After the Storm

It's amazing to see the difference in what wind and rain can do to a perfectly calm neighborhood in on a few short hours. We are so very blessed because we did not have any trees come through our house. We had lots of limbs down, only one tree and lots of pinecones, but all in the yard. No damage to the fence or any outside structures. We did have some small holes in the shingles where water seeped into the house, but Lee put a temporary fix on those until we get the $ from insurance to replace it. We lost power before the storm even came onto land, but we lose power on many sunny, cloudless days, so that's nothing new in Crosby! We were blessed to have Papa bring us a generator on Sunday evening so that we could plug in our freezer and refrigerator. We did lose all the food in the refrigerator, but once again, God provided...our insurance covered the entire loss without a deductible! Another huge blessing was a cool front that came in and kept the days and night cooled down. It started heating up about a week later, but we were fortunate to have 4 fans, a generator and lots of gas in the car to go to places with free air conditioning! :-) We did have a lot of trash to clean up...see the trash pile picture to get an idea and we were w/o electricity and hot water for 11 days, but we had some tremendous family time with out the TV, we got lots of organization done around the house and we are not more appreciative for the things we did without. God is Good!

Here is the house on Saturday afternoon after the rain stopped.

Here is the big limb - along with the pinecones - that helped put some small holes in the roof...we'll get that fixed later.

Here is a tree that fell in our back yard, four inches from the swingset and about 6 inches from the fence...just the right spot!

Ann Alyse & Avery loved splashing in the water...it only lasted about two days, though.

Ann Alyse & Avery getting a wheelbarrow ride from Papa while he was here for a few hours. Thank you, Papa, again for bringing us the generator and food goodies...we couldn't have done it without you!

Ann Alyse & Daddy raking together. Such a big helper...as you might notice, Avery and I are sitting in the shade...just kidding, we were helping bag everything up!

Our trash pile, limbs, cut up trees and bags of raked leaves and debris. Note the size according to little 36" Ann Alyse on the side!

Before the Storm

This is Thursday evening...a beautiful sky, big bright moon and stars, not a cloud in sight!

This is Friday afternoon, preparing for the storm. Ann Alyse and Avery are out in the misting rain because I will not allow them to open the umbrella inside!

This is Friday evening about 6:30 as the outer bands of the storm approach.

Here is Lee finishing boarding up the house Friday evening in preparation for Hurricane Ike.

12 weeks

Here is our little peanut - week 12. Ann Alyse is still correcting everyone, saying it's a girl and her name is "Karen". I am convinced it's a boy, but we will find out in 6 weeks. If it is a girl there is a huge probability that the name will not be "Karen".

Purse Giveaway

You could win this purse in an instant! Click on the link below to find out how! This lady is fundraising for a trip to China to adopt a baby boy!

http://www.ourfamilyjournal.com/2008/08/welcome-to-uptown.html

Princess Daddy!

Ann Alyse loves to play her pretty pretty princess game and she loves to play with Daddy. This time Daddy went all out and at the demand of Mama, got dressed up. It's a priceless memory! Ann Alyse would spin and get "Princess Daddy"s jewelry all on for him. Princess Daddy even got to wear the crown...he must be special! Ann Alyse called him Princess Daddy all afternoon! Oh, the sweet joys of having girls...don't let Lee fool you either, he LOVES it!

Getting all dressed up!

Princess Daddy and Princess Ann Alyse