiling! Fix the leak...bit tricky but deffinitely easier than taking up the bathroom floor! We now have a dry plumbing system and an intresting hole in the ceiling! However the piece of plaster board that came out will go back neatly...and hopefully we will be able to patch up the coving and a lick of paint will conceal all horrors!

What a team! Sadly I am relegated to advisor extrodinaur! No longer able to climb the step ladder or twist the spanner or even passs the spanner from the flor to the top of the ladder in fact! but I was able to hold he torch and talk reassuringly to my VERY clever hubby!

It has been school holidays here the last almost two weeks. The chidren have been fairly well behaved, Christina was very helpful on a day out with jonathan and the girls whilst David and Joshua watched the BTCC a Rockingham. We have met up with David's family at The old Dairy Farm at Uper Stowe...highly recommended...the meal we had there was fantastic and the staff very very helpful. On Saturday we plan a trip out to Twin Lakes...Joshua and Christina are going off with the siblings group from the Hospice and we will just enjoy some time with the others in a safe environment.

We had our first building firm round to tender for the work on the house today...a tiny tiny step forward. tomorrow the Council have arranged for an electrician to come to check the electric supply with regard to putting in Storage heaters....we dont want storage heaters..they will not keep the children's rooms warm at night, they are innefficient and wont help the hot water supply! however they have agreed we can use the cost of what they propose towards what we propose so we have to go along with them and jump through their hoops for now!

I would certainly appreciate your prayers for 28th April when I will be meeting with the council officials, the head of Children's disbility team and our MP in a hope to get our voices heard!

Then on 12th May we have the third stage review panel looking into our complaint against children's services.

I am still in the throws of trying to get all our files from our old authority and this authority to try and discover how much wrong information is stored about us! i am still struggling over the fact that allegations proven to be false are still being bandied between professionals! KNowing that statements about me that say I am exagerating and inventing concerns about the children are still on file 5 years after being proved to be false is very concerning! I really dont know whether to deal with this through the complaints system or through the legal system. The fact that my attempts to get a solicitor to take the case on have fallen flat on three occasions makes me wonder if that is not the right route. I am awaiting the Ombudsman's advice on this!

So prayer and praise...
I do not kow what the future holds but I am glad I know who holds the future!