What Was She Thinking?

Can someone tell me what compelled my craft-loving 6-year-old to color on sticky notes, then cut them up and GLUE them with a glue stick to my freshly-painted kitchen wall? And to the tile floor?

Hello? What was she THINKING?

I might have to put her on eBay... (ok, all you serious people out there - I'm KIDDING! I would never do this. Every mom has days like this, right? RIGHT?)

This kid needs a job at Michael's...

Stop Teasing Me!

So I had my first Texas haircut late last week.

I went to the salon, sat down, and told the lady, “I’m not sure what’s wrong with my hair – it just won’t hold a style down here in Texas! Maybe I’m not using the right product or something. As soon as I go outside, it goes completely flat.”

Stylist: “What styling tools do you own?”

Me: “Well, let’s see, I have a hair dryer, a flat iron, a set of hot rollers, a curling iron, and an entire collection of round brushes in various sizes.”

Stylist: “Do you have a teasing comb?”

Me: (picturing my mother in the 60’s) “A what?”

Stylist: (ever so condescendingly) “A teasing comb. It’s how you get your hair to stay where you want it.”

Me: “Um, no. Where do you get one?”

Stylist: (suspicious that I probably won’t buy one on my own and probably a little horrified I have no idea where to buy one) “Here, I’m going to give you mine. Keep it in your purse, honey. You’ll need it to spruce things up a bit if you’ve been out and about.” (she then proudly presents me with a hot pink teasing comb and shows me how to use it)

Me: “Wow. This really does work. And I don’t look like I have a beehive!”

Stylist: “Do you wash your hair every day?”

Me: “Yes, why?”

Stylist: “That’s terrible for your hair, honey. All you do when you wake up in the morning is tease it up a little, and it will look good as new!”

Well, darned if she wasn’t right. And I don’t look crazy or anything. My hair just looks like it's been freshly blown dry. Gary can't run his fingers through it anymore, but after 7 years of marriage, that doesn't really happen much anyway.

You know what they say – the higher the hair, the closer to God! Ha ha.

I think I’m officially a Texan now…

The Glorious Mundane

We are back from San Antonio – in our home, which has electricity, water, and all the other comforts of home. It is glorious. I cannot say that enough. It is just awesome. I will never again take it for granted.

The hurricane was one of the most surreal things I’ve ever been through. I’ve been through hurricanes before, but Ike’s power and longevity was unbelievable.

On Friday (Sept 12), there was no school because of the impending storm. It was oppressively hot that day – you could hardly breathe. Apparently this is very common before a hurricane. That night, we went to bed around 10:30 pm, fully prepared for the storm, and having watched TV all day, we knew Ike’s arrival was imminent. He arrived as planned during the night, and I remember waking up, thinking the bedroom windows were going to crack because the noise outside was so loud. I eventually went back to sleep, until about 6:20 am when our power went out. Funny how quiet the house gets when that happens. I immediately got out of bed, and went into the kitchen to take stuff out of the frig and put it in the cooler. Once that was done, I turned on the radio, to find out that the eye of the storm was headed right up the freeway (we live right off the interstate a few miles) and it had not yet reached us.

After I took care of our refrigerated stuff, I sent a few text messages from my cell phone, then went back to bed. A few hours later, the eye of the storm had passed us, but we were warned that tornados could still touch down, and the winds would be even stronger on the other side of the storm. We waited all day as it rained and rained. I quickly lost cell coverage and was soon no longer able to email anyone from my blackberry. The girls and I played board games while Gary napped (he had been up much of the night). It was starting to get hot in the house. Finally, around 5 pm, we noticed the storm had stopped for good and we ventured out into our yard to survey the damage.

We had a lot of small branches down in the yard, but nothing major. It was amazing to us that none of the trees in our yard had fallen. Once we started to look around at our neighbors, it was evident that we had been very lucky – there were many trees down – some in yards, some on houses, and some across streets. Pretty soon, all the neighbors gathered at one tree that had fallen across the road, and the kids had a fabulous time wading in all the standing water and catching little frogs. They were so excited to see each other and be outside, running around! They were soaked to the bone but it was so hot out, I think they really enjoyed getting wet. I was able to catch up with some of my girlfriends in the neighborhood and we all traded stories on how we’d spent the day. The guys started helping each other move trees, where possible, and they began to cut some of them apart. Eventually, as it got dark, we went back home and had dinner – Gary cooked macaroni & cheese on the stove top – we have gas cooking, so it worked out great!

We slept with the windows open on Sat night just hoping to get a little air flowing. That didn’t really happen, and soon we had to get up and shut the windows because some unexpected thunderstorms came through and it proceeded to POUR down rain the rest of the night. It was so humid, so stuffy – we hardly slept at all. Sunday morning, we woke up and while the weather had cooled off some, it was still warm. We decided to go for a drive and find somewhere we could get a hot meal, some ice, and a few groceries. We ended up driving almost 3 hours before we found electricity. We had a great time in College Station and really enjoyed our air conditioned car while we were driving! By that night, the weather had really cooled down a lot, so we opened the windows again while we slept. We were treated to gentle breezes, cool, crisp air, and the smell of fresh pine – it smelled like Christmas! There were so many pine trees in our neighborhood that had been knocked over by the hurricane winds, they had to be chopped up in pieces before you could move them – as a result, the air smelled delicious.

On Monday, we made another trip to College Station for supplies for my job. It felt so good to be able to deliver much-needed linens, towels, toiletries, and air mattresses to one of our assisted living facilities. We were pretty discouraged that day, as we’d been told that it could be 2-4 weeks before we had electricity again. So, it was nice to be able to make a difference and help someone else out.

The discouragement got tougher on Tuesday, when we were told that it could be 4-6 weeks before we had power. At that point, there was no mail, no newspaper, no TV (obviously), very spotty cell service, no blackberry service, no electricity anywhere – it was surreal. We felt very isolated and it was tough not knowing what was going on. Leah was acting out, Anna Claire was weepy, and I was sampling my favorite 3 food groups – chocolate, Advil and Diet Coke. These were desperate times. We did begin to see trucks arriving with supplies on Tuesday and FEMA had begun to hand out ice, water, and food, so people were beginning to have a little hope.

We made a decision to pack up and leave and go to San Antonio for the rest of the week. It was the best decision we could have made. Although we got power back to our house late Tuesday night, we still needed time away from everything. We had a fantastic 5 days in San Antonio – eating some of the best (and cheapest!) Mexican food, shopping in a Mexican market that reminded me a lot of our honeymoon in Cozumel, walking and perusing in shops on the Riverwalk, going to the zoo, and ending with a trip to Sea World. I can say that our moods definitely improved while we were away. However, it was obvious that the whole hurricane situation had taken a toll on the girls – Leah continued to be VERY busy and often inconsolable, and Anna Claire burst into tears at dinner one night and said, “I just want to go home.”

We’ve spent the past 2 days unpacking, grocery shopping (the grocery stores are still virtually empty, as they’ve all had to replace their inventory), doing laundry, and getting organized again to be back in school. It’s been so great to be back to “normal.”

The stories around here of what people are doing to help other people are so cool – there are people doing others’ laundry, making meals, and watching people’s children so they can work, and many more. There is a real spirit of camaraderie and closeness in our community that perhaps was fostered because we were completely out of touch with the outside world…we only had each other. We feel blessed to have had the time to just sit and chat with our neighbors and get to know them better.

While we now have electricity and water, there are still many, many others who do not. Please pray for them – they need it. They are discouraged, hot (our cool spell only lasted a few days), and many have lost everything.

Anyhoo, there were some funny moments along the way…perhaps I’ll share those in another post.

In the meantime, know that we are safe, we are back home, and we are enjoying life’s mundane moments immensely. Thanks to all of you who emailed to see how we were faring – we’re doing great!

One last note - many, many thanks to my brother for posting periodic updates about our welfare. I really appreciate it! Didn't he do great as a guest blogger? And so what if he got the name of the hurricane wrong? He can do complicated math problems that no one else can do - so there! :)

Bring on the Alamo...

Jill and family are heading to San Antonio today for a little vacation - school has been cancelled for the week and what better time to take some time away, find some AC, and make the best of a powerless situation. I talked to Jill last night and they were doing pretty well - Leah was in the backseat sans clothes, Gary had enough caffiene to keep him going, and they had found ice for Jill's diet cokes. So really, all is well.

Here is Jill's update from Sunday afternoon (sorry I'm a little delayed in getting it posted):

We had a great day in College Station (home of the Aggies - WHOOP!). It took us almost 3 hours to get here because the power outages are so wide-spread, every intersection is a 4-way stop. We shopped at Target, we got 5 bags of ice to put in the coolers we brought, and we bought some more milk and cheese. We got to eat in a real restaurant where I got a Diet Coke (WITH ice - yeehaw!) and Gary got a big cup of coffee so all is well. The girls have really enjoyed watching some movies in the car too. We are headed home now because we have to be back at our house before the curfew at 9 pm. The girls seem to be doing ok - we are very tired because we have not slept well but we are fine otherwise.

Please pray for our niece and her husband - they believe a tornado hit their house (they have 2 little boys, ages 2 and 4) and it ripped a large part of their roof off - causing heavy rains to come in the house. They also have no power and will have to replace their drywall and all their carpet. The damage around us is just incredible...please also pray for those around us who have been left with nothing. There is no school tomorrow or Tuesday - and we suspect it will be canceled the rest of the week. We may come back to College Station later in the week to do errands and laundry and stock up on groceries again.

Many thanks to my sweet lil bro, Craig, who may end up updating the blog more in September than I do!

That would be Ike, not Gustav...

This is why I'm not normally trusted with this level of responsibility...As you all know, 'twas Hurricane Ike who just made his way through Houston, not, as I posted earlier today, Hurricane Gustav.

I spoke with Jill on the phone this morning - they made it through yesterday with no damage sustained to their house. The only sustained damage that she was able to identify as of twenty minutes ago was that Gary hadn't had a cup of warm coffee due to the lack of electricity, and thus, had a rather severe headache. They are currently driving northwest to College Station (and perhaps, beyond) in search of power so that they might recharge electronic devices (and themselves with air conditioning).

Jill asked that I note that she has been informed that they will be without power for 2-4 weeks, which she claims qualifies officially as "camping." It's not entirely clear, at this point, how she's planning to keep her diet coke cold.

More details to follow...

Gustav vs. My Big Sis

I believe this marks the first time anyone has guest-blogged on luvmy3blessings, so I'm feeling rather honored to be bringing all of you updates on Jill and crew's welfare. This is Craig, Jill's younger (and much dryer) brother, blogging from Portland, Oregon, so that everyone has some idea of how Jill, Gary, and the girls are doing.

As of yesterday morning (Saturday), Jill and Gary were up early and had lost power by 6:20 a.m. local time. In her words: "The storm has been very strong and is still going. The eye has not yet hit us. But we are all safe (Anna Claire is still snoring in the master bedroom)....Lots of tree branches down and the wind is incredible but not damage to the house yet that we can see....We are safe and worst part of storm still to come. Getting a little warm in here but we are happy and doing well and feeling very blessed. Girls want to know hwen we can turn the tv on. :)"

According to the message my mom left for me last night, Jill had been able to get through to my parents and had said that homes in their neighborhood had had trees fall on them, but that Jill and Gary's house had not been hit (thankfully). They were rather hot (with no air conditioning), and had plans today (Sunday) to try and head north and find some air conditioning to cool off.

I will continue to provide updates as I get news. My own opinion (speaking from personal experience) is that mother nature is foolish for trying to take on my sister....

Five Years Ago Today...

Five years ago, I got a phone call at 6:30 am. I was getting ready for work. When I answered, it was my midwife, Margie. She said, “Honey, you need to go for a sonogram as soon as you can get there – they are waiting for you. Your test results came back and there’s something wrong. I think you’re still pregnant.”

I had been to see her two days prior – I thought I had recently had a miscarriage, and she wanted to do some blood work to make sure my hormone levels were back to normal. I remember how clear the sky was that day – so blue, so sunny, and it was about 75 degrees. I remember thinking, “I feel SO good. I feel healthy. I feel like myself again.” After having Anna Claire, I had struggled with postpartum depression and it took me a long time before I recovered from the physical exhaustion and aching that often accompanies it.

I quickly got Anna Claire out of her crib, and left to drive to the sonogram, with her still in her pajamas. I called Gary, told him to turn around and meet me at the clinic. We met out there, and he entertained Anna Claire while I had my sonogram. Unlike other times I’d had sonograms, the sonographer’s face was very serious. I remember her name was Gloria. She kept going over the same place again and again, and finally put the wand down and got up. She picked up the phone on the wall and began talking in hushed tones. I couldn’t figure out what she was saying, but I knew it was not good. Another doctor came in and performed another sonogram, her face equally grim. The phone rang – it was my midwife. The doctor spoke to her in hushed tones and then turned to me. “You can get up now. You need to go straight to the hospital. Immediately. Go to Margie’s office and she’ll tell you what’s going on.”

Gloria came back in the room, looked at me, then came over and gave me a big hug. When she pulled back, she was crying. “You’re going to be just fine. I’ll be praying for you, honey.” I remember being a little bewildered by that interaction.

Gary and I quickly dropped Anna Claire off at a friend’s house who had twins of her own the same age, so we knew Anna Claire would be well-cared for and entertained. We arrived in Margie’s office and Margie told me that I probably had a tubal pregnancy that was in danger of rupturing. “They’re waiting for you down in surgery,” she said. “Go right down.”

It was surreal. We were quickly making phone calls to let them know what was going on. I probably called some people that day that I didn’t need to, and forgot others who were important. I remember feeling like I was having an out-of-body experience. I was totally oblivious to how bad it was, yet I think I knew deep down that something was terribly wrong. They quickly prepped me for surgery, and when I came out of the anesthesia a couple of hours later, Gary was there.

“Was it a tubal pregnancy?” I asked groggily. “No,” he said. Looking grim, he responded, “It was a tumor.” I thought, “OK, no problem. I’ve had several benign tumors” - which included a benign ovarian tumor I’d had removed 3 years prior when we began dating. I went back to sleep.

Later, I stirred again, vaguely aware of two female voices. “She’s always been the dramatic one in the family. She always wanted all of the attention,” one of them was saying. Once I could shake the grogginess enough to open my eyes, I looked and saw two of my closest friends talking with a nurse. They kept telling her how different each of us was and how it was amazing we all came out of the same family. “Huh?” I thought. I seriously thought I was still sleeping. It turned out that C. and D. had convinced the nurses that they were my sisters, which basically got them a free pass to come back and see me in the recovery room. Mind you, these girls did nothing but continue to tell tall tales to the nurses to further convince them how three women could be so different.

You have to know that none of us look ANYTHING alike. Not even remotely. We could not be more different looking. And yet the nurses bought the story – hook, line and sinker. It was hilarious. And I was apparently the dramatic one who always needed the attention, which is why I’d taken it upon myself to grow a tumor. Go figure! We still giggle about that one.

It turned out I was never pregnant. And I never had a miscarriage, or a tubal pregnancy. What I had was an ovarian tumor that had been growing for approximately 4-6 weeks, and it contained four different types of cancer cells. Because it was so unusual, it would be October 8th – almost 4 weeks – before I had a definitive diagnosis. And I then began a journey on which I never expected to be a traveler…cancer patient.

I am now strong. I’m healthy. I survived. Many of my friends did not. It wasn’t without many scary, sad, and dark moments. But God has brought me full circle. And now one of my passions is to help other women on this same journey. It’s enormously gratifying and it nurtures my spirit.

To God be the glory – great things He has done in the last five years.

What We're Up To

We’re doing great!

We’ve had a great day so far. Since schools are cancelled today, we’ve enjoyed a nice family day. We went to the chiropractor, then to one of our favorite breakfast places. Then we went to Target to pick up a few things that Gary needed, and now we’re home. We spent time cleaning the house and Gary put everything outside in the shed and in the garage. Then we put the girls down for a nap, and Gary & I caught up on the news and played a board game. Now he’s relaxing and I’m blogging and doing laundry.

So, we’re safe, we’re happy, and very blessed to be in a place where we have good shelter, each other, and some great snack food.

The storm is scheduled to hit us around midnight – 1 am, so we’re having a slumber party in our master bedroom tonight in case tornados come and we need to move into the closet.

I'll keep blogging as long as I can! Our network connection is very slow all of a sudden, so not sure how long that will be possible, but I'll do the best I can. :)

We're Ready!

I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things this morning in advance of Ike coming ashore. They were completely out of ice, water, canned goods and bread. It was fascinating to see what everyone around me had in their grocery carts - and I had plenty of time to survey their carts because each line was about 25 people deep. Here's what I saw:

- a cart filled with fabric and batting - obviously, she plans to spend the weekend quilting
- a cart filled with several packages of hot dogs, chips, buns, beer, and coke - I want to go to HIS house!
- a cart filled with large marshmallows - no, I am not kidding
- a cart filled with 4 large roasted ready-to-eat chickens, with several gallons of sweet tea - welcome to the South!
- a cart filled with diapers, wipes, baby food, and beer
- my personal favorite - two college guys filling their cart with Moon Pies and Little Debbie snacks

Here's our checklist:

Water? Check
Batteries? Check
Toilet paper? Check
Flashlights? Check
Goldfish? Check
Peanut butter? Check
Bananas? Check
Movies? Check
Chocolate cake? Check
Diet Coke? Check, check, check

We're all set! As long as we don't lose power, I'll update the blog this weekend.

Random Thoughts

I went to a great class at my church today. It's called "After the Boxes Are Unpacked." Isn't that a great name? It's for women who are new to the area. There are 26 of us - several from different countries, many of us with young children, and everyone has a story. We had a great time and even went to lunch afterward. I spent a lot of time looking around the classroom wondering who I would end up being good friends with...

It's weird, though - I have a hard time believing that I'll get close to any of them. I think I left such a close group of girlfriends in VA - and we got so close when I had cancer - these are the women who helped me shop for a wig, who took care of my baby when I couldn't, who made meals for me, who kept me focused on God and prayed for me when I couldn't pray, who took me to chemo treatments, and who pretended to be my sisters and told ridiculous stories so they could get into the recovery room at the hospital to see me (you know who you are, girlies). They cheered me on when I just couldn't do it anymore, and provided me with tumor-humor when I needed a laugh. They have seen me with yellow eyes from chemo, with no hair, and as weak as I can get. These are not just friends - they are SISTERS.

Will I ever meet anyone like that here?

Hurricane Ike

So, I'm sitting here at my computer tonight, doing some work, with one eye on the TV because there's all sorts of coverage about Hurricane Ike. Many of you have already emailed me to ask if we're evacuating. Here's the deal...

We live about 80 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, so the chances of us needing to evacuate are slim. We'll probably just shelter in place until the storm passes. Being on the "dirty side" (to the right of the eye of the hurricane), we'll probably be subjected to higher winds, more rain and possibly tornadoes, but we have a plan for where to go - we'll hang out in our master bedroom closet. It's big enough for all of us if I take a few pairs of shoes out. Ha ha! Seriously, we'll have room for all of us.

So, the main thing is to keep stocked up on water, batteries, toilet paper, animal crackers, and bananas (Leah's favorite food). We're all set. I even have extra Diet Coke. :)

We'll be putting on our floaties Friday morning.

Our August Trip

In August, the girls and I went to Oregon and Washington to visit my family - and especially to see my grandmother. It was so much fun to see her again, and although she doesn't remember much anymore, we love to visit with her, love on her, and take pictures. She seemed to really enjoy seeing the girls especially. Here we are - 4 generations! Gram, my dad, me, and the girls.

One day, Leah had a total meltdown and we just could not console her. Papa had the bright idea to take her for a ride in the wheelbarrow and that was all it took to turn her frown to a smile again.

The girls also had a great time swimming in my aunt & uncle's pool. One day, my dad's brothers and sisters and their families convened and we had a mini family reunion and a pool party. Here are the girls with their second cousins, Josh and Sarah. Sarah is just 4 months younger than Leah. They had so much fun!

Leah in the hot tub with my dad - my aunt let most of the water out of the hot tub and let the water cool - and turned it into a wading pool for the littlest fish. Great idea! :)

The weather was so beautiful there - it was nice to get away from the heat and humidity of Texas for a few days and get some fresh, cool air - it was in the upper 50's at night! Fortunately it warmed up during the day. We had an awesome time but were very glad to get home and see Gary/Daddy again. He had to stay in TX because he had some inservices and meetings to attend since he's a new teacher in the school district.

First Week of School - Finally!

OK y'all - go get yourself a drink, go potty and then come back and pull up a comfy chair, because this is going to be a long post...

I FINALLY found the cord that connects my camera to the computer. And I was sick the last 2 weeks with bronchitis so I have a bunch to catch up on.

First, we'll cover the first day of school for Gary and Anna Claire, which was last Monday. We have a tradition that I get up early on the first day of school and make a nice breakfast for Gary before he leaves. I made blueberry muffins and eggs. Here's Gary enjoying his breakfast - doesn't he look ready to hit the ground running? :)

When I woke Anna Claire up at 6:30 am, she rubbed her eyes and said, "Momma, it's still NIGHT outside. Is this the time I'm going to have to get up every day?" I said, "Yes, honey," to which she replied, "We should find me a school that starts later so I don't have to get up so early." I didn't have the heart to tell her that once she gets to high school, she'll be getting up even earlier!

Here's Anna Claire's new backpack and lunch box - Barbie backpack, High School Musical lunchbox.

Here's Anna Claire in front of her school...she is SO excited to go in and see her teacher! Mrs. K is newly married (3 weeks!) and has taught for one year in another school district. She graduated from Baylor and is so cute. Anna Claire kept looking at her and saying, "You're SO pretty..."

Leah decided to take the bull by the horns and hang up Anna Claire's backpack for her.

My sweet girls - Leah wants to be big so badly!

Anna Claire absolutely LOVED school - and is still really enjoying it. She has met some great little friends - both in her class and on the bus. She informed me this week that she'd prefer it if I didn't wave goodbye to her once she's on the bus (apparently I was embarrassing her).

Gary had an equally great first week of school (now 2 weeks) - his kids are very polite, and his co-workers have been so helpful and friendly. He is teaching in a school that's only 3 years old, so it's a real treat for him to have the latest and greatest technology, his own classroom, and even better - the school is less than 3 miles from our house! No commute! It really is so nice, and we are getting to spend lots of time together as a family as a result.

So, in other news, we were spared Gustav's devastation - which we were very thankful for. We're hoping that there aren't any other hurricanes that come our way.

I am really enjoying getting to know the ladies in my neighborhood, working out with them at the Y, and spending time with Leah. It's amazing how quickly her vocabulary picked up after Anna Claire went to school last week. She is really talking a lot. Leah definitely misses her big sister, though - she walks around the house saying, "Shissy.....Shissy" (her way of saying "Sissy", which is what she calls AC). I am also enjoying working from home - I have a pretty good schedule of working during Leah's naptimes, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays while she's at Mother's Day Out. I also often work a couple of evenings a week after the girls have gone to bed. So, I have the flexibility I need but still get to keep my feet wet in my work, which I love.

We are going to our first high school football game this weekend, which will be fun. They play at a local stadium that seats 30,000 people! I cannot wait to see what this is all about. Anna Claire is SO thrilled that she will be able to watch the cheerleaders. She begins her cheerleading lessons next week, so she'll be taking notes, I'm sure.