Monday, December 14, 2009

The sky is falling!

Here is an e-mail Lee recently sent to my parents:

Hey folks,

before i begin, let me say that everyone is okay! no one is hurt, but yesterday two trees fell on our house. we had tons of rain early this week coupled with unusually strong winds. yesterday, after going to the grocery store with jack and norah, i returned to the house intending to change jack and put him down. i asked norah to go play in the play room and she said, "No Dad, i can't because i have to go poop." within a few minutes, an ancient and massive oak tree fell and crushed the play room while norah was safely in the bathroom. PTL!! Our Lord moves (bowels) in mysterious ways!

on it's way down, the oak brought down a cherry tree as well. they both landed on the house. thankfully, as the oak tree was landing, a huge branch caught in the ground and broke its fall as it hit the house. everyone says that if it were not for this branch, the house would have been smashed in two. again, PTL!

we didn't even lose power or phone service. the damage (with the exception of the play room and roof) is incredibly minimal for what actually happened. we are blessed. Not only that, but joe pendley (who now has a tree business that works with our insurance agent) came and got rid of the trees in 7.5 hours. all of the professionals said you would have to have a crane and it would still take five days, but joe did it with climbing ropes, a chainsaw and three friends in a matter of hours. again and again, PTL!!!

we stayed at my dad's house last night and will return home tonight. looks like we'll get a new roof out of this. when the construction begins, they will move us out to a furnished apartment or duplex. we don't know when that will be and we're hoping we get to be home for Christmas.

christy is at my dad's house without internet access, or she would be skyping and writing you right now.

we love y'all and are thankful we still have our Norah!! talk to you soon.

cheers,
Lee






Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanks, thanks, thanks...

So many things to be thankful for, Lord... You are so good.


Time with their great-grand Nan,
and p.s. thanks for the amazing Thanksgiving meal!

A visit from my Dad, so fun! Miss you so, Mom!

Face painting, and just Abby in general!




Fantasy of Trees rocks!






Mmm. Paba and Patrick, Dad and Abby- 'nuff said.

Levi!

My sweet hubby- such a great dad

Siah on wheels



First time on a carousel, for my kiddos that is...

face :)


3 generations of Younger men

Jim and Karen- thanks for the delicious food, yum!


(this is just a funny shot of my lil' man after he got accidently kicked in the face :}

Sisters

So many other friends and fam I am thankful for,
these are just my most recent pics. Love you guys!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A little string around my finger

Halloween Cuties










Something happened today that I don't want to forget.
This morning we were feverishly scouring the house for Anna's school folder. These folders are extremely important and have to go to school every day in your kid's backpack (plus it had her reading book and a little homework assignment in it too). So, we've looked everywhere - moved the couch, peered into every corner, checked all the rooms. I started getting pretty anxious as the minutes were ticking closer and closer to a tardy and we still hadn't found it.
I wanted to be the kind of awesome parent that stays chill and says, "no matter what happens, Sweetie, everything is going to be fine. The only thing that matters is that God loves you, all of this material stuff could implode on itself and it wouldn't matter."
Instead I felt my anxiety bubbling over onto my little 6 year old's worry-free spirit. Anna stopped where she was and pleaded with me, "Mom, can't we just pray about it?"

Ashamed that I hadn't thought of that before, I jumped on the couch holding my sweet girl and tried to hurry through a prayer as more minutes ticked by that we weren't looking for and finding the folder. In the middle of the prayer an idea popped into my head to look in the TV cabinet. I didn't think much of it, just that that was one place I should probably try looking, as odd as it seems.
When the prayer was over Anna hopped down and ran over to the TV cabinet and said, "Mom, I think we should look in here."
"No way!! 'Cause I think we should look in there too!!"
With baited breath Anna, Norah and I watched as Anna opened the cabinet.
There was the orange folder!
God, you are so good! Thanks for our little miracle this morning, for speaking to a sweet 6 year old and a stubborn, anxious thing like me. I love you.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Getting caught up, in pictures...

We have had a number of momentous occasions this past month. Anna and Jack both had birthdays, Anna lost her first tooth, and such. Here is a pictorial account of what's been up around here.

Anna kissing her baby pony from Mom and Dad :)



Jack's first blade (from Granddaddy :)

Cake Time

First window ever!

Hilarious shot of Norah getting in on the action



Love it!

Sweeties!