We got it fixed today. Here's the whole story, and how the wires were run... The bathroom was on it's own circuit breaker, but my dad shut off about 5 breakers that I was unaware of (although there was not GFCI outlet in the bathroom. I fixed that today without trouble). So here is how the circuit WAS run:
Main Wire to the house -> Main Breaker Outside Under Meter -> Breaker Panel inside house -> 20AMP Circuit Breaker -> 12AWG Wire to GFCI Outlet -> 16AWG Jumper -> 2 12AWG Wires that go to the dishwasher and the other electrical box with the light switch and the other outlet
Here is what happened... The 16AWG wire was a weak spot (obviously). Over 20 years, it supplied power to the dishwasher and a coffee pot, was well as a fluorescent light. It obviously heated up on a regular basis, based on the fact that the top of the GFCI outlet was rusted, where the heat escaped the box. Yesterday, the dishwasher finally killed the poor wire causing it to completely fail .
Here is what I did today:
I called a retired electrical engineer for Team Fusion that recently rewired his house due to Hurricane Katrina. He is a very bright man. He came over this afternoon and looked at it, and concluded the same thing as I did. We bought two new GFCI outlets today. The new ones have two holes in the back for each terminal that tighten with the screws (much better design than the ones from 20 years ago apparently) so we did not run a jumper at all. Now the wires are directly wired to the outlet without wire nuts. We tested it and everything worked as normal.
I checked the only other GFCI outlet in the house, and thankfully, it was wired correctly, no work done here...
I checked other outlets in the house, and they seemed to be wired correctly (although they were really cramped).
In our main bathroom, I tested each wire and found the main wire going back to the circuit breaker panel, attached it to the line in part of the new GFCI outlet, and attached the other wires to the Load side of the GFCI outlet. Everything works here as well, although we have a few mystery wires that I have no idea where they're going, but they do not supply electricity at all. (I have a feeling that it may go to the electrical box in the attic for the light).
What I have learned:
I learned how GFCI outlets work and how to wire them correctly.
I learned that even licensed electricians can be lazy.
In the kitchen, there are about two outlets per circuit breaker (for the higher loads of microwaves, toasters, coffee makers, refrigerator, etc...
Every room's ceiling lights have their own breaker (so you can have light when you're working
)
Thank you everyone for the help and hopefully this is the last trouble we have with the electrical.